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- Gilgo Beach Task Force investigators say the man charged with seven killings exhibited a "persistent interest" in the case before his arrest, visiting a police website at key points in the investigation.
- Accused killer Rex A. Heuermann saved decades-old news articles as "souvenirs or mementos of his crimes," prosecutors alleged in court papers filed this week.
- He is facing a 10-count indictment charging him with first-degree murder in the 2009 and 2010 killings of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy, and second-degree murder for all three plus second degree murder charges in the earlier killings of Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Sandra Costilla. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
"There are many people who are infatuated with this case, not just in Suffolk County, but across our country, thousands and thousands and thousands of people," Brown said into microphones from local, regional and national media outlets that attended Tuesday’s arraignment. "That's probably underestimating the amount of people that are really attuned to this case over the last 15, 20 years."
Prosecutors found that Heuermann visited Gilgonews.com, a former website police used to share information about the investigation, at about 11:30 p.m. on May 23, 2020. He allegedly visited the website a day after police announced they had identified a Jane Doe in the case who they would soon reveal to be New Jersey mother Valerie Mack. Heuermann, who was indicted in Mack’s killing Tuesday, visited a page on the site specific to her case again that July, prosecutors said.
Tierney said that revelation, which police made before Heuermann’s July 2023 arrest, is consistent with more recent discoveries that the architectural consultant kept copies of newspaper and magazine coverage of his alleged crimes in his bedroom, a basement vault and in his office. The news clips and magazines dated back to 1993
"We think it's circumstantial evidence of his persistent interest in the case, of the victims ... all the methods used by law enforcement to try to catch the murderer," the Suffolk district attorney said.
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