Gilgo Beach murders - live: Long Island police identify Jane Doe 7 but won’t comment on link to Rex Heuermann
The Gilgo Beach murders victim previously known only as Jane Doe 7 has finally been identified more than 26 years after her partial remains were first discovered along the Long Island shores.
In a press conference on Friday, Long Island officials announced that they had identified the victim as Karen Vergata.
Vergata, 34, was last seen alive in Manhattan in 1996 while working as an escort.
Police refused to take any questions and would not comment on whether or not they believe her disappearance and murder may be linked to serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann.
This comes as prosecutors have asked the court to obtain a swab of DNA from Mr Heuermanna and as his wife broke her silence in her first interview since his shock arrest to reveal she is filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” every night over the horror case.
Mr Heuermann, 59, was arrested on 13 July and charged with the murders of Amber Castello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy. He is also the main suspect in Maureen Brainard-Barnes’ killing.
The women all went missing in 2009 and 2010 before their remains were found along Gilgo Beach.
Key Points
Jane Doe 7 identified as Karen Vergata
Suspect’s family gets help from Happy Face Killer’s daughter
Rex Heuermann’s wife breaks silence
Prosecutors hand over 8 gigabytes of evidence
‘Massive amount’ of evidence recovered from Heuermann home
FULL STORY: Gilgo Beach murders victim Jane Doe 7 identified as Karen Vergata 26 years after remains discovered
17:30 , Rachel Sharp
The Gilgo Beach murders victim previously known only as Jane Doe 7 has finally been identified more than 26 years after her partial remains were first discovered along the Long Island shores.
Karen Vergata, a 34-year-old woman who was last seen alive in Manhattan in 1996 while working as an escort, was named on Friday by Long Island officials.
The huge breakthrough in the case comes almost three decades after some of her remains were first discovered – and weeks after 59-year-old father-of-two architect was arrested and charged with the murders of three other victims.
It was 20 April 1996 when a woman’s legs were found wrapped in plastic at Davis Park on Fire Island’s Blue Point Beach.
Read the full story:
Gilgo Beach murders victim Jane Doe 7 identified after 26 years
No charges have been brought over Karen Vergata’s murder
17:00 , Rachel Sharp
At this time, no one has been charged with the murder of Karen Vergata.
Suffolk County DA Rodney Tierney said that there are “no charges at this time” but that the “confidential investigation” is ongoing.
He would not confirm or deny any ties to accused killer Rex Heuermann – or say if there was a suspect on his radar.
“We are going to continue to work this particular case as we did the Gilgo Four investigation,” he said.
“We’re not going to comment on what – if any suspects – we developed at this time. This is a confidential investigation so I’m not going to be taking any questions.”
Long Island police reveal why they kept identification under wraps
16:45 , Rachel Sharp
Long Island officials identified the victim in October but kept the major breakthrough under wraps until now, citing both the investigation into Rex Heuermann and the need to contact Karen Vergata’s family members.
“Prior to disclosing, we needed to contact all Vergata’s family members and around the same time we were beginning the grand jury confidential investigation into the murders of the victims known as the Gilgo 4,” said Suffolk County DA Rodney Tierney.
”So we decided not to make it public... until the results of that investigation became public and we had made notice to Vergata’s family.”
He added: “Today we are here to announce that as part of the Gilgo taskforce’s reexamination of all evidence in the case we are able to identify Fire Island Jane Doe as Karen Vergata.”
The DA said that “it is important that we remember and honour not only Ms Vergata but all the vicitms on Gilgo Beach”.
WATCH: Gilgo Beach murders victim Jane Doe 7 identified as Karen Vergata
16:30 , Rachel Sharp
How investigators identified Fire Island Jane Doe
16:15 , Rachel Sharp
Suffolk County officials revealed how investigators were able to identify Fire Island Jane Doe almost three decades after her remains were first discovered.
In August 2022 – around six months after the new Gilgo Beach taskforce was launched – a DNA profile suitable for genealogical comparison was developed from the remains of the victim.
