Latest news with #RexHeuermann
News.com.au
5 days ago
- General
- News.com.au
Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer made pass at ‘creeped out' woman on train days before arrest
It was a killer commute. Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann made an unwanted pass at a 'creeped out' New York train-goer just days before his shocking arrest for the infamous murders, according to the commuter, who took secret videos of the chilling encounter. Kaylin Morales was on her way home from a dinner date in the Big Apple, riding a nearly empty Babylon-bound LIRR train around 7.45pm on July 1, 2023, when things took a chilling turn – when Mr Heuermann, 61, plopped down in the seat right next to her, despite the rest of the car being deserted. 'I just thought he was this big, fat, ugly white man … I obviously didn't know who he was at the time,' Ms Morales, 21, told The Post. 'It was just so weird that the rest of the seats were empty and he had to sit right next to me. I was on high alert at that point.' Ms Morales, who had her legs stretched out onto the seat across from her own, recalled the hair-raising comment Mr Heuermann made to her as he sat down. 'He said, 'Oh, you don't have to move your pretty legs. I won't bother you,'' she said. Feeling 'uncomfortable', the Bay Shore resident started secretly recording videos and pictures of Mr Heuermann as they pulled out of Penn Station. 'Just in case, for my own safety, I was like, 'Let me just get evidence of who this person is,'' she explained. One Snapchat clip — which Ms Morales captioned at the time, 'Like why the f**k is there mad open seats and this guy sits right next to me and can't stop talking to me, like i literally can't ever catch a break' — shows Mr Heuermann, wearing khaki cargo pants, holding a Miller Lite can. The video then cuts to a close-up of Ms Morales's face, which shows her frowning. Another vid, captioned 'the cracking of a new drink is crazy [crying emoji] i simply cant', shows Mr Heuermann's stubby fingers cracking his second beer, while the phone sitting on his thigh appears to show a New York Post article. 'I could have moved but I was like, 'Is he going to say something else to me?' Like, I just don't want to interact with this man any further — everything about him was sussing me out. So I thought the best thing to do was ignore him and put my AirPods in and look out of the window,' explained Ms Morales, who also said she felt 'boxed in' by Mr Heuermann's 'large body.' Although she could 'see and feel' Mr Heuermann talking to her more, the music in her AirPods intentionally drowned his voice out, she recalled. Another clip she took shows Mr Heuermann exiting the train at Massapequa, where he lived for years before getting nabbed for the infamous murders. When news of Mr Heuermann's arrest broke nearly two weeks later, Ms Morales was aghast. 'My heart immediately sank to the floor … it was literally the craziest feeling. I couldn't even believe it,' she recalled. She decided to submit the clips she'd taken of Mr Heuermann to Suffolk County Crime Stoppers 'in case it could be of use', and ended up getting interviewed by a detective on the case, who confirmed it had been Mr Heuermann sitting next to her on the train, she said. A spokesperson for the Suffolk County District Attorney said their office could not confirm or deny details of ongoing investigations, and the Suffolk County Police Department declined to comment when asked about Ms Morales's claims. Nearly two years after the creepy encounter, Ms Morales finally felt it was safe enough to post them on her TikTok account on May 5. 'I was worried if I posted right after his arrest, if he had a partner, I didn't want them coming after me, so I waited. After I watched the Netflix documentary and see that he did this alone, I felt more comfortable sharing my experience,' she explained. 'God was with me that day,' she told The Post. Mr Heuermann – who has pleaded not guilty to murdering seven women — will return to Suffolk County Criminal Court on June 17. A trial date for the murders has not yet been set. Mr Heuermann is being held in Riverhead Correctional Facility. Mr Heuermann's lawyer did not return a request for comment from The Post.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Chilling trail of clues that led to the capture of 'ogre' Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect
This summer will mark two years since the dramatic arrest of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann in a case that has haunted New York's Long Island for more than a decade. The 61-year-old architect and married father-of-two from Massapequa Park is charged with the murders of seven women over a two-decade reign of terror from from 1993 to 2011. As Heuermann prepares for trial, Daily Mail's Senior Crime Reporter Ruth Bashinsky has examined the chilling trail of clues that led to his capture and the evidence that proved to be a 'smoking gun'. In the Daily Mail series Murder Maps, Bashinsky traces back to where the bodies were found and cops finally closed in on the suspect described as an 'ogre'. The victims are Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27 - who are together known as 