
Suspected serial killer's 1980s summer job may have been road map to murders: prosecutors
As a young adult, suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann worked summer jobs at Jones Beach, another sandy stretch in the same area he would be accused of dumping half a dozen victims' bodies decades later.
Prosecutors revealed at a hearing this week that Heuermann's alleged motive was to "identify and 'hunt' women for the purpose of committing murder" and that the job patrolling sandy stretches of Jones Beach at night made him intimately familiar with the area.
The 61-year-old Heuermann, who sources say picked up the nickname "Sexy Rexy" at the Suffolk County Jail, worked there from 1981, the year he graduated from high school, until 1984, according to court documents.
"Part of defendant's work at the beach entailed the defendant getting on All-Terrain Vehicle and going from field to field to ensure beachgoers were off the property once the beach was closed, a role that made the defendant extremely familiar with Ocean Parkway at night," Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Andrew Lee wrote in a court filing unveiled Tuesday.
Heuermann is a South Shore native who bought the Massapequa Park house he grew up in from his mother in the early 1990s. That neighborhood is near both beaches.
Jones Beach is less than 7 miles from Gilgo down Ocean Parkway. Six of the seven victims' remains were recovered in whole or in part east of Gilgo Beach, and prosecutors call the area the "central disposal site."
The filing came as prosecutors voiced their opposition to Heuermann defense lawyer Mike Brown's request to have the slew of charges against his client split up across multiple trials.
GET REAL TIME UPDATES DIRECTLY ON THE TRUE CRIME HUB
Heuermann is accused of seven murders dating back to 1993, committed under gruesome circumstances and involving allegations of torture, mutilation and dismemberment. Prosecutors argued that the crimes shared the same modus operandi and that many witnesses overlap.
SIGN UP TO GET TRUE CRIME NEWSLETTER
The victims were all described as "petite" women, many of them around 5 feet tall and barely over 100 pounds. An eyewitness in the case who was the last to see one of them alive described Heuermann, whose identity was unknown at the time, as an "ogre" driving a Chevrolet Avalanche.
Heuermann's job patrolling the beach has drawn comparisons to the convicted serial killer Dennis Rader, whose BTK nickname stands for bind, torture, kill.
Rader spent years working for the home security company ADT, installing systems for people who may have wanted house alarms after his first set of slayings, the home invasion murder of the Otero family in 1974.
Rader then went on to work as a compliance and animal control officer in Park City, Kansas.
"Dad even built his animal control officer outfit based on a county sheriff look, including a large night stick, a large Maglite, [and he] carried a shotgun in his truck," Rader's daughter, Kerri Rawson, told Fox News Digital. "He looked imposing and absolutely like a cop."
John Kelly, a criminal profiler who has interviewed numerous serial killers and developed an early profile in the Gilgo Beach case, said the beach patrol job could have sated a desire "for authority and control."
"It shows and feeds his need for control at an earlier age and being in a position of authority like BTK," he said.
Heuermann later became an architect and was accused of abusing his power when dealing with city compliance issues, the New York Times reported in the days after his arrest. He was arrested in July 2023 outside his Manhattan office after police say DNA collected from a discarded pizza box helped them identify him as the suspect.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Immigrant shelter whistleblower asking DOJ to investigate 'disturbing pattern' at taxpayer-funded hotels
A former immigrant shelter director in Massachusetts is petitioning Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the "disturbing pattern" of criminal activity, sexual assaults and financial abuse that he says is widespread in the state-run migrant shelter system. Jon Fetherston, a former director of an immigrant shelter in Marlborough, Massachusetts, first blew the whistle about the widespread abuse in the shelter system after he discovered a Haitian migrant named Ronald Joseph, who was living in his shelter, had repeatedly raped and impregnated his 13-year-old daughter. Fetherston previously told Fox News Digital that as soon as Joseph heard he was losing custody of his daughter, he "reached across the table and grabbed me and got angry with me and started cursing and yelling and screaming and swinging at me because he realized what was happening." However, instead of being arrested immediately, Fetherston was directed to order Joseph a Lyft ride to another shelter in Worcester County. Joseph was not arrested until eight months in February. Us Attorney Alina Habba Announces Rep. Mciver Hit With Federal Charges Over Newark Ice Clash Though this case was particularly egregious, Fetherston said that "there