Gilgo Beach murders: Rex Heuermann’s potential ties to Atlantic City probed as sister-in-law speaks out
Follow the latest news on the Long Island serial killer case as police continue to search for evidence implicating the Manhattan architect over string of escort deaths
Law enforcement in Atlantic City, New Jersey, is investigating potential ties between local unsolved cases and Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told ABC News that his task force is looking into possible connections between Mr Heuermann and the murders of four female sex workers whose bodies were found in a ditch just over the Atlantic City border in 2006.
“Shame on us if we don’t look into Las Vegas, South Carolina, even Atlantic City, we’ve got to make sure if anyone has any information,” Mr Harrison said.
It comes amid comments from Mr Heuermann’s sister-in-law that she is in complete disbelief following his arrest over the deaths of Amber Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy.
“I vacillate between desperately wanting my niece and nephew’s life returned to its previous state, intact, without a father accused of being a serial killer to being pleased and secure in knowing that someone is in custody,” Dr Johanna Ellerup told NBC News.
“My ego has great difficulty processing the idea that I looked Rex in the eye and was unable to discern any murderous intentions.”
Pizza crust, burner phones and his wife’s hair: How Long Island police tied Rex Heuermann to the Gilgo Beach murders
Ten deaths, two arrests and a person of interest: Multiple potential serial killers identified in one week
More families await answers in Gilgo Beach killings – and the names of other victims
‘Hundreds’ of true crime enthusiasts visit home of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann
Independent Premium: Horror on the shore: the murder spree that has gripped America
The Gilgo Beach serial killer case has shocked and captivated America for the past 13 years, writes The Independent’s Rachel Sharp.
The suspect was hiding in plain sight all along.
The murder cold case that has gripped America
Neighbour claims Gilgo Beach suspect dug in his garden late at night as police believe victims killed at house
A next-door neighbour of the Gilgo Beach murders suspect claims he heard Rex Heuermann digging in his garden in the early hours of the morning and that he would often burn garbage.
Dominick Cancellieri, who lived next to the Heuermanns for 15 years, told Chris Cuomo on NewsNation that “every few weeks, I would smell garbage burning at his house”, and one night he heard Mr Heuermann digging in his backyard in the early hours of the morning.
The Independent’s Oliver O’Connell reports:
Gilgo Beach suspect’s neighbour claims he dug in his garden late at night
‘Hundreds’ of true crime enthusiasts visit home of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann
True crime fans have clustered outside the modest Massapequa Park home in Long Island, New York, where alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann lived until his bombshell arrest last week.
Rex Heuermann, 59, was charged on 13 July with the murders of Amber Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy, who vanished between 2007 and 2010 before their bodies were found dumped in Gilgo Beach.
The suspect lived in Massapequa Park, Long Island, with his wife of 25 years, who has since filed for divorce, and two adult children. He also ran the architecture firm RH Consultants & Associates in Midtown Manhattan.
In the aftermath of the breakthrough arrest, hundreds of crime enthusiasts have gathered outside the suspect’s home, The New York Times reports.
“I couldn’t wait to see it. I’m so into this thing,” 51-year-old Long Island teacher Scarlett Fascetti, who made a 30-mile trip to see Mr Heuermann’s home, told the outlet.
BTK killer makes chilling comparison between himself and Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann
Convicted BTK serial killer Dennis Rader has laid out the similarities between himself and newly-arrested Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann.
Mr Heuermann, a 59-year-old father of two, was taken into custody last week and charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three of second-degree murder over the deaths of slain sex workers Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and Megan Waterman. He has pleaded not guilty.
The women’s bodies were found in 2010 within one-quarter of a mile of each other in the Long Island community of Gilgo Beach in New York state. Twenty-four-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes’ remains were also found in the vicinity — Mr Heuermann has not been charged with Brainard-Barnes’ murder but is the prime suspect in the investigation.
Now Rader, who is serving ten life sentences in a maximum security Kansas prison after he confessed in 2005 to killing 10 people over a span of three decades, has called Mr Heuermann “a clone of me.” Rader gave himself the title of the BTK killer because he bound and tortured his victims before killing them.
“I was arrested age[d] 59. Married, two kids,” Rader wrote in a letter sent to Fox News Digital. “Husband, dad longtime a serial killer, stalker, used electronic devices, lives in a neighbourhood undetected.”