Gilgo Beach LISK Serial Killer, Rex Heuermann, charged with 3 murders, July 2023

[Ruminations]

Poignant statements! She's very open about her many feelings, even the ones that are conflicting at times.

I haven't seen this level of insight from AE. It may be there. I'm only saying that I haven't seen it. For many reasons, an adult can lose or relinquish some of their insight for a time. AMOO

She was roasted for this when it was first published. I felt a bit bad for her. I thought it was refreshing that she was concerned with the well being of others. True, her statements were about her process. But her process did take her beyond herself.

She has been closer to Rex's wife and daughter than she makes public, it seems IMO. But I don't see why she should have to hide that. It's her family! There is nothing wrong with family support when it is not enabling. And there is no evidence that she has ever enabled anyone.

MOO

 

[Ruminations]

I just logged onto Namus for the first time since before this all happened, and I think it might legitimately have just been a mistake.

I track Asian Doe and Lattingtown Jane Doe in addition to Peaches and her baby, and all four of them had been modified, so I went to look at some others. Almost every single unidentified person in Nassau and Suffolk counties was modified on Sept. 5, and three others between Aug. 23 and 30.

My guess is that they are reviewing cases and taking notes of things like items that might potentially have suspect DNA (stray hairs, etc.) for testing against Heuermann/other potential suspects. This does seem to be something they do every few months, as others have noticed it before. But it doesn't seem like Peaches was singled out at all, just maybe something got misclicked when they were updating (although that could mean they have her name, and what got misclicked was that she was no longer unidentified, I guess).

That said, I vaguely remember another big batch modification right before they re-searched Manorville and North Sea, so maybe they've gotten more files from his devices and are reviewing to see if any cases match up. I could absolutely be wrong on that, and it's hard to check because so many of the profiles were just updated, but of those that weren't, three of them were modified between March 27 and April 9. And the remainder were all updated in October and November of 2023, right before charges were filed in January 2024 for Maureen's murder. So maybe there is news/new charges coming in a few weeks, and they're doing a review for anything that they can potentially add?

I do really hope that some of these Does get their names back soon. If he was searching known victims I'm positive he was searching others as well. Given that he apparently hired lots of sex workers without murdering them I'm sure police have had a hell of a time figuring out who among those he searched are still alive and who is missing, but I'm sure there are clues there.

ETA: Still glancing through to see if anything sticks out, but most of the cases I'm looking at from the batch edited on 9/5 had some clothing or fabric recovered with the victim. A few don't say, but some of them (Asian Doe, Baby Peaches) we know were found with fabric based on previous information about the case.

Well, putting her back in can't be a mistake, can it? Nor can choosing to do so silently after the mistake being noticed.

I'm taking this as uplifting news that Peaches and Peaches Jr. will be remembered for who they were before they died. That, plus the expectation of many journalists/documentarians and content creators that Peaches name would soon be known around the time that Karen Vergata was named, make me feel that progress we don't know about has been made and some humanity will be gained for these victims.

MOO

 

[AppleTreeGreen]

Is my memory correct that after the taunting calls to Melissa's sister, photos of ?was it Times Square ? were obtained at the time the calls were made hoping to spot someone on the phone.

HK document from around 2000 that makes it clear he'd killed before and hadn't yet selected Ocean Parkway as a graveyard - opens him up as a potential suspect in dozens of murders

Basically between the document and him being connected to the Manorville site

I also think about how the parks represent safe or familiar spaces in his own backyard. For example, volunteering at Jones Beach may have given him some insight into area along the strip that is heavily dense, provides soft or muddy ground for some further coverage of remains and the scents and are not heavily trafficked by pedestrians, cops, landscapers, conservationists or dog walkers who could come across the remains. Low traffic and lighting in the dark early morning hours with also helped prevent him from attracting notice or suspicion as well and with the length of the strip and proximity to his house and Sunrise HGWY it was a feasible long-term resource unfortunately that would further enable him to continue his crimes.

Considering his love of hunting and being near the route to his alma mater, He may have already become familiar with the park in Manorville during his enrollment at Westbury’s CW Post. This unfortunately could have given him the advantage of already being comfortable transversing the park day or night and already even knew of spots in which he intended to hide his victims. Perhaps though LE’s fortitous discovery of Sandra Costillo and Jessica Taylor in this area inspired in part the creation of his disturbing HK document which outlined both how to further violate his victims and their remains but also how to pick areas to hide them.