'the Gilgo Four' - Valerie Mack, 24; Jessica Taylor, 20 and Sandra Costilla, 28. In 2023, the remains of 'Jane Doe 7' were identified as Karen Vergata, 34, but Heuermann has not been charged in connection to her death. The women's bodies were found wrapped in burlap along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo beach on the South Shore of Long Island. Some of the women were dismembered with parts of their remains found in other remote areas around Suffolk County. Costilla is the first known victim, with her remains found in an area known as North Sea in Southampton back in 1993. The decades-long case has haunted the Long Island community for years ever since the first of multiple bodies were discovered along the 16-mile strip of Ocean Parkway in December 2010. Heuermann, who is being held at the Riverhead Correctional facility, has pleaded not guilty to the charges and denies all wrongdoing. His defense is seeking to split the case into five separate trials. The judge is yet to rule on that matter. The first episode in the two-part series on Gilgo Beach first aired on May 6 and is available on YouTube. The final episode of the show delves into the victims, the investigation and the evidence which allegedly links Heuermann to the murders including the bombshell DNA evidence obtained through a pizza crust as well as the suspect's use of burner phones and his Chevrolet Avalanche a key factor for police. Heuermann's alleged chilling planning document is also explored - a document prosecutors say he used to hunt, capture and kill his victims, mostly young women working as escorts, who he found on Craigslist. The documents contained notes he wrote with the the headings ' PLAY TIME' which is believed to be a reference to sexual and mutilation acts on victims. A 'post event' checklist that included headings such asm 'BURN GLOVES,' 'DISPOSE OF PICS' taken of the victim, and 'HAVE STORY SET,' as per court records. The episode also delves into the aftermath of his arrest and Heuermann's upcoming trial.
Daily Mail
10-05-2025
- Daily Mail
They lived 9 miles apart and had lookalike high school photos - eerie similarities between 'serial killers'
The accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann and prolific convicted serial killer Joel Rifkin have eerie similarities, experts have said. Among the likenesses between the two New York residents are the type of victims they sought, the methods by which they killed and discarded bodies, and lookalike high school photos in which they both donned glasses. Heuermann, 61, was arrested in July 2023 and is charged with the murder of seven women. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and a trial is pending. Rifkin, however, has been behind bars for the last 32 years, serving a 203-year sentence for the murder of nine women, though it is believed that he may have killed up to 17 people. Both men were raised in suburban Long Island with Heuermann living in Massapequa Park, just nine miles from Rifkin's East Meadow home. Rifkin, 66, is five years older than Heuermann and graduated East Meadow High School, while Heuermann graduated Berner High School. Their high school yearbook photos showed an uncanny resemblance. 'Look at them, they look like twins,' Robert Mladinich, author of the book 'From the Mouth of the Monster: the Joel Rifkin Story,' told the Daily Mail. Mladinich met Rifkin when they both were journalism students at the University of Brockport and was shocked when he was arrested. He would later learn that Rifkin was adopted, had a learning disability throughout his childhood, and started paying to sleep with sex workers while in high school. 'Joel Rifkin and Rex Heuermann both grew up in two-parent homes. Both had difficult relationships with their fathers, were socially awkward as children and were incessantly bullied by their peers,' Mladinich said. 'As adults, both frequented sex workers, which became a pre-occupation for them. Both [allegedly] committed murders of sex workers in the homes they shared with family members, where on some occasions they dismembered the bodies,' he said. Both men seemingly hunted for the same types of victim - petite and slender - who worked as escorts or sex workers. Some were single moms trying to survive, others were aspiring actresses waiting for their big break or drug addicts looking for their next hit. Unlike Rifkin who would stalk the dark streets in his car in pursuit of a victim, Heuermann allegedly used Craigslist and burner phones as a way to set up pre-arranged dates as digital technology advanced. Both men allegedly raped, murdered and mutilated their victims. They then dumped their bodies, or body parts, across Long Island and the East End, and parts of New York City. 'Many of Rifkin's victims were dumped in waterways in New York City and beyond, including New Jersey and upstate New York,' Mladinich said. 'Several were dismembered and placed in multiple locations. Some were placed in 50 gallon drums.' Forensic criminal psychologist Lauran Brand categorized both Rifkin and alleged murderer Heuermann under the same subtype of 'Hedonistic' serial killers. 