Rex Heuermann zeroed in on prostitutes as they were 'easy targets'
Alleged Gilgo beach serial killer Rex Heuermann targeted sex workers because he knew few people would look for them, according to his friend.
Hulking Heuermann, 61, is awaiting trial over the murders of seven women on Long Island and stands accused of luring petite, younger ladies with the promise of money for sex before killing them and dumping their bodies along Ocean Parkway, near his Long Island home.
'I don't think it's because he has a hatred of sex workers. It's that they were easy targets for him,' David Jimenez, who first met Heuermann's in 2006, told The Post.
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7 David Jimenez said he had no idea there was anything amiss about Rex Heuermann during their decades-long friendship.
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7 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets' premieres on June 10.
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'I'm not a psychiatrist, but I don't think it's the fact that they're hookers is the reason he's killing. I think he's killing him because he wanted to kill.
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'And they were the easiest prey,' added Jimenez, who tells of his friendship with Heuermann in new documentary 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets.'
'Nobody supposedly cares [about sex workers] and he found them the easiest targets. It's so warped I don't even know what to make of it.'
7 Alleged serial killer Heuermann in Suffolk County Court for a hearing in April 2025. His trial is not expected to start until 2026.
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7 Heuermann with his wife Asa Ellerup at their 1995 wedding. After Heuermann was arrested Ellerup filed for divorce.
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7 Jimenez says Heuermann was always respectful to women when they were together. However, cops say he waited until his family were out of town and then murdered.
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Proseuctors say Heuermann has killed seven women since 1993 and dumped their bodies, with the remains found between 2010 and 2011. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges against him.
The women he is accused of murdering are: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Costello.
Police say they uncovered a raft of heinous sex searches on Heuermann's computers and phones including: 'Tied up fat girl porn,' 'Skinny white teen crying porn,' 'medieval torture of women' and 'skinny black slave girl,' according to court papers, which have also revealed 'planning documents' he kept on his computers.
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However, Jimenez – who met father-of-two Heuermann as they both worked in the architecture business and used to shoot and hunt together – says there were no outward clues about Heuermann, who was married and lived in the same home he'd been in since he was a child, until his arrested in July 2023.
7 The Gilgo beach murder mystery and then Heuermann's arrest and what has happened since have all been covered extensively in The Post.
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7 Heuermann was a keen gun collector and police removed around 400 firearms from his home.
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'He hid the prostitute thing from me. I didn't even know that. If he had said to me, 'Look, I see hookers,' I would say, 'OK, like whatever' but he didn't.'
Police say Heuermann would wait until his wife, daughter and son were out of town to murder. Many feel the full extent of his alleged crimes has yet to be uncovered.
Jimenez added Heuermann took good care of his wife Asa, and never even seemed disrespectful to the opposite sex.
'He never showed any hatred to women or angry women or anything. Nothing chauvinistic like cursing people or saying 'women are this or women are that,' nothing like that at all.'
'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets' premieres Tuesday, June 10 on Peacock.
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New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann says he's her 'hero'
The wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann says he's her 'hero'' — and that it was like falling in love with him all over again when she first saw him behind bars. Asa Ellerup, 61, said during an explosive interview in the upcoming Peacock docu-series, 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets' that she is convinced cops have the wrong guy — and that her 'wonderful' husband isn't the monster who killed and mutilated seven sex workers on Long Island over nearly 30 years. 'I know what bad men are capable of doing,' she told the show, which begins airing Tuesday. 'I've seen it, and I've heard it from other men. Not my husband. You have the wrong man.' Advertisement 9 Asa Ellerup, the wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, walks outside court with the couple's daughter, Victoria, 28. Dennis A. Clark 9 Ellerup has called her accused serial killer husband Rex Heuermann her 'hero.' Peacock 'I want him to come back home to me,' Ellerup said. 'They're trying to sit there and tell me that, but I have no knowledge of what they keep talking about. 'Oh, you must have known.' Know what? My husband was home here. He's a family man, period.' Heuermann, a hulking Manhattan architect, was arrested in July 2023 at his Midtown office and charged with the cold-case murders of three young sex workers. Advertisement Suffolk County prosecutors later also charged him with the murder and mutilation of four other victims, all also sex workers whose bodies were dumped along Ocean Parkway over nearly 30 years. He allegedly kept news clips of the brutal slayings in his basement. Despite a mountain of evidence, including DNA matches to all the victims, among them hairs from Ellerup and the couple's daughter, Victoria, the accused fiend's wife continues to believe her husband is innocent. Advertisement Adopted by Icelandic immigrants, Ellerup met a 'tall, dark, handsome' Heuermann when she was an 18-year-old working at a Long Island 7-11, she said, adding that the pair formed an immediate bond. 9 Ellerup said she was 18 and working at a local 7-11 when she met a 'tall, dark and handsome' Rex Heuermann. Facebook Ellerup said she was molested at 16 by a classmate, tried to commit suicide and was forced to hide in a dumpster for hours at 19 to foil a kidnapping attempt — making the hulking Heuermann her savior. She said he has stuck with her through more recent travails, too, including a double mastectomy. Advertisement 'He's my hero,' she said. 