48 Hours - The Gilgo Beach Serial Killings: Rex Heuermann

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

The bound bodies of four women are found along a desolate stretch of beach. Disturbing new details about the architect police say is a serial killer. Erin Moriarty reports.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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and even your overall well-being. And you can enjoy Audible anytime, while doing household chores, exercising, commuting, you name it. There's more to imagine when you listen. Sign up for a free 30-day Audible trial and your first audiobook is free. Visit audible.ca. In 2014, Laura Heavlin was in her home in Tennessee when she received a call from California. Her daughter, Erin Corwin, was missing. The young wife of a Marine had moved to the California desert

to a remote base near Joshua Tree National Park. They have to alert the military. And when they do, the NCIS gets involved. From CBS Studios and CBS News, this is 48 Hours NCIS. Listen to 48 Hours NCIS ad-free starting October 29th on Amazon Music. It is a case that has haunted the public for more than 13 years, and many feared that the Gilgo Beach murders may never be solved. The officer located a body. It seemed to be wrapped in burlap, which didn't make any sense.

The crime scene gets expanded. I'm called, and chief, we found another set of remains. They find another one and another one. We were dealing with a serial killer. They're available, they're vulnerable, and very petite. This killer has a type. Right. Does he want the petite body because he wants to feel

more empowered and more in control? I want the world to know, like, my sister mattered. I want answers. I just want answers. An arrest more than a decade in the making in a serial killer case that's baffled law enforcement and the public. Fifty-nine-year-old Rex Huerman pled not guilty. I dropped my phone.

I couldn't believe it. So just who is Rex Huerman? An architect who ran a company called RH Consultants and Associates. Rex! Hello! Hi! How are you doing? Good to see you. When a job that should have been routine suddenly becomes not routine,

I get the phone call. Rex Heurman is a mystery man. Rex is capable of presenting himself one way to one person, one way to another person. My first memory of Rex was that he was very big, imposing, scary, angry. He was bullied. He was bigger than everyone else. The kids would gang up on him and Rex was very smart too. He's a smart person, very smart. He liked to shock people. He was interested in power games.

Rex loved hunting and he loved guns. Going out, shooting, hunting, that was his passion. All petite, all bound in burlap bags. The burlap on the bodies, that points right at a hunter. It was DNA collected from a pizza slice he tossed in a Manhattan trash can that came back as a match with hair found on the victims. That's where we obtained his full profile

from the pizza crust left in the box. In terms of speaking to my client, the only thing I can tell you that he did say as he was in tears was, I didn't do this. Everyone's just trying to put the pieces together. I wanna know what I missed. I think we all wanna know what we missed. Erin Moriarty reports,

the Gilgo Beach serial killings. Not far from this quiet stretch of Gilgo Beach on Long Island, New York, investigators uncovered the hidden remains of four young women. The mystery of who they were and how they got here might have stayed a secret, if not for a woman named Shannon Gilbert. In the early morning hours of May 1st, 2010, 23-year-old Shannon, working as an escort, called 911. State police? Yeah, they're trying to get after me. 911. State police? Yeah, there's somebody after me. The call came from a neighborhood not far from Gilgo Beach. These people are plotting to kill me. Shannon starts running, knocking on doors.

Where are you, Shannon? She screams. Where are you, Shannon? She screams. And then, nothing. Shannon was gone. Hello? Hello? Hello? Canine searched the area exhaustively for Sean and Gilda.

Dominic Varone was chief of detectives at the Suffolk County Police Department. Months passed without a sign of the missing woman. And then in December 2010, near Gilgo Beach, a police officer and his canine named Blue found human remains. Everyone assumed it was Shannon Gilbert. But it wasn't Shannon. Stunned searchers would go on to discover the remains of four other women. The women were identified as Maureen Brainerd Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. Like Shannon, all were in their 20s. All were online escorts.