The next month, the FBI was able to presumptively identify the victim using genetic genealogy as Karen Vergata.
Then, that October, investigators tracked down a relative of Vergata and take a buccal swab. Using this, they were able to definitively identity the victim as Vergata.
Who was Karen Vergata?
16:00 , Rachel Sharp
Karen Vergata was 34 years old at the time of her disappearance, according to officials.
Vergata lived on West 45th St in Manhattan and is believed to have been working as an escort at the time.
She went missing around 14 February 1996 – Valentine’s Day.
Police said that no missing persons report was filed at the time of her disappearance.
Police refuse to confirm or deny link to Rex Heuermann
15:49 , Rachel Sharp
In the press conference Vergata’s identity, Suffolk County officials refused to take any questions.
The briefing was over in mere minutes and they would not comment on whether or not the victim is linked to serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann.
So far, Mr Heuermann is charged with the murders of three of the 11 victims whose remains were found along Gilgo Beach. He is also suspected in a fourth.
Fire Island Jane Doe has been identified as Karen Vergata
15:34 , Rachel Sharp
Fire Island Jane Doe has been identified as Karen Vergata.
She is pictured here:
Long Island officials holding press conference
15:31 , Rachel Sharp
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney and other New York officials are holding a press conference to provide an update in the Gilgo Beach murders case.
WATCH LIVE HERE: Long Island officials hold press conference to announce update in Gilgo Beach case
15:28 , Rachel Sharp
PICTURED: Map shows locations where 11 victims’ remains were found along Gilgo Beach
15:20 , Rachel Sharp
Who is Rex Heuermann?
15:03 , Rachel Sharp
His Manhattan business describes him as a registered architect with over 30 years’ experience.
His neighbours describe him as a “family man” living with his wife and two children in a tight-knit community in Suffolk County.
But now authorities are describing him as the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer who unleashed terror along the shores of Long Island more than a decade ago.
So who is Rex Heuermann?
Rex Heuermann: Who is serial killer suspect in Gilgo Beach murders
What we know about Jane Doe 7:
14:40 , Rachel Sharp
Long Island officials are expected to announce the identity of a currently unnamed Gilgo Beach murders victim in a press conference today.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney and other New York officials have scheduled a press conference for 10.30am ET on Friday morning to announce new details over the murders.
A senior law enforcement source told NBC New York that investigators have been able to identity another victim – previously referred to as Jane Doe 7 or Fire Island Jane Doe.
The breakthrough comes almost three decades after some of her remains were first discovered.
It was 20 April 1996 when the woman’s legs were found wrapped in plastic at Davis Park on Fire Island’s Blue Point Beach.
Almost exactly 15 years later on 11 April 2011, the woman’s skull was then found off Ocean Parkway during the search for Gilgo Beach victims. The skull was located close to the remains of another also unidentified victim – Jane Doe 3, also known as Peaches.
To this day, investigators have been unable to identify Jane Doe 7, saying only that she was a white woman aged 18 to 50 years old who had several scars including evidence of surgery on her left ankle.
New victim identified, sources say
14:20 , Rachel Sharp
BREAKING OVERNIGHT: Authorities have identified another victim in the Gilgo Beach murders investigation. @aaronkatersky reports. pic.twitter.com/WPVl2zWRji
— Good Morning America (@GMA) August 4, 2023
Daughter of Happy Face Killer launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach murders suspect’s wife
14:00 , Rachel Sharp
The daughter of the notorious Happy Face Killer has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann “start her new life”.
Melissa Moore announced her decision to try to help Asa Ellerup as she compared their experiences discovering that a close family member had spent years leading a “double life” as an alleged serial killer.
“Today, I have an opportunity to use my voice to help Asa, who isn’t in a place to speak about the terror and horror she and her family are experiencing at this moment,” she said.
