Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 5 Bombshells Revealed in Gilgo Beach Murders Case by Victims' Family Attorney

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Attorney John Ray represents some of the families of victims found on Long Island's Gilgo Beach and also represents the family of Shannan Gilbert. The search for Gilbert led to the discovery of the "Gilgo Four." Ray held a forum Monday in which he revealed new information about Rex Heuermann, the man charged in the murders of the Gilgo Four, along with information about the investigation into Gilbert's death. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy has 5 bombshell revelations from the event in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.HOST:Angenette Levy: twitter.com/Angenette5CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. It is a far gone conclusion. Shannon started this and she will finish it. Shannon Gilbert and the Gilgo Beach Murders take center stage at an event with new details that raise questions about the time period in which one of the Gilgo Four was murdered. If what this manager read to me was true, then this just happened. If that's true, then Mrs. Elro, her children, were not in Atlantic City when they claimed to be. We have five bombshells from the event hosted by an attorney for some of the Gilgo Beach victims. I'm Anjanette Levy, it's Wednesday, and this is Crime Fix.

Rex Huerman, the architect from Massapequa Park, Long Island, is charged with the murders of the Gilgo Four. They're Maureen Brainerd Barnes, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, and Melissa Barthelemy. Hureman has pleaded not guilty to all of the murders. He was just charged earlier this month with Maureen Brainerd Barnes' murder. One of the details released by attorney John Ray, who represents the family of Shannon Gilbert and other victims, is raising questions about information included in a bail document for Rex Hureman. It said that Hureman's wife, Asa Ellerup, and her children were in Atlantic City during the time period that Maureen Brainerd Barnes disappeared. It cited credit card

records the DA used in bail documents to show Asa Ellerup was in Atlantic City on July 6, 2007. But Ray says he got different information from the hotel manager. I spoke to the manager in the flagship hotel very recently. And the manager, who I befriended over the phone, looked up the stay of Mrs. Ellerup at that hotel and her time that she was there. And she looked it up for us and read it to us twice. We made sure that she committed to what she said. She was able to tell us not only the name Ellerup, she said, oh, Asa Ellerup, Asa, she called it. And she was able to tell us the amount of the charge was $37.45.

She read it to us twice from the computer. And said yes they stayed here from July 17th to July 23rd and she had no reason to lie to me or to make a mistake you know we tried to make sure she told us the right thing by having her repeat it and she read it right off their computer. If that's true, if her records are correct, then the district attorney is not correct. I reached out to the Suffolk County DA's office and a spokesperson told me they would have no comment on the claims made by John Ray. Ray also questioned how anyone could know the exact date

the Gilgo Four were murdered. And torturers keep people alive so they can enjoy the torture, especially this guy, who had abilities to keep these bodies in all kinds of places, including in his basement, while they were still alive. Or his storage units, where you could fit a whole unit inside a unit. His storage units were so big. So when did these girls die? On or about? July 9th?

On or about July 9th? Could be July 13th. Could be July 6th. I don't know. I want to take a minute to tell you all about an exciting new channel we just launched here at Law & Crime. It's Law & Crime Body Cam. This channel is devoted to authentic, raw footage captured directly on police body cams, which means you get to see what happens firsthand instead of hearing about it in court or from a police report. Law & Crime Body Cam puts you right in the middle of the action of high-stakes situations like car chases, DUIs, arrests, and all of the other crazy situations police encounter daily. Check out the description of this video for a link to Bodycam and make sure you subscribe so you don't miss any uploads. John Ray also spoke about hairs found on the victims, one belonging to Asa Ellerup,

another to Victoria Horman, Rex's daughter, who was just a child at the time. If the record read to me is a true record, Mrs. Ellerup and her daughter belong in the circle of suspicion, very definitely. Their hairs, This district speculates that these hairs may have fallen off the daughter and the wife onto Mr. Horman and then fell on these these bodies. Yeah, that's a nice guess, but it's a guess. But I'm not guessing at what I just told you. That's what was said to me on the record. Now, I want to let you know that I reached out to Victoria Hureman's attorney, Vesmetev, and he sent a statement. It reads, the district attorney has repeatedly and unequivocally stated that they were not, nor have they ever been suspects. The superseding indictment also makes this clear along with corroborating evidence such as hotel receipts. Wild, unhinged clickbait theories, to the contrary, should not be given any credence

as to do a disservice to the actual authorities investigating the case and the victims in it. Then John Ray introduced a woman who says she used to be a swinger. She says she went to Rex Horman's home in 1996 with her boyfriend, who was a police officer, for a sexual rendezvous. Either Rex Heuermann or his wife Asa posted contact information for them in a house in Masapiko Park to engage there in swinger Sex in 1996. I and R.W. chose to go there to the Hoyerman house in February 1996. R.W. picked up a woman I believed to be Karen Vergara in New York City. On the way to Hoyerman's house, she was hungry and homeless.