All petite. Three of the four were wrapped in burlap, the kind you can find in hunting stores. They became known as the Gilgo Four. It's really, really hard because I miss her so much. 48 Hours has reported on this case since 2010. Over the years, we've secured exclusive interviews with the family and friends of the Gilgo Four. Missy Kan will never forget the wintry day when she got the devastating news. The detectives came to my house and just said that Maureen has been positively

identified as one of the victims on Ocean Parkway. Her sister Maureen Brainerd Barnes, a mother of two, was the first to disappear on July 9th, 2007. She was very smart and very creative. She liked being a mom? She loved being a mom. But life as a single mom living in Norwich, Connecticut was difficult. Missy didn't know it, but Maureen had turned to escort work, and that July went to New York City for a weekend to make

money. On her way home she called Missy from Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan. I could hear the commotion from the train station. From the time that she called me it was poof she was gone. She reported Maureen missing. Eventually, officers would tell Missy that after her sister's disappearance, someone had used Maureen's cell phone to make a call from Long Island. It wasn't known then, but those two locations, Long Island and Midtown Manhattan, would become important clues in the hunt for a serial killer. Nearly two years to the day that Maureen vanished, 24-year-old Melissa Bartholomew went missing in July of 2009, also from Midtown Manhattan. Lynn Bartholomew is Melissa's mother.

How often do you think about Melissa? Every single minute of the day. It just didn't happen to the girls. I mean, it just destroyed all of our families. Melissa moved from Buffalo to New York City to work as a hairdresser. At some point, she also began working as an escort and then disappeared.

About a week after she went missing, Melissa's then 15-year-old sister Amanda started getting calls from Melissa's phone. We agreed not to show Amanda's face. She answers, you know, Melissa, where have you been? And this voice is saying, oh, this isn't Melissa. Stephen Cohen was the family's lawyer at the time. He was taunting Amanda, and he said, do you know what I did to your sister? I killed Melissa. All I can say is he's sick,

and he's going to make a mistake mistake and we're going to catch him. Those calls from Melissa's own phone may very well have been that mistake. When police traced them, the calls placed the person they believed to be Melissa's killer in Midtown Manhattan. The following year, Megan Waterman, the mother of a three-year-old girl, disappeared from a hotel on Long Island. Part of you is, like, missing. It's just, like, something's always off. We spoke with Megan's daughter, Liliana, in 2020.

I would do anything to bring her back, but I can't, and it just, like, frustrates me so bad. Megan's family says the 22-year-old was a creative but troubled young woman who loved fashion and was devoted to her daughter. What would you say to your mom if you could? I would just want to tell her that like I love her I just want her to know like she has a special place in my heart no one can ever replace her like the other two women Megan disappeared in the summer on June 6 2010 she was working as an escort on Long Island no matter what her job was

she was a person and and she needs justice. This haunting video from a Holiday Inn Express is the last time she was seen alive, moments before she went to meet a client. Cell phone records later placed her phone in a Long Island neighborhood called Massapequa Park. neighborhood called Massapequa Park. Amber Costello was the last of the Gilgo Four to disappear. She lived here just seven and a half miles from Massapequa Park. She used to say she was 4'11", but she wasn't.

She was like 4'9", you know? I mean, she was small. Amber's friend and former roommate, Dave Schaller, spoke with us in 2011. She was an amazing person. She really was. He says Amber was addicted to drugs and used sex work to support her habit. But as amazing as she was, was as tormented as she was. After Amber disappeared, police say Schard told them about her clients he described one of

them as looking like an ogre and having a first generation chevrolet avalanche on the night she went missing challer says a client offered amber fifteen hundred dollars for the night six times her hourly rate this guy was so relentless. He called several times. He was on the phone with her for quite a while each time. He says the client got Amber, an experienced escort, to do something she never did, leave without her purse or cell phone and meet him in his car.

I walked out the front door with her. She gave me a hug. She's like, I love you. And she left. It was nearly midnight. Schaller says that when Amber left this house, she walked down the street and he never saw her again. Schaller told us that he didn't see the client's face that night, but suspects he had seen him before. So this is a guy you might have seen yeah this is somebody that I seen I might be the one of the only people who

knows who he is it would be more than a decade before Schaller's description would lead to a break in the case and a prime suspect To see a timeline of how the case unfolded, go to 48hours.com It was 1989 in Titusville, Florida. Kim Halleck said she and her ex-boyfriend Chip Flynn

were kidnapped and attacked at gunpoint. Kim fled the scene but Chip didn't make it out alive. Did you kill Chip Flynn? No, ma'am. Crosley Green has lived more than half his life behind bars for a crime he says he didn't commit. I'm Erin Moriarty of 48 Hours, and of all the cases I've covered, this is the one that troubles me most, involving an eyewitness account that doesn't quite make sense. A sister testified against a brother. They always say lies. You can't make sense. A sister testifying against a brother.

