The Long Island serial killer: a criminal obsessed with his own case

Nothing in the nondescript behavior of Rex Heuermann seemed to attract the attention of his neighbors. There was nothing erratic or sullen about him. In fact, nobody who knows him seems able to define him. But a couple of years ago, two neighbors commented to each other that he looked like he had several corpses in his closet —a joke (or a hunch) that became a macabre reality.

The alleged murderer of at least three women, Heuermann is the latest in the long list of perpetrators of a crime that is so characteristic of the United States: serial-killing. He was arrested a week ago for the murder of three sex workers, and is also the main suspect in a fourth case.

The remains of the victims were found in 2010, in a short stretch of Gilgo Beach, on Long Island, New York. The case of the so-called “Gilgo Four” has been linked to the discovery of at least 10 sets of human remains that have been found in that area ever since. The emergence of new evidence will determine whether Heuermann can be charged with more crimes. When he appeared before a judge, the detainee promised — through tears — that he hadn’t killed anyone. Held without bail, he is now awaiting trial in a Suffolk County jail. He has been placed on suicide watch.

Everything in the life of Rex Heuermann — a 59-year-old architect — fell apart on the night of July 13, 2023, when he was arrested in Manhattan. An impressive police deployment surrounded his house — the same one where he grew up — in Massapequa, just a few miles from where the bodies of the women were found. His renovation company, which was contracted to refurbish, among other things, a Trump Organization building on Wall Street and a $16 million duplex next to Central Park, has since shut down its website. His marriage of 27 years fell apart when his wife filed for divorce just days after his arrest. The woman has voiced her suspicions that the father of her daughter, who is a partner in her family’s company, had been keeping up a hidden life for decades. The defendant’s internet search history appears to support this feeling: there are thousands of webpages of brutal and explicit sex, sadism, torture and child pornography, as well as various chat sites.

Heuermann also searched for news about the development of the police investigation, partly anxious to know what was going on, but also with a narcissistic intention: he’s full of smugness, according to the psychological experts who have examined him. “Why hasn’t the Long Island serial killer been arrested?” was the question he searched the most. Between May 2022 and June of this year, he searched for news about the four Gilgo women more than 200 times on Google.

Heuermann has been charged with murder and manslaughter in each of the three deaths: Melissa Barthelemy in 2009, and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello in 2010. Six charges in total. Two more could soon be added, as he is the main suspect in the 2007 disappearance and death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

All of the women have the same profile: sex workers in their twenties, with few family ties. The victims advertised their services on web pages. All four were petite and buried in a similar fashion: wrapped in camouflage burlap, the kind usually used by hunters.

The development of the case has drawn the attention of viewers, in a country where the “true crime” genre — which recreates real crimes with particularly gruesome characteristics — has made a fortune. This is why not a day goes by without new details about the monster’s life being revealed, as if the massive and sudden disclosure of information somehow compensates for a silent decade, when there was no news about the four murders. The search of Heuermann’s home continued this past Friday for the eighth consecutive day, to determine if any of the crimes were committed there. Meanwhile, the investigation has also expanded to Las Vegas, where the architect had a timeshare.

Four unsolved murder cases from Atlantic City, New Jersey — going as far back as 2006 — have been reopened following the arrest of the alleged murderer of the Gilgo Four. Authorities are also trying to determine if Heuermann is linked to other unsolved cases in the state of New York.

A double life

Until his arrest, Heuermann led a double life. He used fictitious names and prepaid mobile phones — at least seven between 2021 and 2023 — as well as anonymous email accounts to arrange sexual meetups. All of this while raising his daughter and stepson and commuting daily to his office in Manhattan. Immersed in a fabricated life, he racked up unpaid taxes and filed several lawsuits accusing drivers of injuring him in traffic accidents (none of the cases went to trial). A few years ago, he stole several tangerines in a supermarket and was escorted out of the establishment by security guards. These strange details draw up a personality that’s difficult to frame. His imposing physical presence, however, clearly comes through in images, which have been shown repeatedly on television since his arrest.

On a prime-time program, Nicole Brass — an escort who had a date with him in 2015 — recounted how Heuermann talked to her non-stop about the Long Island murders during their preliminary meeting, in a restaurant. “Talking about the victims seemed to give him pleasure. He was expressing himself like someone who wanted to brag about his actions, even though he obviously couldn’t.” Concerned by the behavior of her client, the young woman refused to accompany him home. On television, she expressed relief that her instincts probably saved her life.

The so-called Gilgo Four were buried a few miles from Heuermann’s home, without any clues about who had killed them. It took until 2022 — more than a decade — to identify him as the suspect. Since then, he was placed under discreet surveillance. A dried-up pizza crust in the trash from his Manhattan office allowed investigators to obtain a sample of his DNA, identical to the hair found on the burlap wrapped around one of the victims. Fearful that Heuermann would be tipped off, or find out online that the investigation had taken a significant turn, police detained him on July 13. The two neighbors who once joked about the secrets he was hiding are both still in shock.

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