Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - GILGO BEACH SERIAL KILLER SUSPECT’S BACK DECK TORN APART TILE BY TILE

Episode Date: July 24, 2023

As police continue their investigation of Rex Heuermann's home, reportedly a  soundproof room has been found in the 59-year-old suspect’s Massapequa Park basement.  A neighbor told the New York Post that cops told him. There is speculation that one of the victims could have been killed in the soundproof room. However police now say there is no soundproof room.  Little information has been revealed about the inside of the home, but we know a few of the items that have been removed: a doll in a glass case, and what's being described as torture porn.  Investigators are excavating the suspect yard as well as using ground-penetrating radar and cadaver dogs.   Joining Nancy Grace Today:   Bernarda Villalona – NY Criminal Defense Attorney & Former Prosecutor, Villalona Law, PLLC.; @BernardaVillalona (FaceBook, Instagram, LinkdIn, TikTok, Threads), Twitter: @VillalonaLaw Dr. Bethany Marshall – Psychoanalyst (Beverly Hills, CA); New Netflix show: ‘Bling Empire’ (Beverly Hills); Twitter: @DrBethanyLive Sheryl McCollum – Cold Case Investigative Research Institute Founder; Host of the new podcast, “Zone 7;” Twitter: @ColdCaseTips  Chris McDonough – Director At the Cold Case Foundation, Former Homicide Detective, & Host of YouTube channel, “The Interview Room” Dr. Tim Gallagher – Medical Examiner, State of Florida; Lecturer: University of Florida Medical School Forensic Medicine; Founder/Host: International Forensic Medicine Death Investigation Conference Kristin Thorne- Investigative Reporter for WABC (Channel 7 Eyewitness News in New York), and Host of Hulu’s true-crime show, “Missing;” @KristinThorne on Facebook, Twitter, Insta, Threads, & LinkedIn See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. As we speak, an entire excavation crew is dismantling the backyard deck and porch of the Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann. This as evidence comes to light that he had a soundproof room in his basement. And not only that, reams of torture porn allegedly being pulled out of his home. Could it have fueled the flame, amped him up prior to a string of horrible murders on young ladies throughout the metro area? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. If the allegations are true, Rex Heuermann is a serial killer like none other.

You know you're bad when you have other serial killers talking about you. That's actually happening. Dennis Rader, BTK, Buy and Torture Kill, is actually commenting on Rex Heuermann. Okay. Before I get my mind around that, let's talk about what's happening,

evidence-wise. First of all, I want you to take a listen to our friends at Crime Online. As the search of Rex Heuermann's home was winding down on Sunday, police allegedly found a soundproof room and think at least one victim was killed there. Police used cadaver dogs and ground penetrating sonar all over the backyard Sunday afternoon. The New York Post reported that a former co-worker said Heuermann took time off from his job as an architect in Manhattan to install a concrete line vault at his family home in Long Island.

The New York Post says it isn't clear if this is the same room that housed over 200 of Heuermann's guns, as has been reported in the past, or if this was a new space. The former co-worker told the New York Post it's not just a hidden room. It's a serious vault. It had a huge heavy-duty safe door. The co-worker claimed that Heuermann poured new concrete walls, massive amounts of concrete, to encase the room. So, I'm trying to understand, is there not only a padlocked room to store guns, in addition to a soundproof room that Heuermann has taken great pains to insulate with cement. Speaking of ground penetrating sonar, with me an all-star panel to analyze what's happening right now as we speak with the Long Island serial killer suspect, also known as a Gilgo Beach suspect. But first,

I want to go to Cheryl McCollum, director- founder, Coal Case Research Institute, star of the hit new series Zone 7, and forensics expert. Cheryl McCollum, you and I just were on a scene working ground penetrating sonar. Explain how it works. It's almost like a small lawnmower size and it rolls across the ground and literally it shoots down these sonars that come back and give you an image of what's underneath the ground or underneath the concrete slab. And when you're able to read it and deduce what these images mean, it can show things like, you weapons or in our case a shower rod or something in case so again what is so smart about this thing to me is they're using the ground penetrating radar in conjunction with canines in conjunction