They always say lies. You can't remember lies. A lack of physical evidence and questions about whether Crosley Green was accused, arrested, and convicted because he's Black. Just because a white female says a Black man has committed a crime, we take that as gospel. Listen to Murder in the Orange Grove, the Trouble Case Against Crosley Green, early and ad-free with a 48-hours-plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. Hot-shot Australian attorney Nicola Gaba

was born into legal royalty. Her specialty? Representing some of the city's most infamous gangland criminals. However, while Nicola held the underworld's darkest secrets, the most dangerous secret was her own. She's going to all the major groups within Melbourne's underworld, and she's informing on them all. I'm Marsha Clark, host of the new podcast, Informants Lawyer X. In my long career in criminal justice as a prosecutor and defense attorney, I've seen some crazy cases, and this one belongs right at the top of the list.

She was addicted to the game she had created. She just didn't know how to stop. Now, through dramatic interviews and access, I'll reveal the truth behind one of the world's most shocking legal scandals. Listen to Informant's Lawyer X exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify,

and listen to more Exhibit C true crime shows early and ad-free right now. The shocking developments in a murder case gone cold. My coworker called me and she said, did you hear what happened to Rex? And I'm like, no. A husband, a father, an architect stood before a judge charged as a serial killer.

She says, it's Rex. I said, no way. This house was a main focus and they brought out a lot of evidence. I just didn't think it was real. A Long Island community is still a crime scene tonight. I even thought to myself, it's crazy that there's two Rex Heuermans out there.

Mary Schell and Muriel Henriquez worked with Rex Heuermann and couldn't wrap their heads around the news. We never thought he would be that kind of person. It's shocking. In July of 2023, nearly 13 years after the Gilgo Four were discovered, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison made the announcement. Authorities believe Rex Heuermann is the Long Island serial killer. Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us.

A predator that ruined families. The man he calls a demon is a 6'4 architect. He's charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, and is the prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainerd Barnes. What has my client told me? He told me he didn't do this. Heuermann was living about 20 minutes from Gilgo Beach in Massapequa Park, the very same town where Megan's phone last connected with the cell tower. And Heuermann worked here at his architectural firm in Midtown Manhattan, just blocks from where Maureen disappeared, the same area where several of the threatening calls

to Melissa's little sister were made. The cause of death with regard to the three victims is homicidal violence. A married man, Heuermann, lived in this run-down house and has a daughter and stepson with his second wife, Asa. Asa, who was born in Iceland, would take the children to see her family there in the summers. It was during these trips and others, police believe, that Huerman killed the women. You never got any kind of hint of another life?

No. Uriel Henriquez worked at Heuermann's company RH Consultants and Associates and spoke exclusively to 48 Hours. She says she saw nothing alarming about the Rex Heuermann she saw daily. A little bit of a nerd in a way. He liked to talk about himself. What he knew. I mean, not a narcissist, but a little bit of a, you know, I know everything kind of guy. Pompous?

Pompous. She remembers him running to and from job sites, eating fast food on the run. Pizza. That was his number one thing. Police say they found nearly 300 guns in a basement vault. When she heard that police had recovered almost 300 firearms from a vault in Heuermann's basement, she was surprised only by the number. She knew him as an avid hunter. Going out,

shooting, hunting, that was his passion. What was it about hunting he liked? I don't know. I guess he liked the idea of having a prize. Stalking prey? Stalking prey. And winning. He liked to win. And while she says it never occurred to her that Heuermann could be dangerous, she does remember a time when his tracking skills unnerved her. It was her 40th birthday and she had booked a cruise vacation. Where are you going? I'm going to be in the middle of the ocean. You're not going to find

