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

[fred&edna]

Graphic !
I've been reading some Newsday articles from the Bittrolff trial... the autopsy info for both described horrendous skull and facial injuries... liked cracked eggs (per ME). Brain tissue was located a bit away from Tangredi's body, and at least 1/3 of McNamee's brain matter was missing. ETA: This mutilation of skull/face seems different than known RH victims, so far. jmo

Here's a link to one article.

Chief medical examiner instructs jurors at Bittrolff murder trial

Dr. Michael Caplan testified during the trial of John Bittrolff, 50, a Manorville carpenter charged with two counts of second-degree murder.

www.newsday.com

 

[iamshadow21]

I assumed they were washed up on the beach. If that's the case, they could have come from anywhere on the shoreline.

I'm trying to find anything suggesting they were washed ashore, and haven't found anything yet, but I'll keep looking.

DoeNetwork says they were found by a couple walking in the vicinity of Davis Park, and that they were wrapped in plastic.

1019UFNY

 

[Just K]

Ugh, Spota. It's hard to say if evidence went missing deliberately or because they just didn't care.

Well, we know Shannon G’s jacket went missing and her relative found her earring after LE had been to Joe B’s house, in Oak Beach.

 

[Mountain_Kat]

Graphic !
I've been reading some Newsday articles from the Bittrolff trial... the autopsy info for both described horrendous skull and facial injuries... liked cracked eggs (per ME). Brain tissue was located a bit away from Tangredi's body, and at least 1/3 of McNamee's brain matter was missing.

So, pretty clear that both were struck with objects and not just human hands. That's new information to me. I'd always heard "beaten" and just assumed it was with fists. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[Baby baby Jane]

Source:
The simple answer is yes, you can drive onto Fire Island. Whether you should, however, is a whole different question. Cars aren't allowed on the majority of the island - you can drive to one of two state parks but you aren't allowed to exit them by car. The better option is to drive to a Long Island port, hop on a ferry and travel to Fire Island on foot.

You can drive from Long Island onto Fire Island over bridges at either end to the Robert Moses State Park and Smith Point County Park. You cannot drive onto or through the majority of the island and can only access it on foot by taking a ferry.

Can You Drive To Fire Island?

All the details you need to know about whether you can drive to Fire Island - the documents you need, things to know about crossing the border and useful tips.

lazytrips.com

Another source:
You can access the Fire Island Lighthouse, Wilderness Visitor Center, and William Floyd Estate year-round by car. The Fire Island Lighthouse and Wilderness Visitor Center are located on Fire Island and are open throughout the year. Get Directions.

There are no paved roads on Fire Island National Seashore. Once on Fire Island, you may explore the island on foot or transfer from one site to another by water taxi. Bicycles are permitted in some Fire Island communities but are not permitted on boardwalks at National Park Service facilities. Learn more about Getting Around Fire Island.

Getting To and Around Fire Island - Fire Island National Seashore (U.S. National Park Service)

www.nps.gov

Her legs were in a black plastic bag, floating & washed up on shore on the bay side (not ocean). They would have been water-dumped and currents brought the bag to Fire Island. RH didn’t/couldn’t have driven to the location where they were found.

 

[iamshadow21]

Found BAYSIDE.

Not ocean.

Gilgo Beach victim Jane Doe No. 7 identified as Karen Vergata

Karen Vergata was identified as the remains almost three decades after her legs were found in a plastic bag at Davis Park on Fire Island’s Blue Point Beach on April 20, 1996.

nypost.com

Ah, @Baby baby Jane beat me to it.

 

[fred&edna]

So, pretty clear that both were struck with objects and not just human hands. That's new information to me. I'd always heard "beaten" and just assumed it was with fists. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

One thing I didn't include was that the COD for both was strangulation. ** (Corrected to include blunt force trauma as well as strangulation in my next post) The bludgeoning of head/face was new to me, also.

 

[Mountain_Kat]

One thing I didn't include was that the COD for both was strangulation. The bludgeoning of head/face was new to me, also.

Wow, so these horrific head injuries were post mortem ? WTF ?!

ETA : And Sandra Costilla suffered multiple post mortem stab wounds, several of which were to her facial area. So that's a significant similarity, imo.

 

[fred&edna]

Wow, so these horrific head injuries were post mortem ? WTF ?!

ETA : And Sandra Costilla suffered multiple post mortem stab wounds, several of which were to her facial area. So that's a significant similarity, imo.

Well, I was thinking slashes/stabbing to face vs bludgeoning was different. ??

ETA: CORRECTION! I think blunt force trauma AND strangulation was COD for both.

 

[Mountain_Kat]

Well, I was thinking slashes/stabbing to face vs bludgeoning was different. ??

Right. But clear post mortem attacks to the face/head. That's definitely similar.

