Gilgo Beach murders – updates: Serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann charged with fourth murder
Rex Heuermann appeared in Suffolk County Courthouse in Long Island on Tuesday where he was charged with the murder of a fourth victim
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Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann is back in court today where he is expected to be formally charged with the murder of a fourth victim.
The 60-year-old Manhattan architect appeared in Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead, Long Island – a hearing that comes weeks before the accused killer had been scheduled to return to court.
Mr Heuermann was arrested back in July in what marked a bombshell development in the notorious case that had rumbled on unsolved for over a decade, after the remains of 11 victims were found dumped along the shores.
At the time, he was charged with the murders of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy – who each vanished after going to meet a client for sex work.
On Tuesday, Mr Heuermann was charged with a fourth murder related to the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Together, the four women he’s accused of killing are known as the “Gilgo Four”.
Suffolk County DA Raymond Tierney held a press conference after the court appearance, remarking on the “cutting edge” technology that led to the new charges.
What did Tuesday’s filing say?
The Suffolk County DA’s office slapped Rex Heuermann with a fresh charge of second-degree murder in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Brainard-Barnes was last seen alive on 9 July 2007, when she left a motel in Manhattan to meet a client for sex work.
Just before midnight on 9 July 2007, Brainard-Barnes called a friend in Connecticut to say she would be going to meet a client on an “out-call” outside of the motel.
She was never seen or heard from again.
The superseding indictment reveals phone records and bills that show that Asa Ellerup, his estranged wife, and their children checked into a hotel in Atlantic City from 6 July through 20 July 2007.
Mr Heuermann allegedly stayed behind in New York until 13 July, when he joined his family. On 9 July Brainard-Barnes disappeared.
“Based on the foregoing, the murders of all four victims occurred at times when Defendant Heuermann’s wife and children were traveling out of state, which allowed Defendant Heuermann unfettered time to execute his plans for each victim without any fear that his family would uncover or learn of his involvement in these crimes,” the superseding indictment states.
New evidence revealed in superseding indictment
The superseding indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, found that – based on further DNA testing – the hair found on Brainard-Barnes’ body was 7.9 trillion times more likely to have come from Ms Ellerup than from an unrelated individual.
It also revealed new details about the evidence tying Mr Heuermann to the other three victims.
Prosecutors allege that an analysis of Mr Heuermann’s laptop indicates that he used file shredding software on 9 July 2009, not long before he was to meet with Barthelemy.
“Investigators believe this was an attempt to “shred” any digital evidence of the laptop computer being utilized to search for Melissa Barthelemy’s prostitution advertisement,” the documents state.
Rachel Sharp has the full story...
Rex Heuermann charged with murder of fourth Gilgo Beach victim
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was last seen alive in July 2007, when she left a motel in Manhattan to meet a client for sex work
Who is Rex Heuermann?
He is a 60-year-old Manhattan architect and married father-of-two.
Dramatic video captured him walking along a Manhattan road when he was suddenly surrounded by plainclothes officers and taken into custody.
Heuermann is president of architecture firm RH Consultants & Associates, a company that he founded in 1994 and where his adult daughter also works.
According to the company website, Mr Heuermann’s company has worked with the likes of Catholic Charities, NYC-DEP Sewerage Treatment and American Airlines and other major tenants at the JFK International Airport.
A company page called Meet The Team and featuring his photo was taken downas news of his arrest broke.
In an interview posted on YouTube by Bonjour Realty last year, the father-of-two said that he was “born and raised in Long Island” but had been “working in Manhattan since 1987... [a] very long time”.
The architecture firm is based in Midtown Manhattan – where some of the Gilgo Beach victims were last seen alive.
According to court records, phone calls made from burner phones and some of the victims’ cellphones can be traced to his office.
In his professional life, some acquaintances described him as arrogant while others said he was “creepy”.
He has now been accused of murdering four women.
Map of where the Gilgo Beach victims were recovered
Attorney for suspected Gilgo Beach killer’s wife emphasises she was out of town during murders
The timeline of the ‘Gilgo Four'
- July 2007, Maureen Brainard-Barnes called a friend in Connecticut to say she would be going to meet a client on an “out-call” outside of the motel; she was never seen or heard from again.
- May 2010: Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old sex worker from New Jersey, vanished after visiting a client in Oak Park and making a chilling 911 call where she revealed fears for her life.
- September 2010: Amber Costello was last seen leaving her North Babylon home
- That same month, Megan Waterman, 22 , disappeared
- December 2010: Melissa Barthelemy remains were discovered along Ocean Parkway during the search for Gilbert
- Days later, the remains of Brainard-Barnes, Waterman and Costello were found nearby
- Spring 2011: 10 victims had been uncovered
- December 2011: Glibert’s remains were found
How were the Gilgo Beach victims murdered?
For more than a decade, the Gilgo Beach murders 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, a 24-year-old sex worker, 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.
In the chilling call, released last year, Gilbert is heard repeatedly telling the 911 operator that “somebody’s after me”.
She is also heard arguing with a man – who she refers to as Mike – who appears to be trying to encourage her to get back into a car; at one point, she is heard asking if he is “going to kill” her.
Read the full story...
Gilgo Beach murders: Time has come to prosecute, DA says after Rex Heuermann charged
What took so long for the charges related to Maureen Brainard-Barnes to be brought?
The Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney said at a press conference on Tuesday that they were awaiting the result of a DNA test regarding the hair found on a belt that was restraining Brainard-Barnes.
The prosecutors used a nuclear DNA test, which the DA called “cutting edge” as apparently “everyone has separate nuclear DNA profile.”
The test showed a damning find. “The DNA profile generated from the Female Hair on Barnes...is 7.9 trillion times more likely to have come from a person genetically identical” to Asa Ellerup, Heuermann’s wife, “than from an unrelated individual,” the indictment said.
“Ms. Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann were out of the state at the time of these murders, which provides further support that Rex A. Heuermann murdered, restrained, and transported the remains of the victims to Gilgo Beach until they were ultimately discovered in December 2010,” the filing explained.
ICYMI: What do the fresh charges say?
Heuermann was second-degree murder for the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes in July 2007.
He joined his wife and children in Atlantic City a week after his family arrived, the superseding indictment states.
“Based on the foregoing, the murders of all four victims occurred at times when Defendant Heuermann’s wife and children were traveling out of state, which allowed Defendant Heuermann unfettered time to execute his plans for each victim without any fear that his family would uncover or learn of his involvement in these crimes,” the filing says.
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