 

[AppleTreeGreen]

Is my memory correct that after the taunting calls to Melissa's sister, photos of ?was it Times Square ? were obtained at the time the calls were made hoping to spot someone on the phone. Unfortunately, IIRC, the location was packed with people on the phone and there was no way to tell who the killer might be.

I just heard about this on a documentary on LISK too. His phone pinged at Penn, Times Square, the Port Authority and midtown in general. However, like you mentioned surveillance or CCTV footage was not helpful because the streets were not only packed but the crowd was packed with cell phone users.

However, a short time later the pings in Massapequa Park were able to narrow down the home location of RH to First Avenue and boxing his midtown pings again helped them locate both the area he likely worked and the exact store he bought his burner phones from and obtain surveillance footage of his most recent purchase.

Gilgo Beach murders: Timeline shows what led to arrest of suspect Rex Heuermann in Long Island

A timeline of events shows what led to Rex Heuermann’s arrest. He's charged with 3 killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders in Long Island, New York.

www.usatoday.com

LI Serial Killer Case: Newly Released Details Offer Fresh Insight Into the ‘Gilgo Four'

The 2010 disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old escort from Jersey City, triggered a hunt that exposed a much larger mystery — and the discovery of many more bodies on a remote stretch of Long Island.

www.nbcnewyork.com

The Polygon and the Avalanche: How the Gilgo Beach Suspect Was Found (Published 2023)

As investigators spent years looking for a suspect, a key clue was buried in their files. Could they have solved the case years earlier?

www.nytimes.com

 

[Charlot123]

Ok, so, I am going to say I'm a little skeptical that Heuermann was killing so early or so frequently.

That said, by 1982 he was working at Jones Beach. This was two years after Richard Cottingham was arrested, and he faced trials in 1981 and 1982. He strangled several women and dismembered several more in New York and New Jersey through 1980. Cottingham couldn't have been responsible for the string of 1982 murders as he was in prison, but the fact that one of the victims was found in North Bergen, which was just a couple miles from his home, is very creepy. (EDIT: I misread, she was from there and found in Manhattan. Still a weird coincidence.). Also creepy: he left one of his victims wrapped in plastic at a bus stop at Jones Beach, though she was not officially connected to him until two years ago.

I've long suspected, due to the similarly of their crimes and the fact that several of Cottingham's victims were found in Long Island locations Heuermann would have been familiar with, that Cottingham may have been one of his inspirations - both the man himself and his Times Square and New Jersey murders, and the unknown Long Island serial murderer that turned out to be Cottingham, even though he was only officially linked to those crimes in 2022. Especially when you consider how Heuermann treated his earliest known victim, Sandra, compared to the torture Cottingham put his victims through. Cottingham's surviving victims spoke to the media and testified in court, so details would have been out there in the news during a pretty formative time for Heuermann, and he clearly was reading about and taking inspiration from other killers (I think he was a Rifkin fan, too, tbh).

If those murders had NOT been committed in 1982, I'd say they were Cottingham 100%. If all five were committed by the same person, I'd wager they were a copycat. They sound very much like his crimes.

I'm still skeptical they were Heuermann just because it seems like he would be too young and inexperienced for so many murders so close together, but I can't say I would be shocked to be proven wrong on that. If he's truly responsible for the crimes he's charged with, the dude is a grade A sociopath. I hope police are looking at those cases again and comparing any DNA evidence that still exists.

He was about 18 in 1982. I would say, probably not frequently but absolutely could have started. Both TB and GRK had an unresolved case of a peer murder/disappearance in the vicinity when they were around 13.

 

[Passeridae]

Considering his love of hunting and being near the route to his alma mater, He may have already become familiar with the park in Manorville during his enrollment at Westbury’s CW Post. This unfortunately could have given him the advantage of already being comfortable transversing the park day or night and already even knew of spots in which he intended to hide his victims.

Do you mean the park in Hempstead where Peaches was found? Manorville and Westbury really aren't all that close to each other, and the pine barrens in the Manorville area are huge, like 100,000 acres.

 

[Passeridae]

He was about 18 in 1982. I would say, probably not frequently but absolutely could have started. Both TB and GRK had an unresolved case of a peer murder/disappearance in the vicinity when they were around 13.

Definitely, and he might have even had some incidents earlier. But I would be surprised if he successfully killed five people in just a few months at that age. It's possible but not super likely.