me in the middle of the ocean. He said, oh, yes, I can. Muriel didn't think much of the comment until the second day of her trip. There was a white envelope under my door. It was a note from him. The note said, I told you I could find you anywhere. He had photos from hunting trips. Mary Schell worked with Heuermann in the summer of 2010. It was the same summer that both Amber Costello and Megan Waterman vanished. He would talk about, you know, the meat in particular, that bear meat could keep in the

freezer for months. Hearing authorities now say that some of the victims were wrapped in a burlap that hunters often use was chilling. The burlap really got to me. Since Heuermann's arrest, Mary has written about her experience with him. She's also talked to other former female employees who said they weren't always treated with respect. He would have one of them clean the toilet if he thought the cleaning person hadn't done a good enough job. A woman in the office? Yes. He more than once commented on women's bodies. If someone perhaps had gained some weight, you know, that kind of thing.

John Parisi grew up with Huberman. He says Huberman was bullied as a child. I remember meeting Rex when I was in first or second grade. He was a loner. Not many friends. The children were super mean to him, made fun of him and teased him. But John says he never saw Huermann fight back. He was big enough that if he got upset and started swinging, he would hurt somebody. But he never did. As Heuermann got older, John points out, things didn't get much better.

It was rejected by many girls. We all go through that awkward stage growing up, and it seemed like that awkward stage stayed with him longer than usual. Still, he says many in the community find it hard to believe that Heuermann is the notorious serial killer, living a double life for more than a decade. People were saying, oh my god, I can't believe we have

a serial killer in our town, and we grew up with, and we walked amongst the killer. Another classmate of Hureman's, actor Billy Baldwin, took to social media when the news broke, tweeting, it was mind-boggling. Rex! Hello! How you doing? The awkward Long Island teenager grew up to be a confident and seemingly successful architect. Antoine Amira met and interviewed him in 2022. Born and raised on Long Island.

Okay. Been working in Manhattan since 1987. There's nothing in my interview that made me think that this person in front of me is a dangerous person. Antoine is a hotel food and beverage manager in New York who loves real estate. He has a YouTube interview show where he handpicks guests whom he thinks are interesting and accomplished. I'm an architect. I'm an architectural consultant. I'm a troubleshooter. Antoine says Heuermann was well known for his skill at helping companies and individuals get building permits.

When a job that should have been routine suddenly becomes not routine, I get the phone call. Gotcha. What really stood out for me was he was very, very, very smart. And known, says Antoine, for his ability to find loopholes in the rules. He was pleased when he was doing it. That he could outwit the system. That's it, folks. That was Rex.

But Antoine says he remembers it was hard to get Heuermann to crack a smile. It's selfie time. Selfie time. Not even during the signature sunglasses selfies he takes with every guest. Two, three. Ah! Can you smile? That is.

Two, three. Ah! Can you smile? That is. If police are right, Rex Ullman was able to hide a life as a serial killer. And if he did, his habit of eating pizza on the go would turn out to be his undoing. For more than a decade after the discovery of the Gilgo 4, Rex Heuermann's name never appeared on a suspect list until a new task force was formed with Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison and Suffolk County D.A. Ray Tierney. In February of 2022, we formed the task force.

And then a mere six weeks later, Rex Uerman was identified for the first time. A suspect in six weeks? So how did they do it? It turns out that buried in the original case files were a number of critical clues that the new task force was finally able to connect. Remember Amber's roommate, Dave Schaller? She's like, I love you. You know, she gave me a hug and she left. He had told police about one of Amber's clients and his vehicle. Just a large built man and that he was driving this first-generation Chevy Avalanche. A first-generation Chevy Avalanche, with a description of an ogre-like man and the make and model of his truck. Police took a closer look at Amber's phone records from 2010.