Read the full story:
Happy Face Killer’s daughter launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach suspect’s wife
WATCH: Moment Gilgo Beach suspect arrested in crowded New York street
13:40 , Rachel Sharp
Rex Heuermann’s wife says neighbours want to bulldoze her home
13:20 , Rachel Sharp
Rex Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup spoke out on Wednesday to reveal how her neighbours want to raze her home in the wake of her husband’s arrest in the Gilgo Beach murders.
“The people in this neighborhood, they want this house gone,” she told the Daily News. “They want it bulldozed, you understand? They want it gone.”
She said her family continues to come across things “destroyed” by investigators who spent days scouring the home for evidence linking Mr Heuermann to the serial killings.
As for how she’s coping with her husband’s traumatic unmasking, she said: “I can’t think. You ask me what do I want? ... I want to be able to sleep for a couple of hours. I’m not sleeping.”
PREMIUM: Horror on the shore: the murder spree that has gripped America
13:00 , Rachel Sharp
Back in 2010, very few people knew the name Gilgo Beach.
The small beach in Long Island didn’t have the same draw for New York day-trippers or staycationers as the shores along other oceanfront towns like Montauk or East Hampton.
And for anyone outside of New York state, they’d likely never even heard of it.
That all changed one night in May when a terrified woman called 911 begging for help to save her from someone she believed was trying to kill her.
A search of the area for the missing woman followed – and what it uncovered was something that placed Gilgo Beach on the map forever.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
The murder cold case that has gripped America
PICTURED: Rex Heuermann’s court appearance
12:40 , Rachel Sharp
Long Island police expected to identify another Gilgo Beach murders victim as they announce ‘update’ in case
12:20 , Rachel Sharp
Long Island police are believed to have identified another victim in the Gilgo Beach murders case in a major breakthrough that they are expected to announce later today.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney and other New York officials have scheduled a press conference for 10.30am ET on Friday morning to announce what they described as an “update in the ongoing investigation by the Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force”.
A senior law enforcement source told NBC New York that investigators have been able to identity another victim – previously referred to as the seventh Jane Doe.
In total, the remains of 11 victims were found dumped along the shores of Gilgo Beach back in 2010 and 2011 but, more than a decade later, some are yet to be identified.
Read the full story:
Long Island police expected to identify another Gilgo Beach murders victim
Rex Heuermann’s wife breaks silence
12:00 , Rachel Sharp
This week, Asa Ellerup broke her silence in her first interview since her husband’s arrest where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering... anxiety,” she told The New York Post.
“My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.”
Their daughter Victoria has been left feeling “not human”, with Ms Ellerup’s lawyer Bob Macedonio explaining that the family had been treated “like animals”.
Ms Ellerup spoke out as she said that the family’s home in Massapequa Park had been left in tatters by investigators who spent almost two weeks combing through the property for evidence connected to the murders or for trophies the accused killer took from his victims.
Images show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere.
Mr Macedonio told the Post that he is making an itemised list of the damage to send to the DA’s office.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said last week that a “massive amount of evidence” had been recovered from the home which Mr Heuermann grew up in as a child – and which he went on to share with his family up until his sudden arrest.
Long Island police to hold press conference today on Gilgo Beach murders case
11:20 , Rachel Sharp
Police in Long Island have announced an “update” in the investigation into the Gilgo Beach serial killings.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney and other New York officials have scheduled a press conference for 10.30am ET on Friday morning to announce new details over the murders.
A senior law enforcement source told NBC New York that investigators have been able to identity another victim – previously referred to as the seventh Jane Doe.
WATCH: Rex Heuermann appears in court
11:00 , Rachel Sharp
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect has had ‘personal’ calls with wife since arrest
10:00 , Rachel Sharp
The wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann has stayed in contact with him since his bombshell arrest for the murders of at least three women, it has been revealed.
Asa Ellerup – who has been married to the accused serial killer for more than 20 years and shares two adult children with him – has spoken to her husband in “personal” jailhouse phone calls while he remains behind bars in Suffolk County jail, her attorney Robert Macedonio told CNN on Tuesday.
“I believe there has [been contact] but you have to realise any phone calls are recorded out of the facility,” he said, declining to detail the contents of those conversations.
