Updated 01:02 | Published 00:53
59-year-old Rex Heuermann was arrested in New York on Thursday on suspicion of three murders in a serial killing spree.
The murders, which took place between 2010 and 2011, have made headlines over the years and are depicted in the film “Lost Girls”.
– He felt like an ordinary neighbor, says Barry Auslander to the New York Post.
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At 22:00, Swedish time, published The New York Post the identity of the man arrested on Long Island outside New York on Thursday, suspected of three murders that took place more than ten years ago.
59-year-old Rex Heuermann is a well-established architect and married father of a daughter and a stepson. He is said to have also attended the same class as Hollywood actor Billy Baldwin.
– He felt like an ordinary neighbor. I never thought he was anything other than an ordinary businessman who had a family and went to work, says neighbor Barry Auslander to the newspaper.
Gilgo four
Heuermann is indicted on six counts for three murders of the four women, whose bodies were found wrapped in burlap only days apart in 2010 and who in the American media have been called the “Gilgo Four”.
He is also the prime suspect in the disappearance and death of the fourth woman. But cannot yet be charged with her murder as the investigation is still ongoing.
Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the charges during Friday’s detention hearing.
The almost cold case linked to eleven bodies found between 2010 and 2011 at Gilgo Beach on Long Island. The hunt for the perpetrators began in 2010 when the body of 24-year-old sex worker Shannan Gilbert was found after she left a client’s house. The murders have long puzzled investigators, and in 2020 the Netflix movie “Lost Girls”, a mystery drama based on the incident, was made.
A total of 11 bodies were found between 2010 and 2011 – nine women, one man and an infant. Most of the victims were just like Gilbert’s, female sex workers.
Investigators have long argued that it is unlikely that only one perpetrator carried out the murders.
Linked after dna on pizza
Police who had a span on Heuermann was able to link him to three of the murders in March of this year when they found his DNA from a pizza edge he threw in a trash can. The DNA findings matched the DNA previously found from a hair on one of the sack weavers used in the murders.
Police investigators were also able to link him to disposable mobile phones used to meet up with the murdered women. Until he was arrested, he allegedly continued to use disposable phones to abuse sex workers and search the Internet for child pornography. He should also have access to 92 pistols, according to the prosecutor.
– This is a long-awaited day. Hopefully it will bring peace to the community and families, New York City Mayor Kathy Hochul said.
FACTSGilgo Four
check Melissa Barthelemy, 24
Was a sex worker who was found dead on December 11, 2010. She was last seen on July 18, 2009. She was the first of the four women found, but is believed to be the second murder in the Gilgo Four sequence.
check Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25
Sex worker, whose body was found on December 13, 2010. She was last seen alive on July 6, 2007. The weekend she disappeared, she had traveled with a friend. She was reported missing on July 14 after she told a friend she was going to visit a client. Brainard-Barnes is believed to be the first murdered of the four.
check Megan Waterman, 22
Was a single mother and sex worker. She was last seen on June 6, 2010. She was reported missing two days later. Her body was found on December 13, 2010.
check Amber Lynn Costello, 27
Sex worker. Last seen on September 2, 2010 and her body was found on December 13, 2010. She was never reported missing.
All were found dead at a distance of approximately 400 meters from each other.
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