with common sense like where the evidence is leading them this sonar can also show things that canines can't like where the evidence is leading them. This sonar can also show things that canines can't, like where the gas lines are, where electrical lines are, that will help you before you start digging because you don't want to cause any more issues in this neighborhood. So if there's a water line or something, you want to avoid that. But again, when you're reading these things and you've got an expert out there in conjunction with these dogs and in conjunction with the folks from, you know, the detective bureau, it's a it's a beautiful thing to watch in concert. I don't know that I would call anything about this beautiful, but I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Cheryl McCollum, in addition to finding actual objects in the dirt I'm trying to

think of something that it looks like everybody has seen a ultrasound of a baby right and you just see different shades of gray and black and you can make out the form of the baby sometimes sometimes even its face to some degree. It's different shades. And in ground-penetrating sonar, Cheryl McCollum and I were just at a cold case scene out in the middle of nowhere recently working with cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating sonar GPS. And what it looks like is kind of like that ultrasound. You will see the dirt, but then importantly, you could see a disturbance in the dirt. You can see a place where it looks

different than the rest. It's not as accurate as an x-ray. It's not that sharp, but you can absolutely see a difference where the dirt has been disturbed. In other words, where someone has been digging much less, as Cheryl accurately pointed out, an object like a shower rod or a knife or a gun or a body. You can see it very, very clearly. The easiest way to describe it, if you look at a sheet and all these arrows are pointing upward and all of a sudden you have a short space where all the arrows are pointing down, that's where dirt is like dug up and then put back. It looks different. You've changed the composition. So that's what you're looking for. Guys, I've just been sent right now a photo of the scene. With me is Kristen Thorne, investigative reporter, WABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News, and she's the star with me is Kristen Thorne, investigative reporter, W.A.B.C.

Channel 7 Eyewitness News. And she's the star of Hulu's true crime show Missing. Kristen, I'm seeing a picture right now of investigators on the scene digging and they clearly have found something. Now, what is it? What we're seeing is this is a drone picture that was taken yesterday, actually from a teenager who lives in the neighborhood who contacted us. And what we're seeing is an aerial of the backyard, which, of course, has been torn apart over the last few days here. And it looks like they have almost a piece of either plywood or paper or something that they're holding, but it's very flat. And on it are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, maybe 11 dark colored shapes. And I can't make out what this may be, but it's certainly, as we know from the teenager

who took the drone pictures and videos and contacted us, they were taking pictures. Actually, I did see the video of this. You can see them flashing pictures of this sort of menagerie of items, and then they stick it in a brown plastic bag that your experts will see right there. Let me think of a good way to put this. It almost looks like a treasure map where they're looking at certain, and I don't know if these are silhouettes or representative of certain items they found or certain locations but it looks like every single guy standing around one two three four five

six one woman on the end are looking at this this piece of paper and they're standing over the dig site everybody on our panel take a look at this and we'll go around and assess what is happening right now. Again you heard Kristen Thorne from ABC Channel 7 Eyewitness News describing how a teen in the neighborhood took this drone shot and has passed it on. Right now we also know that the deck is being torn apart. Take a listen to our friend Dave Mack. The home that Rex Heuermann has lived in for most of his life has been a hotbed of activity.

The New York Post reports a police dog was brought in to nose around the backyard on Saturday while investigators took apart a wooden deck, emptied out a storage shed, and removed cement tiles that had been dug up and taken by Wilbur to be dumped into a container for closer inspection. The Post reports three brown paper bags of evidence were also carried out directly to a police vehicle. After the cement tiles were removed on Saturday, Sunday, a backhoe was brought in and began digging up the area. Channel 12 Long Island News reported investigators had ground penetrating sonar on site to be used in the area, but investigators refusing to say what they have found or what they are trying to find in the yard in the dirt.

They are taking apart that back deck slash porch tile by tile, leaving nothing undisturbed. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Joining me, in addition to Christian Thorne and Cheryl McCollum, Chris McDonough joining us, director of the Cold Case Foundation, former homicide detective, and now host of an incredible YouTube channel, The Interview Room. Chris, very significant that they are tearing apart the back deck. As a matter of fact, take a listen to our cut 15 KEYT.

This should ring a bell. San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's investigators get back to work, searching the home of Ruben Flores for a second straight day. All morning long, investigators scoured the property, a lot of attention focusing on an area behind wooden lattice underneath a large deck. Sheriff Ian Parkinson could be seen walking around the yard, checking out an area where deputies later started digging early in the afternoon. Shortly after the digging in the yard, investigators quickly wrapped up and left the site.