Read more here:
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s contact with wife revealed
Rex Heuermann’s wife pleads to be left alone
09:00 , Rachel Sharp
In a statement released through her lawyers Macedonio & Duncan, Rex Heuermann’s wife has pleaded to be left alone.
“On behalf of my family and especially my elderly neighbors, who have also had their lives turned upside down by the enormous police presence, in addition to the spectators, and news crews,” Ms Ellerup’s statement read.
“They deserve to live peacefully; they should be able to walk their dogs and go to the grocery stores without cameras shoved in their faces.
“I am pleading with you all to give us space so that we may regain some normalcy in our neighborhood.”
WATCH: Gilgo Beach, the story so far
08:00 , Rachel Sharp
How the net closed in on Rex Heuermann
07:00 , Rachel Sharp
Court records show that Mr Heuermann was linked to the “Gilgo Four” murders through a tip about his pickup truck, a stash of burner phones, “sadistic” online searches, phone calls taunting victims’ families, his wife’s hair found on the victims’ bodies – and a pizza crust.
The first piece of the puzzle came when a witness in the Amber Costello case revealed details about a vehicle that a client was driving when she was last seen alive.
Costello, who worked as a sex worker, was seen alive on the evening of 2 September 2010 when she left her home in West Babylon. A witness said she had gone to meet a client who was driving a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche.
Last year, a registration search showed that local man Mr Heuermann owned a first-generation model of the truck at the time of Costello’s disappearance. He also matched the witness’ description of the man believed to be the killer: a large, white “ogre”-like male in his mid-40s, around 6’4’ to 6’6” tall, with “dark bushy hair,” and “big oval style 1970’s type eyeglasses”.
The discovery of the car led investigators to hone in on Mr Heuermann including executing 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence to determine his potential involvement in the killings.
Among this was Mr Heuermann’s alleged use of burner phones, with prosecutors saying that he used burner phones to contact the three women and arrange to meet them at the time when they went missing.
He also allegedly took two of the victims’ cellphones – and used one to make taunting phone calls to one of their families where he boasted about her murder, court documents state.
Mr Heuermann’s DNA was found on one of the victims, while his wife’s hair was found on three of the four women he is connected to.
Eight gigabytes of evidence handed over in Rex Heuermann’s case
06:00 , Rachel Sharp
Attorneys for accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann have received a massive amount of evidence to review from the prosecution.
Mr Heuermann, the Manhattan architect accused of murdering at least three women and dumping their bodies along a remote stretch of shore in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach, appeared in court on Tuesday for the first time since his arraignment.
Mr Heuermann is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared in 2009 and 2010. Prosecutors say he’s also the main suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007.
Read the full story:
Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence
ICYMI: Long Island police dodge questions about crucial piece of evidence at Rex Heuermann home
05:00 , Rachel Sharp
Investigators in Long Island have dodged questions about a crucial piece of evidence believed to have been found inside the family home of Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney was grilled in a press conference last Tuesday about the chilling alleged discovery of a mattress inside a huge vault in the basement of his home in Massapequa Park.
The DA repeatedly refused to confirm or deny the existence of the potentially harrowing piece of evidence but did confirm the existence of the walk-in underground vault beneath the property that he shared with his family.
“The vault is big enough to walk into and it’s in the basement,” he said, adding that “like the rest of the house, [the vault] was cluttered”.
Read more:
Long Island police dodge questions about evidence in Rex Heuermann home
RECAP: The Gilgo Beach serial killer case
04:00 , Rachel Sharp
The Gilgo Beach murders had long stumped law enforcement officials in Suffolk County who believed it could be the work of one or more serial killers who targeted sex workers and dumped their bodies along the remote beaches on Ocean Parkway.
The case began in May 2010 when Shannan Gilbert vanished after leaving a client’s house on foot near Gilgo Beach.
She called 911 for help saying she feared for her life and was never seen alive again.
During a search for Gilbert in dense thicket close to the beach, police discovered the remains of another woman.
Within a matter of days, the remains of three more victims were found close by.
