Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 7 Disturbing Details of Suspected Gilgo Beach Serial Killer's New Murder Charges

Starting point is 00:00:00 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. We're not going to stop. We can't stop. We owe that to the victims. That's the least we can do. Rex Horman, the man prosecutors say is the Gilgo Beach serial killer, now faces charges in the murders of two more women, Sandro Castilla and Jessica Taylor. She was loving and compassionate and so funny. Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix.

Starting point is 00:00:33 I'm Anjanette Levy. Rex Huerman was back in court in Suffolk County on Long Island. He's now charged with murdering Jessica Taylor in 2003 and Sandro Castilla in 1993. And we're learning new details about the evidence that the Gilgo Beach Task Force says it has collected from Rex Horman's electronic devices, all 350 of them. More on that in a bit. But first, we heard late last week that something was coming that Rex Horman was going to face more charges, and that really shouldn't have come as much of a shock if you've been following this case. Just last month, members of the task force were back at Horman's home carrying out boxes and boxes of evidence, turning that red house upside down, and even searching the backyard. And before that, in April, investigators were searching an area of Manorville where part of Jessica Taylor's remains

Starting point is 00:01:25 were found on July 26, 2003. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said no other bodies were found during those searches, but now Horman is accused of killing Jessica Taylor in 2003 and Sandra Castilla in November 1993. This now brings the total number of murders for which Hureman faces charges to six. He had already been charged in the murders of Maureen Brainerd Barnes, Amber Costello, Megan Bartholomew, and Megan Waterman, who had been called the Gilgo Four. Tierney spoke about the murder of Jessica Taylor after Hureman appeared in court. First off, with regard to Jessica Taylor, you know that her body was recovered on July 26th in 2003 off of just west of Halsey Manor Road in Manorville. She was found

Starting point is 00:02:13 on her back. She was decapitated and her hands and arms were severed just below the elbows. Notably, a tattoo that she had had been obliterated with a sharp object. Eight years later, her arms and skull were found on Ocean Parkway. This is a law and crime legal alert. Google Incognito tracked users browsing data without their knowledge. Mass Tort Alliance, one of our legal sponsors, is helping users file for compensation due to Google users' privacy issues surrounding Google Incognito. If you've used Google Incognito anytime since 2016, you can start your claim in less than 10 questions at incognitoclaims.com slash crime fix. A map in the bail application shows just how close Jessica Taylor's arms and skull were found to the Gilgo

Starting point is 00:03:05 4, less than a mile away. The bail application says, at the time of Ms. Taylor's disappearance, Rex A. Huerman worked in the same vicinity as where Ms. Taylor was known to street walk, i.e. work as a sex worker. Records seized during the execution of prior search warrants reveal that Huerman was in fact present in Midtown Manhattan on July 21, 2003, the same date Ms. Taylor disappeared. DA Tierney said there was something related to Hureman's truck that witnesses had noticed. At the time, the Suffolk County PD did Canvas. They spoke to witnesses and the witnesses had observed the night before, about 13 hours prior to the to the 911 call,

Starting point is 00:03:46 they saw a dark colored pickup truck backed up in the vicinity of where off of Halsey Manor Rd where Jessica's body was was eventually recovered. Now at that time, the DA says that Rex Hureman drove a green Chevy Avalanche. The documents say that Horman searched the

Starting point is 00:04:05 internet for a news story about the body found in Manorville days after Taylor had vanished, and also searched for a new Chevy Avalanche truck, despite his being just over a year old. The DA says Rex Horman could not be excluded as a contributor to the male hair found under Jessica Taylor's body, but ninety nine point nine six percent of the population could be excluded as a contributor. So basically, through two rounds of DNA testing, mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA, the DA is saying the results show it was Rex Shorman's hair found underneath Jessica Taylor's body. Jessica Taylor was murdered in the summer

Starting point is 00:04:43 of 2003, and that means the kids were out of school. He had two children. The DA says that Rex Horman's family was in Vermont with one of Victoria Horman's kindergarten classmates, and Rex Horman did not go on that trip. The bail application says, based on post-arrest interviews with witnesses, including Witness 2's family and Victoria Horman, the Gilgo Homicide Task Force has learned that at the conclusion of the kindergarten school year, Ms. Ellerup and her two children vacationed with Witness 2's family from on about July 20, 2003 through on or about July 27, 2003 at Smuggler's Notch Resort that was in Vermont. Now, there has been rampant speculation

