Written by Jay Pandya

You may wonder why Americans have a fascination with Serial Killers. We’ve all heard their names before: Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, and Jeffery Dahmer—all committed violent and salacious crimes. All had a mode of operation, lacked remorse, and were caught after a period of time. These stories of unrepented sociopaths living amongst us bring great passion, concern, and fear in all of us. What did the victims go through? What did they last see? When will they strike again? These are questions people want answers to. This is partly the reason for such obsession. Recently, a serial killer case has been unraveling. The Long Island serial killer, or the Gilgo Beach killer, is a case in which ten bodies washed up the shore in Long Island. All the victims were sex workers or had some relation to the industry (increasing the already poor image of the sex-working industry). On July 13, 2023, police arrested 59-year-old Rex Heuermann with three counts of 1st-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder; he is also a prime suspect in regard to a  fourth victim in the case. To understand the story of Rex Heuermann, we need to understand the killings themselves 

It started with a victim named Shannan Gilbert. In May 2010, after running away from one of her client’s homes, she made a 23-minute call to the police, saying that “They were trying to kill me.” A month after her disappearance, police used a cadaver dog in the community where Shannan’s client was. Investigators had no luck trying to find any remains that summer. FBI data showed that bodies would generally get left next to roadways. The police focused their search there. The cadaver dog was soon able to identify remains, those being of Melissa Barthelemy. They soon found three additional bodies in the vicinity Maureen Brainard, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. All four victims mentioned were found 500 feet from each other. They got the nickname the Gilgo Four, because they were found on Gilgo Beach. In March 2011, they found partial remains of Jessica Taylor. In April 2011, an unidentified female toddler, an unidentified Asian male, and partial remains of Valerie Mack were also found. Two more bodies were also found. Partial remains of Karen Vergata and remains of the mother of the unidentified toddler. In November 2011, police believed that there was one person responsible for all the murders. Thus the Long Island serial killer came to be. Shannan Gilbert’s body was finally found in December 2011, 19 months after her disappearance. Investigators do not believe that Shannan was one of the victims of the serial killer, but her case is the reason all the other victims were found. Shannan’s mother was adamant that she was killed by the alleged serial killer, and fought for justice for her daughter. Her work bought great understanding and broke barriers against the unfavored opinion of the sex industry. 

Police continued their investigation into who could have killed these women. In 2017, John Bittrolf was considered a person of interest in the case due to the fact that he was convicted in May of that year of killing two sex workers in 1993 and 1994, and that one of his victims, Rita Tangredi, was friends with Melissa Barthelemy. Lack of evidence bought no charges. In March 2022, Rex Heuermann became a suspect after the investigation discovered that a Chevrolet Avalanche registered in his name was linked to the killing from a sighting by a witness. His cellphone records indicated that he had been in contact with three or four of the victims. He also conducted online searches of the investigation process. Additionally, he searched the internet for sadistic materials, child pornography, and images of the victims and their relatives. DNA testing found that was a match for hair found on burlap wrapping on one of the bodies of a victim. His wife was also found to be a match for one of the victims, but she and her children were out of state when the killings were believed to have occurred, so they have been ruled out as suspects. Investigators got Huermann’s DNA from a discarded pizza box, left in the trash can outside his work when they were surveillancing him. Rex Huermann is an architect and has lived much of his life in Massapequa Park on Long Island. He was arrested outside his work in Midtown Manhattan because police did not want to have to deal with an armed standoff at his house because of the guns he owned. He has been charged with the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. He is the prime suspect in the fourth killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. He was formally arraigned and pleaded not guilty. He is currently being held in jail with no bond. On August 4, 2023 “Jane Doe 7” was identified as Karen Vergata; her identity was known to investigators since 2022. Rex Heuermann denies being the Gilgo Beach killer or the Long Island serial killer and we will be ready to see his defense in a future trial. Investigators have not ruled out Heuermann in any other of the killings and authorities in New Jersey are looking into Heuermann for similar killings in Atlantic City.