'There were times where he was working, but I'd call him, and he would come by and pick me up.' 9 The last three victims linked to Heuermann were (from left) Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack. Suffolk County Police Department 9 Heuermann was arrested July 13, 2023, outside his architecture office in Midtown Manhattan. Newsday The pair formed a years-long, platonic bond that eventually turned into a romance as their first marriages fizzled and they moved in together — which led to their wedding in Sweden in 1995. The next year, their daughter Victoria was born. These days, Ellerup said, she's brought to tears by the Buddy Holly tune, 'Crying, Waiting, Hoping.' She denied claims that the couple had 'swinger' parties in the past, calling the notion 'absurd' — and maintained Rex would never ask. She appeared to be in denial of some of the evidence Suffolk County prosecutors pulled from the couple's home, including sick porn involving videos, claiming she doesn't know if the footage is actually his. Advertisement She also claimed her husband didn't solicit hookers, although she said she believes prostitution should be legal. 9 The slain victims known as the initial 'Gilgo Four' were (clockwise from top left) Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn and Megan Waterman. Suffolk County Police Department Ellerup filed for divorce shortly after her husband's arrest, but their daughter maintained in the documentary that the move was 'to protect the assets.' Despite the divorce filing, Ellerup said she regularly speaks to her husband behind bars. Advertisement 'I haven't seen him in all this time, and when I went down there, I was excited, and like I was, I don't know, I guess on a first date. You're nervous, you're scared. You don't know how the date is gonna go,' she said. But she said she hasn't gone to see him in several months and is paranoid about their conversations being recorded behind bars — which makes her afraid to be open with him. 9 Ellerup is escorted from the Suffolk County Courthouse after a hearing for her husband. Dennis A. Clark 9 Heuermann lived in his mother's former home in Massapequa Park and had an architecture firm in Manhattan. Rex Heuermann Consultants & Associates Advertisement 'Telling him that I love him, that will hurt him,' Ellerup said. 'What I want to say to him is, 'I love you, no matter what.' But I don't even want to say 'no matter what' because I don't believe he did this. I don't see what everybody else is saying. I don't see phone calls to sex workers. 'I'm trying to keep myself sane,' she said. 'At the same time, people are saying, 'How could you not know that your husband was a serial killer?' Wait a minute, I picked him up from the train station every single day. He was home here on the weekends. He smoked a cigar in the garage.' 9 Ellerup and Heuermann were married in Sweden in 1995. Peacock Advertisement 'If he told me that he went out to Lowe's to pick something up and he was gone for an hour, no freaking way is this man going out soliciting sex from a sex worker, killing them and dumping them on Gilgo Beach.' She did have one issue with her embattled husband — she doesn't like his new haircut. Additional reporting by Mikella Schuettler and David DeTurris
New York Post
4 hours ago
- New York Post
Rex Heuermann zeroed in on prostitutes as they were 'easy targets'
Alleged Gilgo beach serial killer Rex Heuermann targeted sex workers because he knew few people would look for them, according to his friend. Hulking Heuermann, 61, is awaiting trial over the murders of seven women on Long Island and stands accused of luring petite, younger ladies with the promise of money for sex before killing them and dumping their bodies along Ocean Parkway, near his Long Island home. 'I don't think it's because he has a hatred of sex workers. It's that they were easy targets for him,' David Jimenez, who first met Heuermann's in 2006, told The Post. Advertisement 7 David Jimenez said he had no idea there was anything amiss about Rex Heuermann during their decades-long friendship. Peacock 7 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets' premieres on June 10. Peacock 'I'm not a psychiatrist, but I don't think it's the fact that they're hookers is the reason he's killing. I think he's killing him because he wanted to kill. Advertisement 'And they were the easiest prey,' added Jimenez, who tells of his friendship with Heuermann in new documentary 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets.' 'Nobody supposedly cares [about sex workers] and he found them the easiest targets. It's so warped I don't even know what to make of it.' 7 Alleged serial killer Heuermann in Suffolk County Court for a hearing in April 2025. His trial is not expected to start until 2026. Newsday 7 Heuermann with his wife Asa Ellerup at their 1995 wedding. After Heuermann was arrested Ellerup filed for divorce. Peacock Advertisement 7 Jimenez says Heuermann was always respectful to women when they were together. However, cops say he waited until his family were out of town and then murdered. Peacock Proseuctors say Heuermann has killed seven women since 1993 and dumped their bodies, with the remains found between 2010 and 2011. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the murder charges against him. The women he is accused of murdering are: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Costello. Police say they uncovered a raft of heinous sex searches on Heuermann's computers and phones including: 'Tied up fat girl porn,' 'Skinny white teen crying porn,' 'medieval torture of women' and 'skinny black slave girl,' according to court papers, which have also revealed 'planning documents' he kept on his computers. Advertisement However, Jimenez – who met father-of-two Heuermann as they both worked in the architecture business and used to shoot and hunt together – says there were no outward clues about Heuermann, who was married and lived in the same home he'd been in since he was a child, until his arrested in July 2023. 7 The Gilgo beach murder mystery and then Heuermann's arrest and what has happened since have all been covered extensively in The Post. Peacock 7 Heuermann was a keen gun collector and police removed around 400 firearms from his home. Peacock 'He hid the prostitute thing from me. I didn't even know that. If he had said to me, 'Look, I see hookers,' I would say, 'OK, like whatever' but he didn't.' Police say Heuermann would wait until his wife, daughter and son were out of town to murder. Many feel the full extent of his alleged crimes has yet to be uncovered. Jimenez added Heuermann took good care of his wife Asa, and never even seemed disrespectful to the opposite sex. 'He never showed any hatred to women or angry women or anything. Nothing chauvinistic like cursing people or saying 'women are this or women are that,' nothing like that at all.' 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets' premieres Tuesday, June 10 on Peacock.
New York Post
15 hours ago
- New York Post
Suffolk jails forced to hold 125 prisoners set for transfer because of state chaos
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