By spring 2011, the remains of a total of 10 victims had been found including eight women, a man, and a toddler. Police have long thought that it could be the work of one or more serial killers.
Gilbert’s body was then found in December 2011. Her cause of death is widely contested with authorities long claiming that it is not connected to the serial killer or killers but that she died from accidental drowning as she fled from the client’s home.
However, an independent autopsy commissioned by her family ruled that she died by strangulation and her mother believes she was murdered.
Like Gilbert, most of the victims targeted were sex workers, while some are yet to be identified.
How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard
02:00 , Rachel Sharp
For around two decades, the sands and marshes of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach kept a dark secret.
A killer or killers roamed the locality, luring in escorts and sex workers and brutally murdering them.
Body after body was dumped along the shoreline, hidden for months and even years without being discovered.
Then, in 2010, a chilling 911 call made by a woman in fear for her life led police to search the area.
What they discovered was far more horrifying than anyone could have imagined.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard
PICTURED: Search of Rex Heuermann’s home
01:00 , Rachel Sharp
Who is Rex Heuermann?
Thursday 3 August 2023 23:00 , Rachel Sharp
His Manhattan business describes him as a registered architect with over 30 years’ experience.
His neighbours describe him as a “family man” living with his wife and two children in a tight-knit community in Suffolk County.
But now authorities are describing him as the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer who unleashed terror along the shores of Long Island more than a decade ago.
So who is Rex Heuermann?
Rex Heuermann: Who is serial killer suspect in Gilgo Beach murders
WATCH: Last known movements of Gilgo Beach victim Megan Waterman
Thursday 3 August 2023 22:15 , Rachel Sharp
Evidence against Rex Heuermann includes hundreds of hours of footage: prosecutors
Thursday 3 August 2023 21:00 , Rachel Sharp
The trove of evidence against Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann includes hundreds of hours of footage from his home in Massapequa Park and his office in Midtown Manhattan, according to prosecutors.
The accused killer appeared in court in Suffolk County on Tuesday for a brief preliminary hearing.
In the hearing, prosecutors outlined the wealth of evidence against him including 2,500 pages of documents, crime scene photographs, autopsy reports.
The evidence was turned over to Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei and Mr Heuermann’s attorney Michael Brown. It has been sealed under a protective order, limiting its release to the public.
Daughter of Happy Face Serial Killer launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s family
Thursday 3 August 2023 20:15 , Rachel Sharp
The daughter of the notorious Happy Face Killer has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann “start her new life”.
Melissa Moore announced her decision to try to help Asa Ellerup as she compared their experiences discovering that a close family member had spent years leading a “double life” as an alleged serial killer.
“Today, I have an opportunity to use my voice to help Asa, who isn’t in a place to speak about the terror and horror she and her family are experiencing at this moment,” she said.
Read the full story:
Happy Face Killer’s daughter launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach suspect’s wife
Prosecutors seek Rex Heuermann DNA swab
Thursday 3 August 2023 19:41 , Megan Sheets
Prosecutors in the Gilgo Beach murders case have asked the court to obtain a swab of suspect Rex Heuermann’s DNA.
CNN reported on the request on Thursday, two days after Mr Heuermann appeared in court for an evidentiary hearing.
Previous court filings revealed that investigators used discarded pizza crust to link Mr Heuermann to the killings.
Read more about prior evidence:
How pizza crust, burner phones and wife’s hairs led police to Gilgo Beach suspect
Rex Heuermann’s wife says home was left in ruin from search
Thursday 3 August 2023 19:15 , Rachel Sharp
This week, Rex Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup broke her silence in her first interview since her husband’s arrest where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering... anxiety,” she told The New York Post.
“My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.”
Rex A Heuermann, the architect accused of murdering at least three women near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, appears in Suffolk County Court on Tuesday
Their daughter Victoria has been left feeling “not human”, with Ms Ellerup’s lawyer Bob Macedonio explaining that the family had been treated “like animals”.