Schaller had told them that before Amber disappeared, there was one particular client calling incessantly. He called several times. He was on the phone with her for quite a while each time. Police back then knew the client was using a burner phone. That's a prepaid phone that anyone can buy and use anonymously. And they knew that Maureen, Melissa, and Megan had all been in contact with burner numbers right before they disappeared. In 2012, with the help of the FBI, they determined that most of those calls

connected to cell towers inside a small area of Massapequa Park, they called it the box. So how large an area is that box? It's, you know, a couple of blocks within Massapequa Park. The new task force began the search for a large built man who also lived in that small area and owned a Chevy Avalanche at the time of the disappearances. Was there an aha moment when all of a sudden his name came up? Once we were able to attach the avalanche inside of that Massapequa box, which then attached to Rex Hureman,

that was a moment where we said, okay, there's something here. The task force now had a prime suspect, and when they looked at Hureann's personal cell phone records, they found that his phone was in the same area as those burner phones when they were used to contact a victim in Massapequa Park or in Midtown Manhattan. It was always consistent. consistent. Tierney says this was also true for those awful calls Melissa's family got from that man using her phone back in 2009. He said, do you know what I did to your sister? And he said, well, I killed Melissa. The task force says that it confirmed that Huuermann does in fact use burner phones. Investigators say he had two different burner numbers in 2022, and they say they watched him put money on

one of those accounts here. And according to court papers, the team also documented three email accounts using fake names, including John Springfield, Thomas Hawk, and Hunter 1903, and all linked to those burner numbers. And prosecutors say that Heuermann was using a burner phone to send these selfies to solicit and arrange for sexual activity. One of those accounts linked to Heuermann, prosecutors wrote, was used to conduct, quote, thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography, and child pornography. There was a lot of torture, porn, and depictions of women being abused, being raped, and being killed. Investigators also say that while they were busy watching Heuermann, Heuermann was trying to watch

them conducting searches on the task force and the Gilgo victims. Not only pictures of the victims, pictures of their relatives, their sisters, their children, and he was trying to locate those individuals. The circumstantial evidence was building, but investigators also had physical evidence from the Gilgo Four, including one male hair that was found in the burlap used to, quote, restrain and transport Megan Waterman's body. And they wanted to see if they could link it to Heuermann. Police tailed Heuermann, and when he threw out this pizza box in this trash can here in Midtown Manhattan, they pounced. The pizza, which was, you know, obviously very significant. Tierney says that Heuermann's DNA that was found on that pizza crust was consistent with a DNA profile from the hair found with Megan Waterman's body.

And that DNA profile is only found in.04% of the population. That was a remarkable day. It was, you know, the weekend. And, you know, you get the report and you read it, and then you read it again, and then you read it a third time, and then you read it a fourth time, and then you start making calls. With the DNA, the search histories, and the burner phone evidence, the team felt it was time. When we decided to take down the case, you know, it was a sudden decision.

We did see him contacting a number of sex workers using a burner phone, which obviously is concerning. Playing clothes officers arrested him around the corner from his office. I don't think he had any clue. I don't think he had any clue that we were on to him. Police spent 12 days looking through Heuermann's home, pulling those guns out of the basement and digging in the backyard. They say it will take some time to comb through what they have now. And they were tight-lipped about what they found. Has the search been fruitful?

Great question and answers yes. Can you elaborate on fruitful? You said yes, it's fruitful. There have been items that we have taken into our possession. That makes it fruitful. There have been items that we have taken into our possession. That makes it fruitful. And one more big piece of evidence taken into possession, a first-generation Chevy Avalanche Heuermann once used. And it was sitting on property he owns in South Carolina when they recovered it.

We were able to seize that Chevy Avalanche pursuant to a search warrant, and we're certainly going to analyze that. But there were female hairs found on some of the victims' bodies that don't belong to the victims. So who do they belong to? What do you make of the evidence against Rex Heuermann? Join the conversation now on social media. Did you know that the movie Candyman was partly inspired by an actual murder? Listen to Candyman, the true story behind the bathroom mirror murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. The Bathroom Mirror Murder, early and ad-free, with a 48-hour plus subscription on Apple Podcasts.