Starting point is 00:05:25 from some people connected to this case that somehow Rex Horman's family was involved in these crimes, and it seems like investigators are trying to nip that in the bud right now in this bail application. Victoria Humren was in kindergarten when Jessica Taylor was murdered, also included in the court document. Long, long distance phone records that show Rex Heuermann called the resort where his wife and children were staying that week, along with his Palm Pilot records that clearly show, quote, wife in Vermont for that week. We were able to corroborate that information through witness statements, photos and phone and financial records.

Starting point is 00:06:01 Attorney Gloria Allred represents some of the Gilgo Beach serial killer victims. She read a statement for Jessica Taylor's mother as she stood next to her. Jessica was my daughter. She was loving and compassionate and so funny. She loved to make people laugh. She could always make people laugh. She tried very hard in school. Jessica had two brothers and they would always play together. She and her brothers were very close. Jessica loved riding her bike. She loved playing board games, Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland. She loved playing board games, Monopoly, Chutes and Ladders, Candyland. She loved playing cards, especially spades and rummy. Now, the sixth victim Horman's accused of killing is Sandra Castilla. Investigators believe she was murdered on November 20th, 1993.

Starting point is 00:07:01 Tierney talked about when and how her remains were found. Two individuals while hunting in that wooded area of South Hampton in the vicinity of Old Fish Cove Road in North Sea discovered her body. She was lying on her back with her arms outstretched over her head. Her legs were uncovered and her shirt was pressed over her head. The victim suffered numerous sharp force injuries, 25 in all, which we believe were post-mortem. And these were injuries to her face, torso, breasts, left thigh, and in her vaginal area. Just awful. Tierney says three hairs were recovered from Castilla's body, one female hair from her right arm and two from a tape lift of her shirt.

Starting point is 00:07:51 In 2014, mitochondrial DNA testing excluded John Bittroff and his maternal relatives as the contributor of the hairs. Bittroff is currently serving time for killing two other women. Tierney says that 99.96% of the population can be excluded as the contributor of the hair, but Rex Hureman cannot be excluded as the contributor of those two hairs on her body. That same male hair or extract they're from

Starting point is 00:08:21 was brought to the same outside lab for nuclear DNA testing. And once again, the results came back, which found it was 4.347 times 10 to the 332 power more likely to have come from a person genetically identical to Rex Yerman than from an unrelated individual. So that's 4.347, and then you move that decimal point over 332 times to get the odds. Again, an astronomically large number. Now, what about that female hair? This was back in 1993. Tierney and investigators say a woman Rex Horman was living with at the time at his house in Massapequa Park. One of her hairs was also found on Sandra Castilla,

Starting point is 00:09:06 according to investigators. But they point out that this former girlfriend of Rex Horman had moved out of the Red House in Massapequa Park two months before Castilla's murder. They say Horman's mother had also moved out of the home. Now the task force says it has seized 350 electronic devices from Rex Horman's home. We've recovered 15 different types of cameras.

Starting point is 00:09:27 We've recovered 27 computers. We've recovered 58 internal hard drives. We recovered 22 external hard drives or solid drives. We recovered 46 cell phones. We recovered nine wifi routers, 44 SD micro cards, which are like jump routers, 17 tablets, 42 USB devices, eight laptops, 50 hotel cards, four GPS devices, 11 music devices, 36 SIM cards, 33 miscellaneous items, and 647 CD floppy disks. And investigators say they've been extracting data from those devices and analyzing it with

Starting point is 00:10:11 the help of the Secret Service. And the material found on those devices, Tierney says, shows a lot of pornography depicting torture and violence. An interesting note here. In the bail bail document investigators say the pornography shows things that coincide with how the remains of sandra costilla jessica taylor and valerie mack were discovered right now huerman is not accused of murdering valerie mack but the investigation into her death and the deaths of the other gilgo victims continues now investigators also say they found what they call a planning document on Hormann's computer.

