A New York architect was charged by a grand jury Friday with six counts of murder in connection with the deaths of three of four women who in death became known as the “Gilgo Four,” according to the Suffolk County District Attorney.
Rex Heuermann – who told his attorney he is not the killer – was taken into custody for some of the Gilgo Beach murders, an unsolved case tied to at least 10 sets of human remains discovered since 2010 in suburban Long Island, according to two law enforcement sources.
This is the first arrest in the long-dormant case, which terrorized residents and sparked conflicting theories about whether a serial killer was responsible.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said authorities, fearing the suspect might be tipped off they were closing in, moved to arrest him Thursday night.
“We were playing before a party of one,” he told reporters. “We knew the person responsible for these murders would be looking at us.”
Authorities were executing a search warrant at an address registered to him in Massapequa Park, the sources said.
Federal law enforcement took the suspect into custody, according to a spokesperson for Tierney.
The suspect is connected to the murder of four women, whose bodies were wrapped in burlap and discovered within days of each other in 2010, the spokesperson said. The deaths became known as the “Gilgo Four.”
Heuerman was in tears after his arrest, telling his attorney he did not commit the murders he is accused of, his court appointed attorney, Michael Brown, said Friday.
“I did not do this,” Brown said Heuermann told him during their conversation after his arrest.
Heuermann was remanded without bail. He entered a not guilty plea through his attorney, Michael Brown. His next court date is scheduled for August 1.
He wore a gray short-sleeved polo shirt with a collar and tan pants in the courtroom. He stood largely expressionless, conferring with his lawyer a couple of times.
Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the disappearance and death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, the district attorney said in a bail application. Heuermann has not been charged with that murder but the investigation “is expected to be resolved soon,” the DA said.
The bail application said there “is substantial evidence of Defendant Heuermann’s involvement in the disappearance and death of Ms. Brainard-Barnes.”
Heuermann also used the cell phones of one victim, Melissa Barthelemy, to taunt her family members and admitted to killing and sexually assaulting the woman, according to prosecutors.
How Heuermann was tracked down
The case against Heuermann came together in the two years since the restart of the investigation by Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, according to two law enforcement sources with knowledge of the case.
Harrison put together a task force including county police detectives, investigators from the sheriff’s office, the state police and the FBI.
Investigators went backward through phone records collected from both midtown Manhattan and the Massapequa Park area – two areas where a “burner phone” used by the alleged killer were detected.
Authorities then narrowed records collected by cell towers to thousands, then down to hundreds, then finally down to a handful of people who could match a suspect.
From there, authorities worked to focus on people who lived in the area of the cell tower who also matched a physical description given by a witness who had seen the suspected killer.
In the narrowed pool, they searched for a connection to a green pickup truck a witness had seen the suspect driving, the sources said.
Investigators found Heuermann, who matched a witness’s physical description, lived close to the Long Island cell site and worked near the New York City cell sites where other calls were captured.
They also learned he had often driven a green pickup truck, registered to his brother. But they needed more than circumstantial evidence.
So investigators were able to obtain DNA from an immediate family member of Heuermann, which was sent to a specialized lab, sources said.
According to the lab report, the DNA matched as coming from a relative of the person who left DNA recovered from a burlap sack containing one of the buried victims near Jones Beach.
Male DNA discovered on the body of one victim, Megan Waterman, has been linked to Heuermann through laboratory analysis, prosecutors said.
During the initial examination of Waterman’s skeletal remains and materials discovered with her remains, the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory recovered a male hair from the “bottom of the burlap” used to wrap Waterman by her killer, according to the bail application.
As authorities focused on Heuermann as a suspect, a surveillance team recovered a pizza box he discarded in the trash and gathered a swab of DNA from leftover pizza crust for testing, the DA said.
Killings baffled authorities for years
Heuermann, who a source familiar with the case said is a married father of two, is a registered architect who has owned the New York City-based architecture and consulting firm, RH Consultants & Associates, since 1994, according to his company’s website.
“Throughout the years, Rex Heuermann has provided services to other city agencies, not for profit agencies, builders, developers and individual owners of buildings,” the company website said.
In 2022, Heuermann was interviewed for the YouTube channel “Bonjour Realty.” He spoke about his career in architecture, and said he was born and raised in Long Island. He began working in Manhattan in 1987.
CNN has reached out to Heuermann’s company for comment.
The killings have baffled authorities since the discovery of the first set of female remains among the bushes along an isolated strip of waterfront property on Gilgo Beach.
At an impromptu news conference earlier Friday, county officials said an indictment will be made available.
County Executive Steve Bellone said the arrest is “a major, major step forward … to bring closure to these families and to bring justice to the victims in this case.”
Police had previously identified the Gilgo Four:
One was Barthelemy, whose skeletal remains were discovered near Gilgo Beach on December 11, 2010.
Two days later, on December 13, the remains of three other women were found: Brainard-Barnes, who advertised escort services on Craigslist and was last seen in early June 2007 in New York City; Amber Lynn Costello, who also advertised escort services and was last seen leaving her North Babylon home in early September 2010; and Waterman, who also advertised as an escort and was last seen in early June 2010 at a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge.
Lawyer: Case is ‘edge of a bigger body of water’
John Ray, a lawyer who represents the family of Shannon Gilbert – whose disappearance and search led to the discovery of “Gilgo Four” and other remains – said Friday he does not know if Heuermann is also responsible for her death.
“We breathe a great sigh of relief,” Ray said. “We’re happy the police are finally taking a positive step in this respect, but this is just the beginning … This is just the edge of a bigger body of water, shall we say, of murder that has taken place.”
Ray also represents the family Gilgo beach victim Jessica Taylor.
“We don’t know if he is connected to Jessica Taylor’s murder,” he said.
Jasmine Robinson, a family representative for Taylor, said she’s “hopeful for the future and hopeful that a connection is made” to resolve the other cases.
Some victims advertised escort services on websites
The murder mystery had confounded county officials for years. In 2020, they found a belt with initials that may have been handled by the suspect and launched a website to collect new tips in the investigation.
Police said some victims identified had advertised prostitution services on websites such as Craigslist.
The mystery began in 2010 when police discovered the first set of female remains among the bushes along an isolated strip of waterfront property on Gilgo Beach while searching for Shannan Gilbert, a missing 23-year-old woman from Jersey City, New Jersey.
By the time Gilbert’s body was found one year later on neighboring Oak Beach, investigators had unearthed 10 sets of human remains strewn across two Long Island counties.
The grim discoveries generated widespread attention in the region and sent waves of fear across some communities on Long Island’s South Shore.
Authorities later said they believe Gilbert’s death may have been accidental and not related to the Gilgo Beach slayings.
Still, Gilbert’s disappearance led to the discovery of the bodies of four women who were found in bushes along a quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway in Oak Beach.
Additional remains were uncovered in neighboring Gilgo Beach and in Nassau County, about 40 miles east of New York City. They included a female toddler, an Asian male and a woman initially referred to as “Jane Doe #6,” investigators said.
In 2020, police identified “Jane Doe #6” was as Valerie Mack, a 24-year-old Philadelphia mother who went missing two decades earlier.
Mack’s partial remains were first discovered near Gilgo Beach in 2000, with additional dismembered remains found in 2011, according to the Suffolk County police.
Last year, Suffolk County police formed a task force to strengthen what police called “one of the most consequential homicide investigations in the history of Long Island.”
CNN’s Laura Dolan and Carroll Alvarado contributed to this report.
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