We're talking, of course, about the case of Kristen Smart, the California co-ed who goes missing after a party, her body was hidden under a deck in the backyard of the Flores family. That was found through ground penetrating sonar. You could see where it had been unearthed. Where they put it after that, I don't know. But that is a case, Chris McDonough, that plagued law enforcement after a series of blunders for decades until finally they go and they're doing what they're doing right now with Heuermann and tore apart the back deck. That's not a good sign when you see the feds or the sheriffs in your backyard dismantling your deck. Yeah, Nancy, and what's going on in those pictures is basically it's a forensic anthropology dig. There's a high probability, there's a high probability the

guy in the hall is an anthropologist of some sort. And we see the paper, and Ms. Sherrill can talk about that all day, but those are probably items of evidence that they're removing from there. And there's one really interesting looking shape at the top of the paper. It looks like it has a hook on it. And that may or may not be a mandible of some sort. And maybe this is a small individual and possibly even, well, I'm not going to speculate, but these items of evidence are definitely items of evidence that they're putting on this bag.

And those are the types of things that with this secret room, you wonder if he was burying people there and that he ran out of room and that's where the beach now becomes kind of a dumping ground because kind of like Gacy Gacy ran out of room at his house jump in Bethany guys you are hearing Dr. Bethany Marshall she is a renowned psychoanalyst joining us as out of the Beverly Hills jurisdiction at drbethanymarshall.com. I was about to come to you, and you can just roll this into your comment, Dr. Bethany. The act of burying a person or body parts is a whole nother can of worms. You know, when I prosecuted cases where people were buried, you know, the victims were buried or body parts or evidence.

I didn't have to think about why, but I'm curious as to why. And Cheryl, I want to circle back to you about the case you and I helped crack of Chase Masner, who was buried under a back deck. And years passed and he was still found. OK, Dr. Bethany, hit it. Nancy, I think if you think about the fact that he's accosting, raping, murdering all these victims, holding onto body parts and trophies for sexual excitement, I mean, that's what this is all about, is incorporating all of this into sadistic, masturbatory fantasies. My thought is, as he was graduating towards sicker and sicker acts,

he started by just dumping the bodies along the beach, but then eventually he wanted them close by for his own sexual purposes. And how many places can you secrete a body in a home when you're married, you have a wife and two kids? You know, where? In the refrigerator? you know, in the Tupperware, you know, containers, I mean, I don't mean to be facetious, but but all those body parts have to go somewhere. And he wants them close by once they're in the bushes at Gilgo Beach, he no longer retains use of them for his sexual fantasies. And that's not how this guy operates. He probably has one victim that he will use as a fetishized object again and again and again. So he has to

keep them close by and hide them from his wife and children. So burying them, putting them in a secret room, cutting up body parts parts see that white piece of paper with those odd brown shapes on it do look to me like body parts and it suggests to me that Sherman either had to sever body parts or you know hide them in different locations around his property because he had to secrete the bodies and that was the only way to do it property because he had to secrete the bodies and that was the only way to do it. Or maybe he had favorite body parts. Maybe certain body parts were put in certain places and we'll find that there's sort of a method to the madness. And

maybe he liked hands. Maybe he liked feet. I mean, who knows what it was, but maybe the map that they're looking at is going to tell some kind of a story of where he secreted body parts and then brought them back for his own sexual purposes. Joining me right now, Dr. Tim Gallagher, medical examiner for the state of Florida. And you can find him at PathCareMed.com, Lecturer University Florida Medical School in the Forensic Medicine Branch and founder and host of the International Forensic Medicine Death Investigation Conference. Dr. Gallagher, thank you for being with us. We sent you that drone shot, almost like a map. It's not a map, I don't think. What is that? We earlier heard someone mention a mandible. What is a mandible? And what, if anything, do you make of the drawing that they are looking at? Well, thanks for having me on the show, Nancy.

