Rex Heuermann.Photo:Bonjour Realty/YouTube
Bonjour Realty/YouTube
New York authorities saidLong Island Serial KillersuspectRex Heuermann“compulsively” searched for photos of his victims and their family members.
At a press conference on Friday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Heuermann, 59, used an online account to repeatedly view images of his alleged victims and their family.
“He was compulsively searching pictures of the victims, but not only pictures of the victims, pictures of their relatives, their sisters, their children, and he was trying to locate those individuals,” Tierney said.
Heuermann, an architect and married father of two, was charged Friday with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths ofMelissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
He is also considered a prime suspect in the death ofMaureen Brainard-Barnes.
All four women had worked as online escorts and had been missing between 2007 and 2010. Their bodies were found along a half-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway in Long Island, New York, in December 2010.
Clockwise from left: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello are among Rex Heuermann’s alleged victims.
He was also traced to a Chevrolet Avalanche that was registered to him that was seen at the time of Costello’s disappearance.
“That individual was identified as a person who was between 6'4” and 6'6", a large man, thickly built, not necessarily overly muscular, but just a naturally big person with glasses, white and dark hair," Tierney said. “Also of significance was the fact that he was driving a dark-colored black first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche.”
Crime scene investigators bring out evidence from the home of Rex Heuermann, who was arrested as a suspect in the Gilgo Beach serial killings in Massapequa Park, New York.Kyle Mazza/Anadolu Agency via Getty
Kyle Mazza/Anadolu Agency via Getty
“In a 14-month period, he had over 200 searches pertaining to the Gilgo investigation,” Tierney said. “Not only was he looking at investigative insight, he was trying to figure out how is the task force using cell phones to try to figure out what’s happened. What are the developments with regard to the task force.”
Brainard-Barnes, 25, disappeared first — in July 2007, from New York City — after checking out from a Super 8 motel.
Bodies were found along Gilgo Beach in Long Island, New York.Spencer Platt/Getty
Barthelemy, 24, was last seen walking away from her Bronx apartment in 2009.
Want to keep up with the latest crime coverage? Sign up forPEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime news, ongoing trial coverage and details of intriguing unsolved cases.
Waterman disappeared from a Holiday Inn Express room she was sharing with her boyfriend Akeem Cruz in Hauppauge after she placed an ad on Craigslist on June 5, 2010.
Costello negotiated a $1,500 date with her alleged killer before she walked out of her Long Island home on Sept. 2, 2010.
Initially, authorities had been looking forShannan Gilbert, another sex worker who escaped from a home and called 911. Gilbert was found one year later, and police believe her death was accidental.
source: people.com
