An architect from New York has been accused of murdering three women on Long Island more than a decade ago.
Rex Heuermann, 56, was charged on Friday with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy, 22-year-old Megan Waterman, and 27-year-old Amber Costello.
New York Serial Killer Arrested
They are three of the 'Gilgo Four,' whose remains were discovered on Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, Suffolk County, in December 2010. The remains of eleven individuals, the majority of whom were young female sex workers, were discovered in the area by the end of 2011.
Heuermann was detained on Thursday evening after a reopened investigation connected him to a pickup truck a witness reported seeing in 2010 when one of the victims vanished. According to a bail application filed in Suffolk County Court, detectives later matched the DNA from a pizza crust he discarded in Manhattan to a male hair found with the corpses bound and concealed along a remote coastal highway.
Investigators could also connect Heuermann to the burner phones used to organize encounters with the murdered women and the taunting calls made to one of Barthelemy's relatives using her cellphone after she vanished in 2009.
Although Heuermann was not charged with any offenses concerning the disappearance and homicide of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, the document stated that he is the "primary suspect in her death" and that the investigation is ongoing. Per Telegraph via MSN, Heuermann's attorney entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf during his arraignment on Friday in Riverhead State court. Judge Richard Ambro denied him parole, citing the "severe depravity" of his alleged behavior.
Heuermann, dressed in khaki pants and a grey blouse with a collar, did not speak in court. Michael Brown, his attorney, said he met his client on Friday morning. He told reporters outside the courthouse that Heuermann, a licensed architect with a Manhattan firm, was in tears and said, "I didn't do this."
The US Sun was the first news source to identify Heuerman on Friday morning, following a raid in Massapequa Park, Long Island, directly north of where four women's corpses were discovered near Gilgo Beach in 2010.
Heuermann is the proprietor and principal of RH Consultants & Associates, LLC, registered to his Massapequa Park residence and has a New York City office. According to his online profile, he has over 30 years of experience and has worked with significant clients such as American Airlines.
Alec Baldwin's Sibling Attended The Same School With Serial Killer
According to police, Heuermann is on the grand jury and scheduled to appear in Riverhead Criminal Court later on Friday, where an indictment will be unsealed. Heuermann's old photograph was released in advance of his court appearance.
A source told The US Sun that police had known him for "some time" before his detention. An eyewitness said officers had spent "the entire night" at the residence. On Friday morning, a police drone was observed hovering over the residence. According to reports, he was arrested outside his Midtown Manhattan office around 8:30 p.m. on Thursday while leaving work.
Since the 1980s, Heuermann has resided in a modest home just north of Gilgo Beach. Billy Baldwin, the sibling of Alec Baldwin, disclosed that he attended high school with Heuermann.
Billy Baldwin, the second-youngest of the four Baldwin brothers and a native of Massapequa, stated that the community was "shocked." The 60-year-old explained that he graduated with Heuermann from Berner High School in 1981 and described him as married with two children.
Heuermann has purportedly been on law enforcement's radar since last year when investigators traced calls made from burner phones to the mobile phones of some of the victims. There was a match between the location of the phone calls and Heuermann's home and office addresses.
Since 2010, when the body of 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy was discovered near Gilgo Beach, a half-hour drive from the residence, police have been searching for the suspect. On December 11, 2010, a Suffolk County Police Officer and a scent dog discovered her skeletal remains in the underbrush near Ocean Parkway, the primary thoroughfare on Jones Beach Island.