A mandible is the jaw of a skull. So it's the lower jaw of a person. It's the bone that comprises the lower teeth and it's attached to the base of the skull. Looking at the photograph, I'm not seeing a lot of body parts there. It reminds me of clothing, actually. It looks like there's a pair of pants and some other items. I don't recognize a lot of those shapes as being body parts. And typically, if an excavation is going on, knowing that there's a drone in the area, the body parts aren't really exposed to those photographs. So this to me looks like clothing perhaps, but certainly I don't recognize any of those shapes as being a body part. And also, if it had been a body part buried there, unless it was bone, it would have long

ago decomposed. It looks more to me, let me bring in Bernarda Villalona, high profile New York criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor at VillalonaLaw.com. Bernardo, thank you for being with us. To me, after having a jump in, Cheryl, if you have an idea about this, to me, it looks like spots that they have identified through the GPS groundbreaking sonar. It doesn't look like any particular object to me. I mean, as you hear on the panel, one person thinks it looks like a mandible. One thinks it looks like a pair of pants. One of them looks like a tooth, a molar. One of them looks like a cereal bowl. So obviously

that's not what it is, but it looks like it could be areas that have shown up more darkly than other areas in the groundbreaking sonar result. So you have to think, Nancy, remember the way that we got here is that technology advanced and it advanced to the point that remember that hair that they found on two of the bodies or I believe three of the bodies, mitochondrial DNA advanced. It came about, it developed, and they were able to get the investigation going and finally get an assessment. So imagine this. So even though they had been in the rack, we don't know where technology is going to

take us two, three years from now, even a year from now when the trial actually begins. So they have to take anything that they believe can be probative or can be examined so they can at least have that in their possession for this investigation for this upcoming trial because when you when the trial does begin remember the prosecutor is going to have to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and you want to be able to cross off to say look we dug up his property. We went deep into his property. We dug up whatever known property that he has. We know that he's an architecturer. So being an architecturer, what is his specialty? Ding, ding, ding. Building property, building land, building buildings. So he has an expertise in where to hide things, where to build things that we normally wouldn't

have as an attorney, as prosecutors. So that is something that the prosecutor definitely wants to cross their teeth and they're doing what they need to do. And at least they'll be able to show these pictures or these videos to a jury to say that they did a thorough investigation. And let's see where it leads. Guys, you are hearing Bernarda Villalona speaking in that jurisdiction. Bethany, I wanted to circle back to you on another issue, but before I lose the thought, Cheryl McCollum, the backyard, the deck, if you will recall, in the case of the missing vet, Chase Master, a young guy, handsome guy, had a wife and two children that believed for years he just

walked off and left them. I never believed that. And in fact, years later, he was found under the deck, buried under the deck of his best friend. Remember that case? You and I out there with the dogs? Yep. And I also remember us telling people nobody could confirm he ever left that house. So we believed he was right there, very close. So under the deck, when you saw this very crude makeshift cement slab, again, that's a clue. So other people have mentioned that his home looks in a little bit of disarray and he hasn't put a lot of, you know, care into it. If he's all of a sudden building a deck, again, that's a clue. Not a lot of care, but enough care to pour cement.

Correct. Cement. What can you tell me, Kristen Thorne? Let's follow up on what Cheryl McCollum just said. Kristen, joining us from ABC Channel 7 about the cement being poured to soundproof a room. Well, Nancy, this is coming from a former co-worker of his, and I have a lot of concerns about this. One is that it's been very difficult for us to hear from co-workers,

former co-workers. We've been trying to do that. In this article that we're seeing, it doesn't name who that person is. So I'm certainly curious about who this person is. But second of all, I'd love to talk to this person myself, because I'd like to know when when did this supposedly happen? When did he take this time off from work to do this? And really, you know, if if I knew somebody, I'm not trying to blame, I'm not trying to blame the former co worker here. But, you know, if I

knew that somebody in their basement was creating a soundproof cement room, I would certainly have a lot of concerns about that, a lot of questions. I'm sure I would have asked, why are you doing that? And I'm just not hearing that from this person. Well, also, I mean, you're dealing with an architect. didn't suspect the architect was a serial killer you may not think anything of it which leads me to another surprise find according to many not as much as a surprise of a surprise to the people on this panel take a listen to our cut a from crime online the extensive investigation into rex heuermann as the gilgo beach suspect revealed he was compulsively searching the internet for pictures of the victims pictures of of their relatives, their sisters, and their children.