Starting point is 00:10:46 It was from 2002 through 2004. That's how it was labeled. And they say it had been deleted, but they were able to recover it. One document has categories labeled problems, supplies, DS, and TRG. Investigators believe DS means dump sites and that TRG means target. Under problems, a number of items are listed including DNA, tire marks, blood stains, fingerprints, witness, trace sources of supplies, shoe prints, police stop, and the list goes on. The supply list also sounds like things that could be used to torture a person or clean

Starting point is 00:11:24 up. Booty's lie slash acid, police scanner, rope slash cord, saw cutting, medical gloves, drain cleaner, photo film. And under DS, DS-1 Mill Road, dumpster site, next time recon dumpster locations. Under TRG, T-1 names Megan with a question mark. Now, does that mean Megan Waterman? We really don't know. She was killed years after this document was believed to have been created. It also says small is good. The Gilgo Four were all small in stature. Another document discussed pre-prep, prep, and post-event. The pre-prep included a vehicle inspection, reconnaissance, and looking up weather reports. And the prep listed a holding area, build table, crossbar, and hardpoint.

Starting point is 00:12:14 The bail document says a hardpoint in bondage is a fixed attachment point in the ceiling that supports the weight of a person being suspended off the ground, possibly for torture. I want to bring in Josh Zeman. He's been investigating the Gilgo Beach murders for years now. He produced a documentary about it. Josh, we now have DNA evidence linking, they say, the prosecutors do, Rex Yorman to the murders of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. Your thoughts? I was absolutely shocked. This new evidence today, I think, completely changes the case in terms of whether there was some speculation as whether we're dealing with one serial killer or two. And I think it just brings Rex Horman's guilt into extreme focus. I mean, I was reading the bail information this

Starting point is 00:13:10 morning on air with Joe Giacalone, and we were flabbergasted. I mean, the preparation documents that he had going through the list of the targets, the drop zones, how to prepare, what to do. The fact that he had this on his computer and was so meticulous, it's almost like a movie. I mean, you know, you would think like, this is how a movie would go. I almost wouldn't believe it. And just to see it, like, again, I am just completely shocked. I don't know how anybody could have any question whether Rex was, was involved in these murders or not. Josh, 350 electronic devices, 350. That's how many they say they seized from his house.

Starting point is 00:13:58 I mean, and this is going back decades, I guess. And we're talking about a Palm pilot. He's obviously a pack rat. We're talking about a Palm pilot. He's obviously a pack rat. We're talking about a Palm pilot from 2003. That's a really old device. And this file, this so-called planning document that they talk about from 2002 to 2004, post-event, destroy file. So he's talking about, I'm assuming this yeah change tires burn gloves dispose of picks have story set so this was something that he was thinking about something i mean i'm not ready to convict the guy yet that's not what i do i'm a news person but this is very scary and

Starting point is 00:14:39 these girls if he is indeed the killer and this is very compelling evidence that they discuss in this bail application, they endured horrific, horrific torture. It is a real shame. We're talking about people's lives here, first and foremost. And, you know, you have to put yourself in the family's shoes and say, well, they didn't have answers for so long, and now they finally have some answers, but it's a double-edged sword because those answers come with a real horrific understanding of what their loved one went through. So before we get all wrapped up in Mindhunter and all this other stuff and all this serial killer stuff, let's just understand that we're talking about victims and victims' lives here and true, absolute, true tragedy. Yeah. These are real people behind this. I mean, these are young women who were engaged in sex work. And it doesn't matter what you think about that. They went out one night to do what they do. And according to this, this brings to mind a lot of awful stuff, a lot of bondage, a lot of torture. That is not what these women were looking for when they were

Starting point is 00:16:01 engaging in this type of work. There were some other things that the police said that they found on his computer. One was a document called Body Prep, and it said, wash body inside and all cavities, remove trace evidence, fingerprints, hair, remove trace DNA, remove ID marks, tattoos, comma, marks. Jessica Taylor, they said that her tattoo, there was an effort to obscure that. Remove marks from torture. Remove head and hands. Package for transport. So there's discussion about packaging these body parts to move them. And then dispose of the following, tools and devices, T1 clothes, Target 1 clothes and personal items, drop cloths, wipes and towels, props, toys, wood items, anything that touched T1, what you wore, destroy book and computer files,

Starting point is 00:16:54 burn gloves, dispose of box of plastic bags to avoid trace. Bags is spelled wrong. But then it just goes on and on. Things to remember. Sound travels. Hit harder. Too many hits to take down. Consider a hit to the face or neck next time for takedown. Get sleep before hunt. Too tired to create problems. So more sleep and noise control equals more playtime. And he's talking about using tacks to hang something from the ceiling instead of tape. I mean, this is like a torturer's guide to perfecting the craft. And, you know, look, in some ways we created this monster. Why do I say that?