Ms Ellerup spoke out as she said that the family’s home in Massapequa Park had been left in tatters by investigators who spent almost two weeks combing through the property for evidence connected to the murders or for trophies the accused killer took from his victims.
Images show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere.
Mr Macedonio told the Post that he is making an itemised list of the damage to send to the DA’s office.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said last week that a “massive amount of evidence” had been recovered from the home which Mr Heuermann grew up in as a child – and which he went on to share with his family up until his sudden arrest.
No human remains were discovered, but a trove of around 270 guns were seized from the home.
The DA previously revealed that they believe at least some of the murders may have taken place inside the home.
WATCH: Evidence removed from home of Long Island serial killer suspect
Thursday 3 August 2023 18:15 , Rachel Sharp
ICYMI: Sex workers reveal recordings of calls with Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect
Thursday 3 August 2023 17:15 , Rachel Sharp
Multiple sex workers have revealed that they held onto recordings of phone calls with the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect after he contacted them – but they refused to meet with him.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon told The Independent in a statement on Monday that officials have been interviewing sex workers as they are booked into local jails about any past encounters they had with Rex Heuermann.
So far, two women have revealed that they not only were in contact with the accused killer but also had made recordings of conversations with him.
Read the full story:
Sex workers reveal recordings of calls with Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect
Rex Heuermann is ‘traumatised’ by Gilgo Beach murders arrest, attorney says
Thursday 3 August 2023 16:15 , Rachel Sharp
Rex Heuermann’s attorney has said that the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer is “traumatised” by his sudden arrest – as he claims that the 59-year-old married father-of-two has already been “convicted by the media”.
Attorney Michael Brown told ABC News that he met the accused serial killer for the first time on Friday when he was arraigned on charges for murdering three women and dumping their bodies along the shores of Long Island.
He said that Mr Heuermann seemed normal in the meeting but was “traumatised” by the fact he had been taken into custody over the unsolved killings.
“Nothing struck me as unusual about him. He was articulate, he was intelligent, he was soft-spoken,” he said.
Eight gigabytes of evidence handed over in Rex Heuermann’s case
Thursday 3 August 2023 14:15 , Rachel Sharp
Attorneys for accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann have received a massive amount of evidence to review from the prosecution.
Mr Heuermann, the Manhattan architect accused of murdering at least three women and dumping their bodies along a remote stretch of shore in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach, appeared in court on Tuesday for the first time since his arraignment.
Mr Heuermann is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared in 2009 and 2010. Prosecutors say he’s also the main suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007.
Read the full story:
Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence
Rex Heuermann’s chilling response to arrest revealed
Thursday 3 August 2023 13:15 , Rachel Sharp
The Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect had a somewhat blase reaction when a group of plain-clothes police officers swooped on him in the heart of a busy Manhattan street and arrested him in connection to a chilling series of cold case murders, according to authorities.
Rex Heuermann was taken into custody on 13 July as he left the office of his architecture business in midtown Manhattan.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison has now revealed the accused serial killer’s first words when officers descended on him more than 13 years after the victims’ bodies were found discarded along Gilgo Beach, Long Island.
Mr Harrison told NBC News that the 59-year-old married father-of-two was dismissive of the allegations – but then quickly lawyered up.
“He very much said, ‘What am I here for? I don’t know nothing of what you’re talking about,’” he said.
“He asked for a lawyer – and that was the end of the conversation,” he added.
As the 59-year-old was processed into Suffolk County Jail on a string of murder charges, sources told CNN he did have another chilling question – this time about his newfound notoriety.
“Is it in the news?” he asked.
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s contact with wife revealed
Thursday 3 August 2023 12:15 , Rachel Sharp
The wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann has stayed in contact with him since his bombshell arrest for the murders of at least three women, it has been revealed.
Asa Ellerup – who has been married to the accused serial killer for more than 20 years and shares two adult children with him – has spoken to her husband in “personal” jailhouse phone calls while he remains behind bars in Suffolk County jail, her attorney Robert Macedonio told CNN on Tuesday.