is a lot of undocumented violence that goes on" and that rape, domestic violence, sex trafficking, drug dealing and other crimes are so commonplace in the Massachusetts shelter system that many incidents simply fall through the cracks. Read On The Fox News App Fetherston said, "The entire experience has shaken me to my core." In a letter sent to Bondi on Monday, Fetherston said that this was "not an isolated incident" but despite his raising the alarm, "there has been a deliberate wall of silence. No reforms. No accountability. Just more spin, stonewalling, and bureaucratic excuses." "This is a crisis — one that requires federal action now," he said. Fetherston is now asking Bondi to launch a full investigation into criminal activity and sexual violence within Massachusetts-run migrant shelters, widespread fraud and misuse of federal and state funds, the deliberate refusal to coordinate with federal law enforcement agencies and the pattern of retaliation against those reporting abuse, danger or misconduct. Republican State Ags Seek 'Game Plan' From Fbi, Doj Amid 'Growing Wave Of Antisemitic Domestic Terrorism' The former shelter director turned whistleblower said that "these crimes and failures cannot be brushed aside any longer," because "innocent people — especially children — are being hurt, and the people responsible are being protected by silence and political calculation." Fetherston placed much of the blame for rampant mismanagement and abuse in the shelter system on Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who has been extremely critical of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Fetherston said that "the impact of the Healey administration's hotel shelter policy has been devastating for both residents inside the shelters and the local communities surrounding them." "I personally witnessed traumatic incidents — including assaults, fraud, and serious mental health crises — with minimal intervention from the state," he said. Blue State Governor Sounds Off About 'Disturbing' Ice Operations On Affluent Liberal Islands "Families were placed in overcrowded, poorly managed facilities with little to no oversight, where safety was constantly compromised," he explained. "Local communities were never consulted, resulting in growing resentment and fear. Neighborhoods saw increased police calls, strain on emergency services, and the burden of absorbing hundreds of people without additional resources." He said the Healey administration's "lack of transparency and refusal to collaborate with municipalities left both residents and local officials in the dark, with serious consequences." He also claimed he has faced retaliation for speaking out, including "having my safety threatened, being publicly discredited, and physically targeted." "If you challenge the narrative, you're silenced," he said. "That culture of suppression has created a dangerous environment where truth is buried and accountability is nonexistent." Handful Of House Democrats Join Republicans In Sanctuary City Crackdown Healey's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Healey has previously expressed outrage and called for a full audit of the state's shelters after it was discovered that a 28-year-old illegal immigrant, Leonardo Andujar Sanchez, was discovered using a shelter to store an AR-15 and nearly $1 million in illegal article source: Immigrant shelter whistleblower asking DOJ to investigate 'disturbing pattern' at taxpayer-funded hotels


New York Post
5 hours ago
- New York Post
Rex Heuermann has shown ‘no remorse' since his arrest: Pal
Rex Heuermann has been in jail for almost two years, during which he has shown no remorse for his seven alleged victims, The Post has learned. The one-time architect, 61, stands accused of murdering sex workers between 1993 and 2011 and dumping their bodies along Ocean Parkway in Long Island. His friend who visited him in jail, David Jimenez, 63, says he wouldn't give him details about the alleged crimes, but also showed no emotion for anyone beside himself. 7 Rex Heuermann is a 'momma's boy' and had a strange relationship with his mother, according to sources. Rex Heuermann Consultants & Associates 7 Heuermann and his second wife, Asa Ellerup, who lived in the house where he had grown up after they married in 1995. Peacock 'I personally think he disconnects one [personality] from the other and has no remorse. 'I think he's got a split personality. I literally said to him, 'I'm looking at you eye-to-eye and I know you. And this is like, there's somebody else sitting next to me that committed these crimes,' Jimenez said. 'And it's like a dark side of you, psychopathic, Machiavellian. It's sadistic'.' Heuermann – who has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him – still has to stand trial and his wife, Asa Ellerup, maintains he is not a serial killer. 7 The Massapequa, NY, home where Heuermann lived was almost exactly the same inside as it had been when he grew up, according to his friend David Jimenez. Peacock 7 Ellerup outside the home after her husband's arrest in 2023. Police have not said if they believe Heuermann allegedly killled any of his victims inside the home, which is known to have a basement 'gun room'. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post 7 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets' is avilable to stream on Peacock now. Peacock However, Jimenez — who also works in architecture — feels his ex-pal is resigned to his fate. 'He knows intellectually he's lost all his life, everything. I remember him calling me and saying from the correctional facility, 'Are you interested in taking my building code books, my historic ones? So, he realizes he's never going to use them again.' Jimenez also feels Heuermann won't admit to anything because he wants to watch the trial unfold and all the gory details to be poured over once again in open court. 7 David Jimenez has known Heuermann since 2006, but said he had no inkling he was involved in any of the heinous crimes he now stands accused of. Courtesy of David Jimenez 7 Heuermann's seven alleged victims: (Top row L-R) Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Lynn Costello. (Bottom row L-R) Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack. Suffolk County Police Department 'I think [the trial] is the last time he feels in any kind of control over anything. Why not just either admit it and ask for help, or admit it and ask for forgiveness? 'Even though you can never bring back those lives and you've destroyed, why go through trial? Because he's going to put the family through this and expose all these ugly things.' Jimenez also recognizes that, like all high-profile killers, hulking 6' 4' Heuermann is going to have a target on his back as far as other inmates are concerned due to the nature of his alleged crimes, if he is sent to prison. '[He] will be a target in prison. Maybe not right away, but over the years, he's going to be a target and somebody will want to take his life.'


Fox News
8 hours ago
- Fox News
Katy Perry fan arrested after storming stage during Australian concert
Katy Perry's performance took an abrupt turn after a fan approached her on stage. A man has been arrested and charged with two offenses after he ambushed the pop star during a concert in confirmed with Fox News Digital that around 9:20 p.m. on Monday, June 9, a man jumped on stage and was detained by security. "The man was arrested by police and taken to Auburn Police Station where he was charged with two offenses - [entering] enclosed lands - not prescribed premises and [obstructing] person in performance of work or duties," the statement from Burwood Police Area Command read. The disruptive fan was granted conditional bail and is scheduled to appear at Burwood Local Court on June 23, 2025. He was additionally issued a six-month banning notice for the Sydney Olympic Park precinct. In a fan video, the man was seen running towards Perry as she was about to take her mic off the stand, during her performance on the Australia leg of her Lifetimes Tour. He stormed the stage during Perry's performance of "Hot N Cold" and grabbed her shoulder. Perry was caught off guard and yelped before she swerved to dodge his arm. The man was then seen jumping with the crowd. The "Teenage Dream" singer continued with her performance as the fan began to dance on stage. Two security guards chased the man offstage, as another staff member walked behind them. The man was ultimately removed by additional security personnel."Well, there's never going to be another show like this. So just enjoy it, Sydney," Perry was heard saying to the crowd as she acknowledged the awkward fan encounter. She continued to scream to her audience, "What the hell is going on?" Fans were quick to react to the viral moment, as one concert-goer commented on the video. "I was there and she handled it super well hit I can't imagine how scary that would've been. Imagine if that person had bad intentions, security took too long," one comment read. Several comments argued that security didn't act quickly enough to solve the situation. "That's scary how long it took security to take him away. Someone with bad intentions could have hurt her easily," another user wrote. One fan wrote, "omg that's not okay — why didn't the security do something BEFORE???? i mean katy handled it professionally and didn't panic, true performer behavior." In April, the "Firework" singer kicked off her space-inspired tour in Mexico City. Her Lifetimes Tour comes after she received major backlash for her high-profile seat on the Blue Origin New Shepard mission. WATCH: GAYLE KING REVEALS KATY PERRY, BLUE ORIGIN SPACE FLIGHT CREW'S NEXT MISSION On April 14, the "Roar" singer was part of an all-female crew along with journalist Lauren Sanchez, TV host Gayle King, film producer Kerianne Flynn, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen, who journeyed to the stars on the Blue Origin New Shepard mission. Since returning to Earth, the women have faced backlash over the flight's 11-minute duration and estimated cost. While Blue Origin has not disclosed how much each passenger must pay for a ticket to space, the deposit is $150,000 per person.