She sat in the back of the car. She leaned forward and to the right. When we stopped for gas, she said to me, she said, I'm scared I said to her don't be scared my boyfriend is a police officer she couldn't be safer than being with a cop I told her to ask at the house when we arrived to take a shower and for food.

Now, if that woman was indeed Karen Vergara, we know what happened to her. Vergara's remains were identified last year. Her legs were found on Fire Island in 1996, and her skull was found in 2011 on Gilgo Beach near the remains of Peaches. The woman continued with her experience at what she claimed was the Huerman home. I stayed upstairs with Asa. My partner, who I believe was bisexual, kept disappearing. I believe he was elsewhere in the house having sex with Rex. I believe I had sex with Rex as well. I never went downstairs.

Asa told me words to the effect that Rex brought her from her country and that everything she had, he had given to her. She told me that she was lucky he was rich. She said she was also afraid of Rex. Now, Ray spent a lot of time discussing the death of Shannon Gilbert. Shannon's sister also spoke. Today, we are here to support Shannon

Maria Gilbert. We would like her to be classified as her passing, not as undetermined, but as a homicide. Suffolk County police have called Shannon Gilbert's death an unfortunate accident, but Ray has said a second autopsy concluded that Gilbert was the victim of a homicide. I love and respect the police and the homicide detectives especially. They are very peculiarly brave people and I have seen some courageous acts by them and even though I have to take them apart or try to on the witness stand, I have nothing but the highest regard for them. That's not the same thing as saying that in this case, the police did it right. They didn't. But this is not because I have some ideological cause or commitment to an ideal against the police, against society whatsoever. But in this case, in this case, there's a deep,

deep, deep disruptive foul up. And we're going to talk about that tonight. Ray says the investigation into Shannon Gilbert's disappearance and death was botched from day one. Former Suffolk County DA Thomas Spoda and former police commissioner James Burke obstructed the investigation. And Ray is not the only person who has said that. Even former Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said the same thing. Burke and Spoda both spent time in federal prison for covering up a police beating. John Ray points to a letter he received from a Suffolk County detective on police union letterhead back in 2012, saying that Shannon was calm on the 911 calls and that she was let into a neighbor's home

before running into weeds. And this all happened during Burke's tenure. The call was released just last year after John Ray sued for it. They are lying about what happened because you know very well that Shannon Gilbert's demeanor was not calm, that she did talk about being about to be murdered over and over, that she did speak and say she was in grave danger, and that the people talking to her on that tape were themselves loud and raucous, and there was violence. And how could they then write this story going all those years? She also, you'll see that she was never let into Colletti's house. That's a falsehood. And she never ran into any reeds. That's another falsehood. Why are they spinning a falsehood?

Well, Mary was being bullied. Something was wrong. And I get this letter. And now, instead of just saying that's the end of it, I get ticked off. I'm not going to let this happen to this woman. I'm not going to let them bully her, push her around. And something bothered me deeply about this letter, that it came the way it did and the way it gets published.

Something's wrong. So I stay in the case. Now again, Suffolk County Police said last year they believe Shannon Gilbert's death was an accident, but they said they're open to new information about her death and disappearance that leads them to conclude otherwise. And that's it for this edition of Crime Fix

on January 31st, 2024. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with us. We'll see you back here tomorrow. Until then, have a great night. You can download Crime Fix on Apple, Spotify, Google, and wherever else you get your favorite podcasts and new episodes post each weeknight at 6 Eastern time on Law and Crime's YouTube channel. Daniel Camacho does our video editing. Our head of social media is Bobby Zoki. Our senior director of social media is

Vanessa Vine. Savannah Williamson is one of our producers. Diane Kay and Alyssa Fisher book our guests. And Brad Mabey is our audio editor.