'The driving force that motivates Hedonistic serial killers is thrill and lust,' she told 'They also share the same victimology preference type of female sex workers, common among serial killers for their transient lifestyle.' She said another commonality in both cases is that the killers dismembered some of their victims which she called 'a unique commonality'. 'Statistics of serial killers who dismembered their victims is roughly only 15-10 percent,' she said. Notable serial killers who also did this are Ed Gein, Jeffrey Dahmer and Edmund Kemper. Accused Long Island serial killer Rex A. Heuermann appears with his attorney Michael Brown, during a hearing in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, New York, U.S., April 15, 2025 Rifkin's five-year reign of terror began in 1989 and ended with his June 28, 1993, arrest and then conviction. It wasn't until years later that some of Rifkin's victims were identified through advances in DNA testing. Rifkin is serving out his multiple life sentences at the Clinton Correctional Facility in New York. When Rifkin's murderous escapades ended in 1993, Heuermann's had allegedly just begun and then spanned more than 30 years until his arrest on July 13, 2023, near his midtown, Manhattan office. DNA recovered from a discarded pizza crust was found in a trash bin near Heuermann's office that linked him to Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and later Maureen Brainard-Barnes, known as 'The Gilgo Four.' Further evidence allegedly connects him to the murders of Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack. Heuermann, who has pleaded not guilty in the savage crimes, is currently awaiting trial and is incarcerated at a prison in Riverhead, Long Island. On the outside, Rifkin appeared to be living a normal life with his mother and his sister at their East Meadow home while Heuermann, only miles away, was sharing his Massapequa home with his wife and two children. But, both deviants would allegedly bring their victims back to their homes when their families were out-of-town. Prosecutors claimed that some of Heuermann's victim's were tortured in the home. Mladinich notes that Rifkin grew more careless in the later years and it was his recklessness that ultimately got him caught, while he believes Heuermann appeared to be more organized and methodical. Prosecutors said Heuermann had kept a 'planning document' that describes how to select, kill and dispose of his victims. Some of the steps he outlined included the 'packaging' of bodies for transport, steps to avoid apprehension and the removal of trace DNA evidence. Both men had tenuous relationships with their fathers - who both died before they saw what became of their sons. Heuermann's father, Theodore, was an aerospace engineer who died when Rex was only 11-years-old. Rikfin's father, Bernard, was a successful mechanical engineer, former stand out athlete with a wide circle of friends. But, when he was stricken with cancer his life changed and he died by suicide when Rifkin was 28. 'Joel believed that he failed so many times in his father's eyes,' he said. 'In his mind he felt that he caused his father to commit suicide and then he spiraled and his activity with hookers accelerated and became his outlet for everything,' Mladinich added. Mladinich said that Rifkin and his mother bonded over their hobbies of photography and horticulture and said 'it is hard to know where Rifkin got his hatred of women'. 'Joel admits in the book that he preyed on the ones who looked the most emaciated, drug addled and physically weak and is looks like Rex did the same,' Mladinich said. He recalled that Rifkin told him that 'there was no rhyme or reason when people would die'. 'He talked about this whole ritual of going to doing this four-borough stroll - leaving Long Island to go to Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan,' he said. He also revealed that Rifkin's sick fantasies of murder began when he was as young as 15-years-old. The 1972 Alfred Hitchcock film 'Frenzy,' about a man who strangles his victims with a necktie became an inspiration. 'He fantasized about choking every person he was with. In his words,' Mladinich said, 'it jazzed up the experience.' He recalled the first time he met Rifkin, they were both covering a heavyweight boxing event together for a local newspaper. Mladinich was writing the story and Rifkin was taking the photos. 'He had shaggy hair, was kind of mopey, and he had all these cameras dangling off his shoulders,' he said. As he got to know him better, he described him as kind of 'insecure, an artistic type' but believed, he would blossom later in life to 'become this really cool guy'. After Mladinich graduated, he learned Rifkin had dropped out of school. 'I figured naively maybe he went on to really exciting pastures. I kind of envisioned him working for National Geographic and other prominent publications, but obviously nothing could be further from the truth.' Mladinich later joined the police and is now the co-author of several true-crime books. He later opened his own private investigation firm and went back to school to become a licensed social worker after he left the police force. Today he works with attorneys and assists in criminal cases using his clinical background in social work.
