Officer John Malia and his police dog, Blue, discovered human remains on Gilgo Beach, a desolate stretch of dunes on the South Shore of Long Island, in December 2010.
Melissa Barthelemy, a tiny 24-year-old from the Bronx who worked as a prostitute and was last seen in July 2009 when she told an acquaintance she was going to meet a client, was subsequently identified as the shoes' owner.
The Discovery of Serial Killings in Gilgo Beach
Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes were discovered two days later by police. In their 20s, they were diminutive and worked as escorts like Barthelemy.
According to NY Times, the discovery of their bodies, bound at the feet or ankles and enveloped in burlap, horrified Long Islanders, devastated the victims' families, and prompted a dysfunctional 12-year investigation.
Six additional bodies were discovered in the following weeks, including four women, an unidentified male, and a 2-year-old child. Police ultimately announced an arrest on Friday.
In connection with the fatalities of Costello, Waterman, and Barthelemy, 59-year-old Rex Heuermann was charged with first- and second-degree murder. He is considered the primary suspect in the 2007 disappearance of Brainard-Barnes.
In 2020, the then-commissioner of Suffolk County Police, Geraldine Hart, revealed a crucial piece of evidence in the case: a photograph of a belt with "HM" or "WH" inscribed on it.
The Gilgo Beach investigation was hindered for years by inefficiency and even corruption. James Burke, a Suffolk police commissioner who led the investigation at one point, declined to cooperate with the FBI.
Years later, the public learned he was being investigated for obstruction of justice in an unrelated case by federal authorities. Local, state, and federal investigators were brought together to form the Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force, which was announced in February 2022.
A suspect has been apprehended following a decade-long investigation into multiple homicides believed to have been committed by a serial killer on Long Island. The focus of the task force was on telecommunication records.
All the women had been contacted by different burner phones, and using mapping technology, investigators determined that the calls originated from two key locations near Heuermann's residence on First Avenue in Massapequa Park and his office on Fifth Avenue and 36th Street in Manhattan.
In March 2022, investigators made a breakthrough when they discovered that Mr. Heuermann possessed a Chevrolet Avalanche at the time of the murders. A witness observed the same type of vehicle parked in the victim's driveway shortly before her disappearance.
In July 2022, a detective removed eleven bottles from a garbage can outside Heuermann's residence. DNA from the vessels was compared to DNA extracted from hairs found on some corpses.
Last month, the Suffolk County crime lab matched DNA from a hair found on Ms. Waterman's body with DNA swabbed from discarded pizza crusts recovered from Mr. Heuermann's discarded pizza box.
On Thursday, he was apprehended in Midtown. The next day, he was commanded to be held without bail during a brief judicial appearance in Suffolk County. Mr. Heuermann, according to his attorney outside the courthouse, denied perpetrating the murders.
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Rex Heuermann's Home Filled With Weapons
Today, New York state police have removed a massive cache of weapons from the Long Island home of alleged Gilgo Beach serial murderer Rex Heuermann. Per Daily Mail, the process happened one day after searching the property for "trophies" from the three victims he's charged with murdering.
On Sunday morning, police carried at least four long-barreled firearms and several blue plastic crates containing weapons from the "dungeon-like" Massapequa residence of a 59-year-old architect.
Thirteen years after the victims' bodies were discovered on an isolated Long Island shoreline, Heuermann, 59, was dramatically apprehended Thursday night in midtown Manhattan in front of his architectural office on Fifth Avenue.
A team of forensic investigators continues combing Heuermann's residence in search of additional evidence in the over-a-decade-old serial murder case.
At a press conference on Friday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney stated that Heuermann told investigators that he "continued to patronize sex workers," used fake IDs and burner phones, and had permits for a staggering 92 firearms.
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