RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – A year after the arrest of Rex Heuermann, a New York City architect accused of living a double life in the family-friendly Massapequa Park suburb, a task force is still pulling new evidence out of the trove of items seized during a 12-day search of his house.
On July 13, 2023, Suffolk County police arrested Heuermann, now 60, outside his Manhattan office in three cold case murders — the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27, in 2010.
Over the next 12 months, they tacked on charges in four additional slayings. First, they charged him with killing Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, whose remains were near the other three. Then they filed charges for the alleged murders of Jessica Taylor in 2003 and Sandra Costilla in 1993.
GILGO BEACH SERIAL KILLER SUSPECT ALLEGEDLY HAS MORE VICTIMS, HUNTING GROUNDS THAN POLICE FIRST IMAGINED
Alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, center, inside Suffolk County Court in Riverhead June 6, 2024. His attorney, Michael J. Brown, is at left. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)
He remains the prime suspect in at least one more murder, the killing of Valerie Mack, whose remains were also dismembered and scattered across two locations, the brush east of Gilgo Beach and the woods of Manorville. Investigators in at least three other states where Heuermann had ties are also examining cold cases in their jurisdictions for potential connections.
SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER
Heuermann’s suspected victims were all notably petite, many barely 5 feet tall. In a gruesome note to self recovered from one of his computers by forensic investigators, Heuermann allegedly wrote that “small is good.”
The computer file, known as “HK2002-04,” had been deleted but was still accessible by law enforcement. In it, Heuermann allegedly kept a list of “problems,” “supplies,” targets and dump sites.
An evidence photo shows Rex Heuermann’s personal copy of “The Cases That Haunt Us,” a book detailing several famous serial murder cases, in his home office. According to court documents, the book was discovered when authorities executed a search warrant in July 2023. (Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office)
When he wasn’t designing buildings or preying on women, prosecutors allege Heuermann read up on other serial killers and studied the work of John Douglas, a former FBI profiler who wrote the influential book “Mindhunter.”
REX HEUERMANN’S FAMILY KEPT GRUESOME PIECE OF EVIDENCE, SOURCE SAYS
He even listed page numbers from the book in the HK document and kept a running list of traffic cameras along the two highways between his home and the two known dump sites in Manorville and North Sea toward the eastern end of Long Island.
Rex Heuermann’s house in Massapequa Park, N.Y., July 26, 2023. (MEGA for Fox News Digital )
The file, in part, led police to search those locations and to return to Heuermann’s house for a second look, months after they spent nearly two weeks scouring through it.
Four of Heuermann’s alleged victims are referred to as the Gilgo Four, whose remains were all discovered near one another just east of Gilgo Beach south of Long Island’s Great South Bay.
An undated photo of Sandra Costilla. Prosecutors announced June 6, 2024, that Rex Heuermann is charged with the alleged murder of Costilla, whose remains were found in November 1993.
Both Taylor and Costilla were dismembered, and police found parts of their remains near Gilgo Beach and parts in eastern Long Island.
FOLLOW THE FOX TRUE CRIME TEAM ON X
Police found 11 bodies along Ocean Parkway, east of Gilgo Beach, in 2010 and 2011, after Shannan Gilbert placed a panicked 911 call begging for help in the neighboring community of Oak Beach.
A sign welcoming visitors to Gilgo Beach outside a tunnel that connects a parking lot to the beach underneath Ocean Parkway. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News)
An investigation into most of the deaths remains ongoing, although Gilbert’s demise has been ruled an accidental drowning, a finding disputed by a private autopsy conducted by Dr. Michael Baden, who found evidence of strangulation.
GET REAL TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB
According to the filings, police have now received reports of Heuermann’s old Chevy Avalanche from two witnesses in two separate murders. They have decades of phone records and internet searches. They have his DNA.
The Gilgo Four, clockwise from top left: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. The background shows a wooden cross in the marsh next to Gilgo Beach, N.Y., where their remains were found in the brush just yards from Ocean Parkway. (Suffolk County Police Department/Mega for Fox News Digital)
As the case against Heuermann has progressed, his family has struggled to get by.
His wife, Asa Ellerup, filed for divorce shortly after his arrest and then revealed she was fighting cancer.
Her attorney, Bob Macedonio, told Fox News Digital this week her life remains upside-down.
Jessica Taylor, left, and Valerie Mack, right, were both murdered and dismembered. Suffolk County police discovered partial remains of each victim in both Manorville, N.Y., and along a stretch of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. (Suffolk County Police Department/Handout)
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“Every day after July 13, 2023, has been a new normal,” he said. “She’s in remission now. Her and her children are adjusting to life the best they can.”
Ellerup, who previously said she does not believe her estranged husband was capable of the horrific crimes he’s accused of, has continued to visit him in jail but is reserving judgment until the outcome of his trial.
