Rex Heuermann of Massapequa Park charged with murder in Gilgo Beach killings
MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. -- A quiet neighborhood turned into a crime scene Friday morning when police first descended on the area.
That's because the suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders, Rex Heuermann, lives on the bock.
It's a huge development in a case that first started in 2007 with the disappearance of Maureen Brainard Barnes. Since then, police have released the identities of five of at least 10 bodies that have been found Gilgo Beach.
We first brought you this breaking news in our 7 a.m. newscast streaming on CBS News New York, when we reported there had been an arrest.
Since then, police have released his name, and details of how they were able to track him down after all these years.
Heuermann was arraigned Friday. He pleaded not guilty to three counts of first degree and three counts of second degree murder.
"I would, first and foremost, like to offer my deepest condolences to the family members. To the family members of Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said.
More than a decade in the making, there has been an arrest in a serial killer case that baffled law enforcement, and the public, for 12 years.
"Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us. A predator that ruined families," Harrison said.
Heuermann, 59, is an architect, husband and father. A hulking man, he stood silent as District Attorney Ray Tierney detailed volumes of evidence allegedly linking him to the murders of Costello, Barthelemy and Waterman.
"These young women went missing between July of 2007 and September of 2010. They were found in December of 2010 by the Suffolk County Police Department, and then there was nothing," Tierney said.
Details of the investigation
- WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Read court documents describing the charges against Heuermann
The break in the case came last year. A car registered to Heuermann matched one described by a witness as having picked up Costello, a sex worker, before she disappeared. That led to cell records searches.
Prosecutors said Heuermann used burner phones to meet up with his victims, and later to taunt their relatives.
Cell phone tower pings connected him to victims while his wife and children were out of town. His DNA allegedly matched hairs found on duct tape used to bind them. The final connection: Pizza crust tossed in a Manhattan trash can offered a DNA match that officials said excluded more than 99% of the population.
"One of things that we was that we followed him, because we wanted to get an abandonment sample of his DNA, which we were able to do," Tierney said.
Court documents released Friday show Heuermann has been charged related to the "Gilgo Beach Four," after the bodies of Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Waterman, and Costello were found in close proximity to one another in 2010. All were sex workers, all petite and all found bound in burlap bags.
Heuermann is also a prime suspect in the murder of Brainard-Barnes.
In court documents, authorities said the recently reexamined investigation led them to take a closer look at a Chevrolet Avalanche that was registered to Heuermann at the time of the murders. Witnesses described the vehicle as being involved in Costello's killing.
Authorities said it led them to "a comprehensive investigation" of Heuermann, "which consisted of over 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence." The investigation turned up connections with burner cellphones and other calls and phone bills tied to the investigation.
"For example, on July 10, 2009, the last day Melissa Barthelemy was seen alive, both the burner phone and Defendant Heuermann's phone were in the area of Massapequa and traveled together toward New York City. Thereafter, both Ms. Barthelemy's phone and Heuermann's phone traveled eastbound toward Massapequa," prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Prosecutors further allege that some of Heuermann's internet searches, under an alias, included searches for child pornography and inquiries about the status of the Gilgo Beach investigation as well.
"The only thing I can tell you that he did say, as he was in tears was, 'I didn't do this.' We obviously don't have any evidence. This is the beginning of the case. Everybody is presumed innocent in our country," Heuermann's court-appointed attorney Michael Brown said.
Neighbors stunned
Neighbors woke up to the unimaginable revelation. The decade-long hunt for a serial killer was centered in their neighborhood.
"It's a shocker. I mean, it's a real eye-opener," neighbor RIchard Harmon said.
"It's crazy. It's mind-blowing. It's quiet Massapequa Park," neighbor Margaret Curley said.
"We spoke frequently, every day. And his kid is a nice kid, a special needs kid," neighbor Etienne DeVilliers said. "The guy's been quiet. Never really bothers anybody. We are kind of shocked."
DeVilliers said Heuermann grew up in the house with his parents and brother.
Neighbors said Heuermann did woodwork. A large cooler was removed from a house that many described as dilapidated.
"Every time we we would walk past the house, we would say why aren't we fixing this house up? It's the only one in the neighborhood that looks like that. And there were never any answers," neighbor Cheryl Lombardi said.
A moment more than a decade in the making
For more than a dozen years, the hunt for a serial killer, or killers, had gone nowhere. At least 10 victims' remains were discovered along a desolate stretch of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach after sex worker Shannan Gilbert disappeared.
In all, the murders of eight women, a man and a toddler remained unsolved.
Last year, Harrison rekindled the investigation. Police released new video and 911 calls of the victims, raising the reward for information to $50,000 and launched a website.
One citizen investigator thought this day would never come.
"For a while, no. Only recently. I want to give a shoutout to Rodney Harrison, the police commissioner. I think he's really doing a great job, taking it seriously," Michael McManus said.
"We have never stopped working on this case. There are police officers, Suffolk Police officers, who have retired now, but their efforts, their dedication - it has never stopped," said Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone. "The work is not done here. But this is a major major step forward in achieving the goal that we have had from the beginning. And that is, again to bring closure to these families and to bring justice to the victims in this case."
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