The man charged with three of the notorious “Gilgo four” murders on New York’s Long Island 13 years ago faced a pre-trial conference hearing Tuesday before a Suffolk County Judge.
Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested last month and charged in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. The bodies of the women, who authorities say were sex workers, were found wrapped in burlap on Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach.
Heuermann is also a prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, but has not been charged in that case. Police found at least 10 sets of human remains during their investigation.
Barthelemy’s remains were discovered during a training exercise on Dec. 11, 2010, along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. Two days later, the bodies of Brainard-Barnes, Waterman, and Costello were discovered.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
How police linked Heuermann to the cold cases
Police identified Heuermann as a person who could be a suspect in the case, tracked him down and found an abandoned pizza crust that he threw out in a Manhattan trash can, authorities said. The DNA on the food matched the DNA to a male hair found in the burlap that wrapped Waterman.
Authorities also discovered Heuermann had contacted two sex workers up to a week before his arrest.
Burner phone calls linked to Heuermann
Police say the victims had been been contacted by someone using four separate burner phones, even using one of the phones to taunt relatives of Barthelemy after she went missing. Heuermann lived in Massapequa Park and worked in Midtown Manhattan. Authorities say the women disappeared from Massapequa and that the taunting calls were made from Manhattan.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said a search of Heuermann’s house and yard turned up hundreds of weapons and “massive” amounts of other material.
Wife says she knew nothing of her husband’s alleged crimes
Heuermann’s wife of 27 years, Asa Ellerup, on Monday told CNN she filed for divorce from Heuermann after his arrest. She and her lawyer told CNN she had “no idea” of her husband’s alleged actions. Lawyer Bob Macedonio said investigators swarmed the family home, leaving it in a shambles and rattling their grown children.
“Everything in the house was turned upside down,” Macedonio said. “Dresser drawers were emptied out. The bathroom tub … was actually cut open. The floors were ripped up. The couches and the mattresses have been removed.”
The family has received support, Macedonio said, including from the daughter of serial killer Keith Hunter Jesperson, the so-called “happy face killer” convicted of killing eight women over five years.
“It’s been extremely overwhelming for her and the children trying to piece life back together to what it was two and a half weeks ago,” Macedonio said. “I don’t know if they’re ever going to return to normalcy, but day by day she’s getting better.”
Contributing: Kayla Jimenez and Jeanine Santucci
USA TODAY
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