Starting point is 00:17:39 It's because he used the Mindhunter book. If we go on in the bail document, we will see that. Yeah, John Douglas, he created FBI profiling. He was part of that and he wrote the book. He wrote the book and Rex Uriman, in an effort not to get caught, used that book to basically try and get away with committing his crimes. And we all, you know, love Mindhunter, the show, or some of us do. And, you know, I'm interested in two, but like you realize kind of at the same time we're doing this as entertainment, there's a guy out there using this, you know, to kill people. It's,

Starting point is 00:18:21 I think, again, we, I think even the most hardcore professionals were shocked at what they saw in terms of the level of torture and planning that this guy had undertaken. I was speaking some with Joe and he was talking to members of law enforcement and and they said, quote, before we knew what was in the details, it's bad. And then if law enforcement is telling you, quote, unquote, it's bad, like this is stuff that they've never seen before. That's number one. I think number two, understanding about Sandra Castillo becoming being involved. First of all, there is a lot of DNA evidence. I was surprised that despite all Rex Heuermann's planning, he still managed to leave DNA evidence at the scene of both victims. And, you know, he thought destroy all evidence, destroy all files. Well, you know, Suffolk County Police was able to pull up these incredibly detailed documents that indicate his involvement. So despite all his best efforts to do so, we were able to find this evidence.

Starting point is 00:19:31 But with Sandra Castillo, the fact that we're talking about a victim from 1993, that opens up the case even more. And that just tragically suggests that there's far more victims than we're even looking at now. Are we looking at 10? Are we looking at 13? Are we looking at 20? And it takes us back to the same time period as Karen Bregada in 1996, and she was sadly dismembered. Her name kind of came up during the press conference. Also, Valerie Mack is mentioned in these documents. Rex Horman is not charged with murdering her right now. But you know, they said this is not over. They're going to keep looking. They're still sifting through data.

Starting point is 00:20:17 There's probably still DNA testing going on. Do you expect more, Josh? So we were discussing that right on the tail of the application coming out. We would assume they would have probably given some more. If they had more DNA evidence, it would have been included in this. So they probably have other evidence, photographic evidence, video evidence that um, that will, that could connect some of the other victims, just not DNA evidence, or they would have kind of grouped it all together because, you know, regarding Valerie Mack and things like that circumstantially. And just for those in your audience who don't know, you know, the fact that just, they have

Starting point is 00:21:01 forensic evidence, forensic evidence, DNA evidence, uh evidence that links rex huerman's jessica taylor and because we have both jessica taylor and valerie mack were found both in manorville and both in ocean parkway we can now say that there is a definitely good chance of course not proven in the court of law there is a good chance that that Rex Uerman has also also killed Valerie Mack. And because of the where Valerie Mack's body is found on Ocean Parkway, remember Peaches, Baby Peaches, is found 150 feet next to Valerie Mack. That truly can't be a coincidence. And then, of course, if Peaches, Baby Peaches is there, then Peaches is there who's found in Hempstead. So with this information coming down about Jessica Taylor, that suggests that Rex Hewman is also connected and guilty in three other crimes. Of course, not guilty until proven so in a court of law, but circumstantially it looks like so. Well, he's saying to this point he didn't do it, but

Starting point is 00:22:08 there's some really interesting and compelling evidence pointing to him in this bail application. We're certainly going to keep an eye on it. Josh Zeman, thank you so much as always for your time. Thank you. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 7 Disturbing Details of Suspected Gilgo Beach Serial Killer's New Murder Charges

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - 7 Disturbing Details of Suspected Gilgo Beach Serial Killer's New Murder Charges

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