A Long Island architect has been charged with the murders of three women in Giglo Beach, New York, over a decade ago as police continue to investigate the murders of at least 11 victims in the area.
Rex Heuermann, 59, has been charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27, whose bodies were found in close proximity to one another in 2010.
Detectives say they have matched DNA from a pizza that Heuermann ate to genetic material found on the murdered women's remains. Heuermann pleaded not guilty to all charges in Suffolk County Court on Friday afternoon.
Speaking at a news conference on Friday, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison described Heuermann as a "demon who walks among us" and a "predator that ruined families".
He has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in relation to the three killings.
The judge presiding over the case ordered the Heuermann be remanded in custody, citing the "extreme depravity" of the crimes.
Heuermann reportedly broke down in tears in court and told his attorney Michael Brown that he "didn't do this".
Brown told the court that his client was "distraught" by the charges and described the evidence as "extremely circumstantial".
Suffolk police said he is also the prime suspect in the murder of 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes, an Irish-American mother-of-two from Connecticut who was found close to Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said on Friday that the four victims were found "similarly positioned", adding that they had been bound in a similar fashion.
Tierney told reporters that the case against Heuermann was built on mobile phone records linking him to the victims. He added that investigators had also linked him to a pick-up truck that had been seen near one of the victim's homes.
Phone records indicate that the deaths took place while Heuermann's wife and children were out of town. He allegedly used burner phones to make contact with the victims.
Authorities said hair found on a piece of burlap used to wrap one of the victims matched a sample of DNA taken from a pizza box that Heuermann discarded in January 2023.
Investigators also state that Heuermann made taunting phone calls to Barthelemy's family using her mobile phone.
All four women were found wrapped in burlap along the Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach in Long Island in December 2010. Investigators have said that all four women were sex workers.
Brainard-Barnes had been missing since July 2007 when her body was discovered, while Barthelemy had been missing since July 2009. Meanwhile, Waterman and Costello and Waterman had been missing since June 2010 and September 2010 respectively.
Richard Dormer, the former Irish-American Commissioner of the Suffolk County Police Department, said at the time that it was not "a coincidence that four bodies turned up in the same location". Dormer added that it appeared as though "somebody targeted these individuals and dumped them".
By April, police had found a total of ten bodies in the area, including eight women, one unidentified man wearing women's clothing, and a toddler aged between 18 and 24 months.
All 10 bodies were found during the search for Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old Irish-American woman who worked as an escort. Gilbert was last seen on May 1, 2010, after a job in Oak Beach, located several miles from Gilgo Beach.
Gilbert made a panicked phone call to 911 dispatchers, informing them that there was someone "after her".
She was last seen screaming for help and banging on doors in Oak Beach.
Police discovered her remains in December 2011 in a marsh half a mile from where she was last seen. Investigators determined that Gilbert drowned while attempting to reach the parkway and ruled her death as accidental. Gilbert's family disputes the ruling and maintains that she was murdered.
Her family's theory is supported by an independent autopsy.
Police established a new task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach murders in 2022, with Heuermann becoming the focus of the investigation within a month, according to Tierney.
Police said he has used a burner phone to make more than 200 searches related to serial killings and the Gilgo Beach murders in the last year, including a search for "why hasn't the Long Island serial killer been caught".
Tierney said police also found torture porn and images of women being abused and killed on Heuermann's home computer.
Heuermann is the owner of the Manhattan-based architecture firm RH Consultants and Associates. He lives in Long Island's Massapequa Park and reportedly has a daughter and a stepson.
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