The Long Island serial killer is also known to have called one of his victim's sisters, telling her in detail what happened to Melissa Bartholomew. Detectives also say in their search of the home, they uncovered, quote, a lot of torture porn and what you would consider depictions of women being abused, raped, and killed. Dr. Bethany Marshall, what is torture porn and why is it significant in this search? Well, I think it's important to reset and ask ourselves, why do serial killers kill? And there is kind of a biological basis for it, believe it or not, which is that, you know, brain scans show that they don't have arousal and excitement, particularly sexual arousal, but also just joy in living in normal ways.

So they have to increasingly go to more and more perverse, torturous, fetishized images and activities in order to enhance their sexual arousal. That's the whole MO. So they might start small, maybe like looking at pornographic images online of men and women having sex, let's say. And then, you know, pretty soon that's not enough. So then they're going to graduate to maybe something a little bit more kinky. That's not enough. Then they go to torture porn where maybe it's a BDSM, maybe a woman being held in a cage, maybe someone being slashed, someone being tortured, you know, knives being run across

a person's back, some man's hand being squished under a woman's heel, you know, these kinds of things. And at a certain point, that's not enough either. So then the perpetrator graduates to killing and then killing is not enough. Now he has to really have control over the entire family. I mean, remember BTK killer, Dennis Rader, he did not just find women to kill. He killed entire families. He held them hostage. You know, it's like nothing is quite enough. So when I look at the picture, which is kind of like a Rorschach test, that white sheet of paper with all these images and people are looking into this little excavation site, it really could be anything. I mean, it's just sort of it's up for grabs what this guy wanted to hold on to and why he discarded certain things. Speaking of discarding, not just discarding, digging in the yard at all hours of the day and night, burning items. Take a listen to our cut

93 from News Nation. This is a neighbor of Huerman's. I was watching TV in my basement, went outside. It was like one or two in the morning, same times that I saw him, you know, park his car in front of his house and leave it idle. But when I was 18, 19 years old, I heard digging in the backyard next door. Now I really wanted to go and check out what it was and like look through the fence. The fence had little fake grass on it, but something stopped myself from doing it. You know, I was nervous. I wasn't too sure what I was hearing at the time, but now with everything coming to fruition, you know, it doesn't surprise me in the slightest bit. Digging in the backyard at 2am. And more. Let's start at 91. You know, every instance, even just the way he looked, I always thought this guy was a weirdo.

You know, freaking everything that's come up. You know know the vile google searches that he's had you know this all makes sense to me now he would burn his garbage and I would smell it and I would always wonder why is this guy burning his garbage again but you know it seemed to be like once every few weeks I would smell garbage burning at his house. Cheryl McCollum joining us, forensic expert. Cheryl, I understand a lot of people in areas are allowed to burn their trash, but every other week, you know, it reminds me of, and this digging and trash burning would take place at odd hours of the day and night. It reminds me of Stephen Avery, who became a media darling after someone cobbled together a documentary called Making a Murderer. And there's no question he murdered Teresa Hallback, a very young, beautiful

photographer that came to take a photo at his home, a salvage lot, a car, a vehicle he was selling, never seen again. He stayed up all night, and this is according to friends and family members, blood relatives, stirring a fire pit in the backyard. Later, the studs off the back of Teresa Hallback's Daisy Fuentes jeans were found there along with other indicators like teeth in that fire pit. All right. So when your neighbor is digging and burning at odd hours of the day and night, just think Stephen Avery. I mean, Cheryl, jump in. Well, we know Wayne Williams burned things. Yep.

We know the accused killer in delphi richard allen burned things in a fire pit this is not new they burn things that they know if a loved one or eventually law enforcement were to find they're not going to have a way to explain what these things are so they have to get rid of it the best way that they know, and that's by burning it. What you're probably seeing on that sheet that they're taking the photograph of, those items are going to be connected, I believe, to individual victims, whether they're belt buckers or zippers or maybe even a holster. He knew he had to bury it to get away, to get it out of sight. He didn't even trust putting it in garbage. He had to try to destroy it and then bury it.

You know what's really interesting? Well, all of it is, but Chris McDonough joining me, Director of Cold Case Foundation, former homicide detective, host of the interview room, has investigated and cracked, many of them, around 300 homicides. Chris, it's the cover-up. Do I have to say Watergate?