 

[whiterhino]

He was about 18 in 1982. I would say, probably not frequently but absolutely could have started. Both TB and GRK had an unresolved case of a peer murder/disappearance in the vicinity when they were around 13.

This!!!!

Also FWIW & JMHO but I don't believe RH stumbled upon SG and decided to mutilate her body. I'm not certain it could be considered torture (it's bad enough with what we know to be true). Keeping the victims in mind fwiw.

 

[snarast]

This!!!!

Also FWIW & JMHO but I don't believe RH stumbled upon SG and decided to mutilate her body. I'm not certain it could be considered torture (it's bad enough with what we know to be true). Keeping the victims in mind fwiw.

I see Tammy Mahoney as perhaps an early ”inspiration” if nothing else. Posted more about that in this thread:

Possible victims

This is mostly a hunch based on facial symmetry (a pet pieve) but what do you think or do you have other speculations you feel are interesting enough to share? I recently noticed the horrific story surrounding Tammy Mahoney’s disappearance. And I was struck by her physical similarity to Maureen...

www.websleuths.com

She looks *exactly* like Maureen Brainard-Barnes with somewhat darker eyes IMO.

FBI has taken an interest in her case since about 2020:

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/tammy-mahoney

 

[DS2021]

Tanya Rush has been on my mind lately. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the wife and kids went to Iceland every summer.

That leads me to believe that there is likely a victim from every single summer they were together.

Maureen disappeared in Summer 2007, and Melissa disappeared Summer 2009.
That means theres likely a unconfirmed victim from summer 2008.

Tanya fits that slot perfectly. She disappeared in June 2008, and was found 3 days later, dismembered in a suitcase not too far from the Heuermann residence.

 

[minazoe]

I see Tammy Mahoney as perhaps an early ”inspiration” if nothing else. Posted more about that in this thread:

Possible victims

This is mostly a hunch based on facial symmetry (a pet pieve) but what do you think or do you have other speculations you feel are interesting enough to share? I recently noticed the horrific story surrounding Tammy Mahoney’s disappearance. And I was struck by her physical similarity to Maureen...

www.websleuths.com

She looks *exactly* like Maureen Brainard-Barnes with somewhat darker eyes IMO.

FBI has taken an interest in her case since about 2020:

https://www.fbi.gov/wanted/kidnap/tammy-mahoney

woah dudes..you are not joking. how strange is this? I mean STRANGE! mOO

 

[dotr]

woah dudes..you are not joking. how strange is this? I mean STRANGE! mOO

NY - NY - Tammy Mahoney, 19, Oneida, 8 May 1981

18 Unidentified Person Exclusions (UP10229 is listed twice and UP6279 is already identified)

www.websleuths.com

 

[Passeridae]

Tanya Rush has been on my mind lately. Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like the wife and kids went to Iceland every summer.

That leads me to believe that there is likely a victim from every single summer they were together.

Maureen disappeared in Summer 2007, and Melissa disappeared Summer 2009.
That means theres likely a unconfirmed victim from summer 2008.

Tanya fits that slot perfectly. She disappeared in June 2008, and was found 3 days later, dismembered in a suitcase not too far from the Heuermann residence.

Out of a lot of the potential victims posted, she seems the most likely to me, especially after Sandra Costilla established that Ocean Parkway was not his only graveyard. South Newbridge Road does connect with the Wantagh Parkway and out to Ocean Parkway, though. I wonder if it was a route he used to avoid cameras? Maybe something happened (wife flying home early? Derrick? some other thing?) when he was already on Wantagh Parkway and he had to dump her and rush into the city before he made it to OP? And then going back for her would be a stupid risk.

I hope if he did kill her that he's obsessed over that suitcase and how it might lead back to him every day since.

 

[DS2021]

Unfortunately, i cant paste any info from this in here

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney creates cold case unit to solve homicides, review death investigations

www.newsday.com/amp/long-island/crime/cold-case-bureau-suffolk-ray-tierney-q87afyye

 

[snarast]

Unfortunately, i cant paste any info from this in here

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney creates cold case unit to solve homicides, review death investigations

www.newsday.com/amp/long-island/crime/cold-case-bureau-suffolk-ray-tierney-q87afyye

From the video clip I gathered that they are aiming to assess/investigate 300 cases from 1965 onward.

 

[Passeridae]

From the video clip I gathered that they are aiming to assess/investigate 300 cases from 1965 onward.