“I believe there has [been contact] but you have to realise any phone calls are recorded out of the facility,” he said, declining to detail the contents of those conversations.
Read more here:
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s contact with wife revealed
WATCH: Gilgo Beach, the story so far
Thursday 3 August 2023 11:15 , Rachel Sharp
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s wife speaks out for first time
Thursday 3 August 2023 10:15 , Rachel Sharp
The wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann broke her silence in her first interview this week where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering... anxiety,” Asa Ellerup told The New York Post.
“My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.”
Their daughter Victoria has been left feeling “not human”, with Ms Ellerup’s lawyer Bob Macedonio explaining that the family had been treated “like animals”.
Ms Ellerup spoke out as she said that the family’s home in Massapequa Park had been left in tatters by investigators who spent almost two weeks combing through the property for evidence connected to the murders or for trophies the accused killer took from his victims.
Images show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere.
Mr Macedonio told the Post that he is making an itemised list of the damage to send to the DA’s office.
Daughter of Happy Face Serial Killer launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s family
Thursday 3 August 2023 09:15 , Rachel Sharp
The daughter of the notorious Happy Face Killer has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann “start her new life”.
Melissa Moore announced her decision to try to help Asa Ellerup as she compared their experiences discovering that a close family member had spent years leading a “double life” as an alleged serial killer.
“Today, I have an opportunity to use my voice to help Asa, who isn’t in a place to speak about the terror and horror she and her family are experiencing at this moment,” she said.
Read the full story:
Happy Face Killer’s daughter launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach suspect’s wife
WATCH: Rex Heuermann’s attorney says there will be no plea deals
Thursday 3 August 2023 08:15 , Rachel Sharp
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect ruled out of Atlantic City murders
Thursday 3 August 2023 07:15 , Rachel Sharp
A New Jersey prosecutor said Tuesday that the murders of several sex workers on Long Island do not appear to be related to the unsolved killings of four sex workers near Atlantic City in 2006.
Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds said detectives from his office met recently with detectives from Suffolk County, New York and compared information on the two sets of homicides.
Officers from both agencies compared “timelines, dates, methodologies, etc. of both cases,” the prosecutor said.
“There does not seem to be a connection between the suspect in the Gilgo Beach case and the Atlantic County homicides from 2006,” he said.
Representatives of the Suffolk County Police Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Ever since the bodies were found on Long Island, speculation quickly arose as to whether the killings might have been carried out by the same person or persons that killed four women whose bodies were found in a drainage ditch behind a string of seedy motels just outside Atlantic City in 2006.
The two sets of homicides involved sex workers whose bodies were dumped in remote, overgrown areas not far from the ocean.
No one has been charged in the New Jersey cases, which happened in Egg Harbor Township, near Atlantic City.
Reynolds said those cases remain open and active.
“Authorities will continue to follow all leads until the perpetrator of those crimes is brought to justice,” he said.
A joint investigation is being carried out by Atlantic City and Egg Harbor Township police, as well as state and federal law enforcement officers.
AP contributed to this report
Pizza crust, burner phones and his wife’s hair: How Long Island police tied Rex Heuermann to the Gilgo Beach murders
Thursday 3 August 2023 06:15 , Rachel Sharp
It’s taken 13 years but Suffolk County Police finally say they’ve caught the serial killer who dumped his victims along the shores of Gilgo Beach – thanks to a pimp’s tip about his pickup truck, a stash of burner phones, his wife’s hair and a pizza crust.
Rachel Sharp reports:
How pizza crust, burner phones and wife’s hairs led police to Gilgo Beach suspect
Who is Rex Heuermann?
Thursday 3 August 2023 05:15 , Rachel Sharp
His Manhattan business describes him as a registered architect with over 30 years’ experience.
His neighbours describe him as a “family man” living with his wife and two children in a tight-knit community in Suffolk County.
But now authorities are describing him as the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer who unleashed terror along the shores of Long Island more than a decade ago.
So who is Rex Heuermann?
