By KATIE McLAUGHLIN
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (Court TV) — Rex Heuermann is set to appear before a Suffolk County, New York judge Tuesday for a pre-trial conference hearing.
Heuermann faces charges in connection with the killings of several women whose bodies were found along a highway near Gilgo Beach. DNA taken from pizza crust linked the suspected Long Island Serial Killer to the murders.
This booking image provided by Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, shows Rex Heuermann, a Long Island architect who was charged Friday, July 14, 2023, with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders. (Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office via AP0
Heuermann, 59, was taken into custody on July 13 by detectives and indicted for the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello.
The defendant also remains a prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
READ MORE: Search ends at home of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer
Barthelemy’s remains were discovered during a training exercise on December 11, 2010, along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. Two days later, the bodies of Brainard-Barnes, Waterman, and Costello were unearthed.
All four homicide victims were petite females whose bodies were discovered bound in a similar fashion. The women are believed to have been sex workers. Prior to their disappearance, they’d all been contacted by someone using a burner phone.
According to police, the suspect communicated with each victim using four separate burner phones.
Phone records led investigators to believe that the suspected serial killed lived in Massapequa Park on Long Island and commuted into midtown Manhattan.
Heuermann worked as an architect near New York’s Penn Station.
Police learned Heuermann had access to several burner phones and that calls to the victims had been made from inside what authorities referred to as “the box.”
This combination of undated image provided by the Suffolk County Police Department, shows Melissa Barthelemy, top left, Amber Costello, top right, Megan Waterman, bottom left, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes. (Suffolk County Police Department via AP)
READ MORE: Gilgo Beach Murders: What Caused Delay in Investigation?
The suspect would also call the victims’ families and taunt them. In one instance, he asked Barthelemy’s teenaged sister, “Do you think you’ll ever speak to her again?”
In March of 2022, an investigator found a witness description of a man that matched characteristics of Heuermann seen at Costello’s home: the man was described as a large man, between 6’4″ and 6’6″ tall, driving a dark-colored first generation Chevrolet Avalanche.
Investigators obtained Heuermann’s DNA from a discarded pizza crust and linked him to a hair that was found on a piece of burlap covering Waterman’s body.
Heuermann says he is innocent. Court TV will bring you all the details on Tuesday’s hearing.