The burglary was bad enough, but, I mean, the spying was bad enough, but the cover-up, that's what did it. In the Chase Masner case we were just talking about, the perp would have gotten away if he hadn't covered up the evidence in his backyard. Hello. And now we've got neighbors saying this guy is out digging and burning at two o'clock in the morning. Look, I don't want to be Gladys Kravitz. I guess you're familiar with which the nosy next door neighbor. But that is not normal. Chris McDonough. Yeah. And you know, what's interesting is Nancy as you'll think about this with him even further, you know, Gacy, remember, used to put people under his house, and he was a contractor,

and he would tell his neighbors when they would smell stuff, oh, the sewer's backed up. And everybody was like, oh, okay, you know, that's weird. And so it's not an anomaly for this neighbor next door to say, you know, hey, I had a little fear about this guy based on the fact that, you know, he just didn't fit the mold of everybody else in the neighborhood. But what's interesting is that house in of itself is frozen in time. And I was talking to, you know, one of my colleagues on the Cold Case Foundation, Dr. Bercado last night. And he said, look, this whole thing he feels is going to be, you know, it's going to come down to when his father died and his mother took over. And I'm not going to go down that road yet, you know, with you, because I know you're headed that way but at the same time if we really look at what he's doing here this is a total control of not only the victims but his environment

and how he is destroying all of the post-incident type of evidence potential that cheryl was just talking about so this guy's in total control here. Jump in, Bethany. You know, I see I'm always conflicted about this. Is he destroying evidence primarily, or was he keeping the victims and the body parts around as long as possible to eke out as much sexual excitement as possible, and then in some messy, hasty way had to get rid of them at the last minute. See, it reminds me a little bit of like a teenager addicted to video games, and you walk into their

room, and there's just trash and, you know, leftover food and pizza crust and everything. And they're just staring into that video screen. And nothing else matters to them until they get in trouble with their mother, and they have to shut everything down real quickly until they can get back to their video games again. And I think it's a little bit like that. I mean, women may be being held in dog cages, held in the soundproof room, fetishized objects being, you know, kept around until somebody's about to discover them. And then the cover up is not well thought out. It's just secondary.

Well, if this neighbor is to be believed, he was digging and burning years ago. This didn't just happen, you know, just before he became a suspect. So he has a history of that. And also sitting in his car at 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning with the car running and the doors locked. OK, you know what? If I found my husband, David Lynch, sitting out in the car at two o'clock in the morning, I would absolutely call his mother, even if it required a seance to do it. crime stories with nancy grace

guys more is unfolding is duck hunting one of his covers don't laugh take a listen our cut 95 our friends at inside edition did the accused Gilgo Beach serial killer use duck hunting as cover to hide the bodies of the victims that's the latest theory in the probe gripping America I went out with former FBI investigator Bill Daley across these remote bays and coves we're close to Gilgo Beach where the bodies were found the home of the suspect Rex Heuermann is about five miles that way police say across these remote bays and coves. We're close to Gilgo Beach where the bodies were found. The home of the suspect Rex Heuermann is about five miles that way.

Police say Heuermann was an avid duck hunter who knows these waters well. And also the camouflage burlap bags, the coverings that were used to dispose of at least four of the victims, is also used, can be used for duck hunting. But that's not all. We have been talking about potential connections to Vegas, where he has a luxury timeshare that he visits, as he said, according to Kristen Thorne at ABC, quote, for pleasure. Also, a remote compound in South Carolina near his brother, but now Atlantic City.

But first, let's start with an actual potential victim, an unsolved murder. Take a listen to our cut 82, our friends at CBS. Investigators are looking to see if Heuermann is connected to other unsolved murders throughout the county and the country. Suffolk County officials have executed several warrants, including in South Carolina and Las Vegas, where the alleged killer had ties. Police in South Carolina are looking into whether a 2014 missing person case could be tied to Heuermann as well. 18-year-old Aaliyah Bell went missing about 20 miles from where Heuermann owned land, but so far police have found no connection. So there's actually a name now attached to that investigation, but I'm now hearing about Atlantic City as well. What do we know about that? Take a

listen to our cut 83. Long Island investigators are actively working with Atlantic City police to determine if Heuermann is involved in a string of unsolved killings of young women. As it stands right now, these charges are just allegations, but we look very much forward to proving them in court. Part of what led to Heuermann's arrest were hair strands found on the victims that matched his wife's hair. She has now filed for divorce. According to her attorney, she and their adult children are still in shock that they were told to leave this home with clothes on their back. And Vegas, take a listen to our cut 110. Our friends at ABC.