Daily Mail
06-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Daily Mail reporter details 'encounter' with Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann
The Gilgo Beach serial killer case has haunted New York's Long Island community for more than a decade, ever since the first of multiple bodies were discovered along Ocean Parkway in December 2010. More than a decade later, in July 2023, Massapequa Park local Rex Heuermann was then dramatically arrested as he left his office in midtown Manhattan. Now, Daily Mail Senior Crime Reporter Ruth Bashinsky has closely examined the intricate details surrounding the Gilgo Beach Murders in a new crime show - including her own haunting 'encounter' with the suspect. Heuermann has been charged with the murders of seven women on Long Island between 1993 and 2010. He denies all wrongdoing. The first episode of Daily Mail's True Crime show details how on May 1st, 2010, 23-year-old escort Shannan Gilbert made a frantic phone call to police after leaving a client's home on Long Island. She sprinted into the brush along Ocean Parkway and was never heard from again. In the search for Shannan, investigators discovered the remains of several other missing women along the same stretch of road on Long Island, kicking off a nationwide hunt for a serial killer. Daily Mail's new two-part series on YouTube will track the sinister case from the very beginning - with expertise from Long Island native Bashinsky. Heuermann was initially charged with the murders of three women: Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman. Since then, he has been charged with the murders of four more victims: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack. All the victims were working as sex workers when they vanished after going to meet a client. Their bodies were found dumped along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach and other remote spots on Long Island. Some of the victims had been bound, others had been dismembered and their remains discarded in multiple locations. The 61-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
Yahoo
23-04-2025
- Yahoo
Alleged victims of Gilgo Beach killer identified after 27 years
The remains of two victims believed to have been murdered by the Gilgo Beach serial killer have finally been identified after 27 years. US army veteran Tanya Denise Jackson, 26, who was known as 'Peaches' because of her distinctive tattoo, and her two-year-old daughter Tatiana Mary Dykes were named at a press conference by officials at Nassau County on Long Island, New York on Wednesday. Parts of Ms Jackson's dismembered body were found in a bin in Hempstead Lake State Park, Lakeview, on June 28 1997. Then, 14 years later, her severed legs and arms were found, along with the skeletal remains of her two-year-old daughter. For decades, their identities were unknown. All the police had to go on was a scar, possibly from a caesarean section operation and the tattoo – a peach with a bite taken out of it and two drips from the fruit further down on her breast. It was not until 2015 that DNA analysis was able to establish that the remains were mother and daughter. More of the puzzle was put together with the help of the FBI, genealogical analysis and interviews with the family. By last year, investigators had a positive identification, but the details were not released. New York architect, Rex Heuermann, 60, is facing seven counts of murder. He has pleaded not guilty. In December, he was charged with killing Valerie Mack, whose remains were first found on Long Island in 2000. She was also unidentified for years, before being named in 2020 with the help of genetic testing. Police have yet to confirm that the latest discoveries were also victims of Heuermann. They are investigating the deaths of at least 10 people. 'I am not saying it is Rex Heuermann, and I am not saying it is not. We are proceeding that it is not and keeping our eyes wide open, ' Nassau County Homicide Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick said. 'Although Tanya and Tatiana have commonly been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killings, because of the timing and locations of their recovered remains, we are not discounting the possibility that their cases are unrelated from that investigation,' he added. Originally from Alabama, Jackson served in the army from July 1993 to February 1995, before moving to Brooklyn, where she worked in a doctor's office. The bodies have been interred at Alabama State Veterans Memorial Cemetery at Spanish Fort, Alabama, with military honours. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