Rex Heuermann’s wife pleads to be left alone
Thursday 3 August 2023 03:15 , Rachel Sharp
In a statement released through her lawyers Macedonio & Duncan, Rex Heuermann’s wife has pleaded to be left alone.
“On behalf of my family and especially my elderly neighbors, who have also had their lives turned upside down by the enormous police presence, in addition to the spectators, and news crews,” Ms Ellerup’s statement read.
“They deserve to live peacefully; they should be able to walk their dogs and go to the grocery stores without cameras shoved in their faces.
“I am pleading with you all to give us space so that we may regain some normalcy in our neighborhood.”
VOICES: Gilgo Beach and the ‘normal’ man turned serial killer
Thursday 3 August 2023 02:15 , Rachel Sharp
“While news of the arrest of Long Island resident Rex Heuermann on multiple counts of murder may have sent ripples of shock through his community, the revelation that a “normal” man was capable of such heinous acts of violence was hardly surprising for sex workers and their advocates. Violence – including infrequent but horrendous instances of serial predators and killers – is too often a reality for those engaged in sexual labour.
“Media coverage has typically focused on dissecting the police investigation, and now the killer’s biography. Of course, the media has long been interested in stories of serial killers preying on sex workers, and there has been no shortage of such cases. From the sensationalist reporting of Jack the Ripper in Victorian-era London to the Yorkshire Ripper case in 1970s England, from Robert Pickton’s terrorising of Indigenous women in Vancouver (1990s) to Seattle’s “Green River Killer” (1980s-90s), serial predators have long targeted people in the sex trades. The Dallas police have just arrested a man on suspicion of the murders of three sex workers.”
Dr Jayne Swift writes:
Gilgo Beach and the ‘normal’ man turned serial killer
PREMIUM: Horror on the shore: the murder spree that has gripped America
Thursday 3 August 2023 01:15 , Rachel Sharp
Back in 2010, very few people knew the name Gilgo Beach.
The small beach in Long Island didn’t have the same draw for New York day-trippers or staycationers as the shores along other oceanfront towns like Montauk or East Hampton.
And for anyone outside of New York state, they’d likely never even heard of it.
That all changed one night in May when a terrified woman called 911 begging for help to save her from someone she believed was trying to kill her.
A search of the area for the missing woman followed – and what it uncovered was something that placed Gilgo Beach on the map forever.
The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:
The murder cold case that has gripped America
WATCH: Rex Heuermann makes court appearance
Thursday 3 August 2023 00:15 , Rachel Sharp
When will Rex Heuermann next appear in court?
Thursday 3 August 2023 16:29 , Rachel Sharp
Rex Heuermann appeared in court in Suffolk County on Tuesday for a brief preliminary hearing.
His next court date was set for 27 September when he will appear for a pre-trial conference hearing.
Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence as he faces court in Gilgo Beach murders case
Wednesday 2 August 2023 23:15 , Rachel Sharp
Attorneys for accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann have received a massive amount of evidence to review from the prosecution.
Mr Heuermann, the Manhattan architect accused of murdering at least three women and dumping their bodies along a remote stretch of shore in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach, appeared in court on Tuesday for the first time since his arraignment.
Mr Heuermann is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared in 2009 and 2010. Prosecutors say he’s also the main suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007.
Read the full story:
Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann’s defence buried in mountain of evidence
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s wife breaks silence in first interview
Wednesday 2 August 2023 22:15 , Rachel Sharp
The wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann broke her silence in her first interview this week where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror.
“I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering... anxiety,” Asa Ellerup told The New York Post.
“My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.”
Their daughter Victoria has been left feeling “not human”, with Ms Ellerup’s lawyer Bob Macedonio explaining that the family had been treated “like animals”.
Ms Ellerup spoke out as she said that the family’s home in Massapequa Park had been left in tatters by investigators who spent almost two weeks combing through the property for evidence connected to the murders or for trophies the accused killer took from his victims.
Images show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere.
Mr Macedonio told the Post that he is making an itemised list of the damage to send to the DA’s office.