The investigation expanding to other states. Police in Las Vegas, Nevada, say they're looking into possible connections to unsolved cases. Heuermann and his wife owned a timeshare at this Las Vegas condo complex called Club de Soleil. In Rock Hill, South Carolina, police trying to determine if Heuermann could be connected to the 2014 disappearance of Aaliyah Bell. The 18-year-old went missing about 20 miles from the vacant lots Hewerman owned there so we've got south carolina where warrants have been issued vegas where warrants have been issued by suffolk police in new york but i want to circle back to the atlantic city issue take a listen to our friends at inside edition and cut 98 new jersey police are investigating possible links with four

eerily similar murders in Atlantic City. The terrain around the drainage ditch where the bodies were found looks like Gilgo Beach. Any of these cold cases that either relate to sex workers or even other people who have disappeared could relate to him. And speaking of sex workers, apparently sex workers had raised the alarm about Heuermann years ago. Nothing was done. Take a listen to our friend Kristen Thorne, ABC 7 Cut 89. When the name Rex Heuermann came out, she ran his information through her phone. One of the phone numbers was saved as do not answer from 2020. I don't remember the specific details of how or why that happened, but if I get a vibe from somebody that this person is scary, that's when I'll save them as

do not answer. The woman says she was living in Massapequa at the time. So it's really scary to find out that the person was actually only less than a mile from me. Kristen Thorne is joining us. Investigative reporter, very well known, who's been on this case from the beginning at ABC7. You can also find her on the Hulu true crime show, Missing. So Kristen Thorne, the sex workers, one of them at least, putting him on a do not answer list. That was back in 2020. She lived in Massapequa and Heuermann freaked her out so much she wouldn't even take calls. And we're now learning, thanks to you, that many sex workers would not take calls from the Hamptons

because they were so afraid of a serial killer. But nothing was done. Yeah, Nancy, and I think what's also really illuminating for me in speaking with these sex workers from this area is that they are hearing from fellow workers that agencies in New York City had contacted law enforcement about Rex Yerman, that he was a problematic client. And when I asked them, what do you mean problematic? Have you seen anywhere on these sites that you're on women talking about why he was a problematic client. And when I asked them, what do you mean problematic? Have you seen anywhere on these sites that you're on women talking about why he was problematic?

And they said no, but that still is very concerning to me. It would not be surprising that sex workers who felt that this was not a good situation were contacting law enforcement and law enforcement was not paying attention to them. And so we know that there may have been hints about him throughout the years, but again, they're coming from communities and from groups of people that aren't often listened to. A question. Yeah, jump in. Go ahead.

You and I have spent plenty of time on FIB. We know the track. We understand this population. Sex workers have people come to them for fetishes and desires and fantasies that are so out of bounds and so repulsive. They have to go to somebody to pay them to do it. If you have somebody from that community saying, this guy freaks me out, think what he has to do to freak her out when all these other thousands of men, hundreds of men have not. You're so right. It's my understanding the 59-year-old architect and father of two was very calm and very quiet when he was arrested on allegations of being a serial killer and only said, why? And was very calm about it. You know, most people will be jumping out of their skin, claiming, why are you arresting me, throwing a fit? He was very calm. And if you look at the video of him being arrested, it bears out what investigators are saying. Chris, jump in.

You know, listening, that's why it's really important from an investigative process, while this thing is moving, you know, fluidly, day to day, it's really important to pay attention to that victimology in relationship to the type of victims that this individual was, you know, picking, selecting. And then when you hear about his, you know, reaction here at the time of his arrest, you know, it's almost as if, well, okay, it may be over. I'm not sure yet. But he reminds me of Porter down in San Diego. They have 43 body dumps.

And that guy, you know, David Porter was going right after the same kind of victimology. So if we take him, i.e. Herman here, and we look at the type of victim he's selecting, and then we measure it against the other type of individuals doing this then they're totally different and so this guy is much more calculating uh and much more willing to take higher risk and so i don't think it was a big surprise to him that ultimately with technology would catch up to him i agree guys we are just getting late breaking news right now from the Suffolk County Police. There is not a soundproof room. There is, however, a vault, a vault likely lined with cement. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.