I bet that's what the huge batch edit last week was about, then. A lot of those cases didn't seem to fit Heuermann's known MOs at all, but almost all of them did seem to have fabric among the evidence that could potentially have had hair. I bet they're looking to see which UIDs they could potentially DNA match using the new hair technique from this case.

 

[CuriousCricket]

I bet that's what the huge batch edit last week was about, then. A lot of those cases didn't seem to fit Heuermann's known MOs at all, but almost all of them did seem to have fabric among the evidence that could potentially have had hair. I bet they're looking to see which UIDs they could potentially DNA match using the new hair technique from this case.

I bet you're right. And this will be the test case for the advance in forensics for cases not just all over the US, but around the world. For anyone killed in 1965, there is a good chance the killer is already dead, but the cases can be solved and the families can know their loved ones were not forgotten or ignored.

 

[snarast]

I bet you're right. And this will be the test case for the advance in forensics for cases not just all over the US, but around the world. For anyone killed in 1965, there is a good chance the killer is already dead, but the cases can be solved and the families can know their loved ones were not forgotten or ignored.

It seems like a systematic and egalitarian approach to solving cold cases. Very promising.

 

[james.coff]

It looks like there are great things happening!!! I tried to link exactly where the info can be found, it took forever, but I thought it was such great information, I tried my best

In September 2024 alone, NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System) has processed thousands of case modifications across the U.S. This wave of updates is driven by advances in forensic techniques, public awareness, and a major breakthrough in state-of-the-art geo-mapping technology.

Geo-Mapping: A Game-Changer in Investigations​

NamUs' new geo-mapping technology has revolutionized how cases are investigated, allowing both law enforcement and the public to visualize patterns across different regions. This advanced system enables investigators to map out the last known locations of missing persons and where unidentified remains were discovered. The precision and detail of this tool provide critical insights into case patterns, offering a clearer picture of potential connections between disappearances or unidentified remains. This geo-mapping is cutting-edge and has been described as the future of missing persons investigations(NamUs)(Office of Justice Programs). With continuous federal funding and support, NamUs has implemented this geo-mapping feature across all cases, ensuring that data is accurate, real-time, and publicly accessible. This level of transparency and accessibility is crucial for communities, families, and professionals alike who are searching for missing loved ones or seeking to solve cold cases.

Several other key factors contribute to the ongoing surge of case updates:

1. Forensic Genetic Genealogy: The expanded use of forensic genetic genealogy has significantly increased case resolution rates. Between October 2022 and September 2023, nearly 48% of cases submitted for genetic testing resulted in confirmed identifications, which required updates to existing case data (Promega)
   
   
2. New Staffing Model and Enhanced Forensic Services: NamUs has introduced a new staffing model and enhanced forensic services, enabling the organization to handle more cases and streamline data entry. This includes integrating disciplines such as forensic anthropology, odontology, and fingerprinting, which allows for more comprehensive case management . Additionally, an overlapping services strategy has been implemented to manage high case volumes without bottlenecks. (Office of Justice Programs.)
   
   
3. Forensic Partnerships and Funding: NamUs has partnered with organizations such as the FBI’s Latent Print Unit and BODE Technologyto expand forensic services. These partnerships, funded through federal and private grants, provide the financial and technological support needed to enhance NamUs' capabilities(Promega)(Home Page).
   
   
4. RTI Management Transition: The 2021 transition of NamUs management to the Research Triangle Institute (RTI) introduced stricter protocols for case data completeness and accuracy. This has led to many older cases being revisited and updated to meet higher standards(Promega).
   
   
5. Technological Tools: The integration of advanced forensic tools like the Total Requirement for Unified Sample Tracking (TRUST) system has improved how forensic samples are processed and tracked, leading to faster case updates and modifications(Promega).
   
   
6. Improved Data Sharing: Enhancements in data-sharing capabilities between NamUs and other criminal justice databases have made it easier to cross-reference and update cases as new evidence or identifications emerge (Office of Justice Programs).
   
   
7. Collaboration with State, Tribal, and Local Agencies: Increased collaboration with state, tribal, and local agencies—many now mandated to use NamUs—has resulted in law enforcement and medical examiners updating case data more frequently. Federal mandates related to tribal and migrant initiatives have also driven attention to underserved communities, contributing to more case updates(NamUs).
   
   
   
   

 

[sds71]

New movement in #LISK case. ⁦@RayTierneyDA⁩ to hold presser Monday about #GilgoBeach victim with state and federal partners. It’s not at the courthouse. At least 3 victims remain publicly unidentified at this point.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1834686975745339805