Have you ever wondered who created that bottle of sriracha that's living in your fridge? Or why nearly every house in America has at least one game of Monopoly? Introducing The Best Idea Yet, a brand new podcast from Wondery and T-Boy about the surprising origin stories of the products you're obsessed with and the bolder risk takers who brought them to life. Like, did you know that Super Mario, the best-selling video game character of all time, only exists because Nintendo couldn't get the rights to Popeye? Or Jack, that the idea for the McDonald's Happy Meal first came from a mom in Guatemala? From Pez dispensers to Levi's 501s to Air Jordans. Discover the surprising stories

of the most viral products. Plus, we guarantee that after listening, you're going to dominate your next dinner party. So follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to The Best Idea Yet early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+. It's just the best idea yet. After Rex Huerman's arrest, his quiet neighborhood in Massapequa Park was overrun by investigators and media, focusing intense scrutiny on the Ramshackle home and its remaining residents, his stepson, Christopher Sheridan, daughter, Victoria Heuermann, and his wife of more than 25 years,

Asa Ellerup. Their life going forward is always going to be the wife or the children of suspected serial killer. That's what it's going to be from now on. Attorney Bob Macedonio represents Asa Ellerup, who has since filed for divorce from Hureman. He says she was as stunned as anyone by the accusations. She had no idea ahead of this going on. The allegations are shocking. Nobody wants to think that they've been living with, sleeping next to a serial killer for the past 25 years. As it turns out, Asa may have inadvertently helped focus the investigation on her husband. Investigators say they've identified strands of female hair that were

found on two of the victims. One hair on Waterman comes back to his wife, or the DNA profiles are consistent, and then the DNA profile from Costello is consistent with the wife. Although prosecutors have evidence that Asa was out of town when those murders occurred, they will have to explain how those hairs got on the victims. Suffolk County D.A. Ray Tierney says it could be as simple as transfer.

You live at home with a spouse. A little bit of your hair falls on your shoulder as well as your spouse's. Then you go out and you interact with the third party and that hair gets on them. Asa Ellerup has not been charged or named a suspect in any of the murders. You don't believe that Rex Heuermann's wife was involved in this in any way? There's no evidence to indicate that, no. Along with the public scrutiny of Asa, there's also been support from people that perhaps know all too well what she's going through. Carrie Rawson, the daughter of serial killer Dennis Rader, who named himself BTK, tweeted, Asa and her kids are also victims.

I can tell that they are going through hell. And from Melissa Moore, the daughter of Keith Jesperson, a serial killer known as the Happy Face Killer, for taunting authorities with letters signed with a happy face. She reached out immediately to myself, and we put her in contact with ASSA. At a press conference, Macedonia announced Moore set up a GoFundMe page for ASSA, which raised over $50,000, money he says will largely go to medical bills. Asa is battling breast and skin cancer. And because Rex Huerman was the sole provider for the family, Macedonio says she will soon

lose her health insurance. Asa would like me to express her thanks for the support she's received. She's going through a very difficult time. Asa's children have also paid a heavy price. Her daughter Victoria, who worked for her father at the architectural consulting firm, and her son Christopher are both now unemployed. Asa struggles to support them, says Macedonio, while she's also trying to figure out how to start over. How is she getting through every day? Honestly?

Yeah. Minute by minute. She has no one else to turn to at this time. Family and friends have been hesitant to have her come over because they don't want the media attention. She gets followed wherever she goes. For the moment, she and her children continue to live in the house in Massapequa Park, which the family says was excessively damaged during the police search. Seen in these photos provided by Asa's attorney. It's a daily reminder of the unimaginable crimes her estranged husband is charged with and the investigation that continues into what else he may have done. In the Pacific Ocean, halfway between Peru and New Zealand, lies a tiny volcanic island.

Peru and New Zealand lies a tiny volcanic island. It's a little-known British territory called Pitcairn, and it harboured a deep, dark scandal. There wouldn't be a girl on Pitcairn once they reach the age of 10 that would still have heard it. It just happens to all of us. I'm journalist Luke Jones, and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. I'm journalist Luke Jones and for almost two years I've been investigating a shocking story that has left deep scars on generations of women and girls from Pitcairn. When there's nobody watching, nobody going to report it, people will get away with what they can get away with.

In the Pitcairn Trials I'll be uncovering a story of abuse and the fight for justice that has brought a unique, lonely Pacific island to the brink of extinction. Listen to the Pitcairn Trials exclusively on Wondery+. Join Wondery in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Rex Heuermann, awaiting trial, is locked inside a Suffolk County jail in a 60-square-foot cell. He denies killing Melissa Bartholomew, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello.

Their voice is now silent as the sand where they have been ruthlessly discarded. How sure are you, as you're saying here now, that Rex Jewelman is the Long Island serial killer? So we're just at the beginning stages of this case, but we would not have brought this indictment if we weren't confident in our case. He took away somebody's mother, somebody's daughter, somebody's sister, and not just one person, multiple individuals. Heuermann is currently the prime suspect for the murder of Maureen Brainerd Barnes,

and for investigators, an obvious question still hangs heavy. If Heuermann is a killer, are there other victims? I mean, isn't there a real concern that there may be other victims out there? Always. Who's to say that there's not more bodies out there that we need to investigate? always who's to say that there's not more bodies out there that we need to investigate in 2011 police did find other bodies along ocean parkway after finding the gilgo 4 there is victim number five jessica taylor an escort who went missing in 2003. Another set of remains, police called Jane Doe number six,

is now identified as Valerie Mack, also working as an escort. Number seven, to investigator's surprise, they found a toddler girl. Number eight, an Asian male dressed in women's clothing. Number nine, a female skull belonging to Karen Vergara, an escort who disappeared in 1996. Number ten, female remains from a victim cops nicknamed Peaches because of a tattoo on her torso. Although her remains were found six miles away,

police say DNA confirms Peaches is the mother of that toddler. None of those victims has been linked to Heuermann. Is it that you can't connect him yet, or you believe he probably isn't the person who killed these other individuals? I don't know. Investigations also spread to Las Vegas and South Carolina, where Heuermann owns property, with detectives there taking a fresh look at cases of missing women. And then there's Nicky Brass. look at cases of missing women.

And then there's Nikki Brass. I remembered him because one, he's massive. And how many massive, like six foot five architects work in Manhattan and live in Massapequa. You're going from brown and blonde. Now a hairdresser, Nikki claims she may be one that got away. She told us she used to work as an escort. And while we could not substantiate her story,

Nikki claims she can't shake her memory of the night she says she was solicited for sex by Rex Ureman and says she fled the restaurant where they met. I had never gone anywhere and, like, felt fear. My gut was telling me I needed to get away, and I've never had that before. Nikki says what she found most disturbing is that Heuermann himself brought up those bodies bound in burlap by Gilgo Beach. He wanted to, like, really get into it.

Like, he asked me how I thought they could get rid of the bodies without being caught in that area. And I said, I've never been over there. I've never even seen Gilgobie. And his response was, well, it's really dark and desolate. I'm John Ray and I'm the lawyer. Nikki is now represented by John Ray, an attorney who is also representing Shannon Gilbert's family. In December of 2011, investigators finally found Shannon here in the marsh, not far from Gilgo Beach. But they don't believe she was murdered. It's an unfortunate incident, but right now we believe that she just ran into the marsh and unfortunately drowned. A former investigator told us that he believes Shannon was high on drugs

that night and says her death was an accident, something John Ray just can't believe. While he doesn't think Shannon was a victim of Heuermann, he does believe she was murdered and points to that 911 call. It absolutely makes no sense that she's found where she is, except that someone else put her there or killed her there. someone else put her there or killed her there. While questions remain about Shannon's last hours, there's no question she's the reason so many families may finally be getting answers they have long waited for. We spoke to her sister Cherie in 2011.

My sister, you know, didn't make that 911 call. I don't think that these other women have been recovered either. Now investigators hope that with an arrest, they can give the victims' families who stood with them a sense of justice and of peace. I've gotten to know the families, and I'm inspired by them, and I'm impressed by their patience.

A local legend has it that this place, Gilgo Beach, was named for a skilled fisherman called Gil. These silver-gray waters once his secret hunting ground. Today, this beach area is better known for a relentless hunter of human prey, a serial killer whose chilling presence can still be felt in the ocean air. and still be felt in the ocean air. On January 16th, 2024, six months after his arrest, Rex Hureman was charged with the murder of Maureen Brainerd Barnes.

On June 6th, 2024, Hureman was charged with the 1993 murder of Sandra Costilla and the 2003 murder of Jessica Taylor. He is pleaded not guilty to all charges. If you like this podcast, you can listen ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app. Before you go, tell us about yourself by filling out a quick survey at wondery.com slash survey. Paramount Podcasts.