 

[CuriousCricket]

Yes!^^ And it has been posted above somewhere I won’t find….. maybe a touch of copy cat or reading what others were doing? Viewing media reports of other located victims that he likely knew were not his own, if any? To try and disguise his own signature characteristics? Or align them with someone else’s markings? And as others have noted….. did he maybe have a source somewhere within LE. Just saw pictures this morning here of RH in hunting gear, in an hunt club?, and IIRC he might have judged a shooting competition or the like?

Both of those seem like possibilities. From memory, a SW said she went to a party at a hotel and both RH and James Burke were there. She was singled out by someone who frightened her and she went and locked herself in her room and didn't answer when someone knocked.

Burke could easily have been sharing details with like-minded men.

Or LE at the shooting club could easily share details of an interesting case with other members.

One evening, I was in a booth at a restaurant. Two men in the adjoining booth behind me were discussing a missing man. The man immediately behind me was LE and he told the other man that basically, it had been determined that the missing man was a known drug dealer and they thought he was at the bottom of a river or lake with cement boots. It was more like "good riddance" than concern.

The man's family was holding vigils and asking for help searching and have been since.

So, yes, officers might be sharing info -- in my personal opinion.

 

[iamshadow21]

One thing I didn't include was that the COD for both was strangulation. The bludgeoning of head/face was new to me, also.

If the bludgeoning was that severe, it could have been to hinder identification. But then, you'd expect the hands to be removed, too, because these victims had probably been printed in the past, and an intelligent individual would know that.

Maybe JB just liked the extreme violence of the act.

MOO

 

[Mountain_Kat]

Both of those seem like possibilities. From memory, a SW said she went to a party at a hotel and both RH and James Burke were there. She was singled out by someone who frightened her and she went and locked herself in her room and didn't answer when someone knocked.

RSBM

I don't recall her ever saying RH was there. You wouldn't happen to have a source for this would you ?

 

[Just K]

Concerned on the Bittrolff conviction, I agree with his lawyer that semen doesn't equate with murder. Someone on here noted at one point that there was evidence beyond this, but I've been trying to confirm there's more than the woodchips and the semen and finding it difficult. Just found this: "Mr. Biancavilla said outside court that he believes Mr. Bittrolff may have killed other women. He said he was prepared to present evidence provided to his office of Mr. Bittrolff brutalizing animals..."

Manorville man sentenced to 50 to life in double murder case - Riverhead News Review Archives

John Bittrolff, the 51-year-old Manorville carpenter who was found guilty of murdering two women and dumping their bodies in the woods more than 20 years ago, was sentenced to two...

riverheadnewsreview.timesreview.com

It's not originally what I was looking for, but it sounds like good support. Also seeing that the JB victims were savagely beaten, I mean absolutely horrific. I'd say that's not like RH-- but Asian Doe was also beaten savagely, and with some of RH's victims, it's probably not really possible to know. JB's jury deliberated seven days and was deadlocked.

Is it really possible Sandra Costilla was posed because RH wanted her to be seen to implicate Bittrolff? Rita Tangredi was found Nov 2. Sandra Costilla was found Nov 20. Colleen McNamee was found in January '94. Assuming RH got wind of the murder of Rita Tangredi, it seems like that would give him very little time for efficient "copycatting"-- unless he'd already been murdering for a very long time (which I think he was). Even then, it seems unlikely to me. And would enough of details have been released for that to even be possible?

What I'd fear here more than anything is that RH knew "of" JB somehow and knew which sex workers JB frequented, RH tracked them, killed them, and figured if anything ever surfaced, they'd blame Bittrolff. While I would fear that, I find it unlikely. I would more think it likely that Bittrolff had some real, concrete association w/RH. Which also terrifies me.

I’m of the opinion that RH, being the stalker/hunter was nearby while JB wasmeeting with RH’s target. He had no problem with the fact that Bittrolf had just been with the women. I can even see RH tracking Bittrolf. But RH had his checklist so chances that Bittrolf had the same attraction to petite women might not have been a sure bet. And we know that RH, in the cases of Melissa and Amber most likely had met with each before their last meetings. Suggesting that he groomed his later victims. But from his HK list we see “spur of the moment,” too. We also know he learned to “hit harder” which might explain the severe head trauma to Colleen and Rita.

Having said all that, there is no reason to believe that hunters Bittrolff and RH might not have been part of a group sex event where RH deliberately did not leave his own semen but stayed after JB and/others left. We know from the CCC chat room that a group of men spoke of b()kkake (can’t spell it out here) events.

Or worst case scenario, the two of them did things together or in competition.

ETA: RH seems to be sort of a copy cat. I’ll withhold judgement on Bittrolf because there is a little known fact that has received next to no publicity. JB’s sister-in-law left LI and while in Wilmington, NC was murdered. There were two other cases of prostitutes murdered and one of those two victims was left near JB’s sister-in-law. His SIL’s name was Alison Foy.

 

[Izzylizzy]

She was smart to retain an attorney as quickly as she did, imo. Not just from the perspective of having to protect her financial assets, but also from the perspective of needing counsel wrt her legal rights. I know there are people think if you hire an attorney you must have something to hide, but I am definitely not one of them.

AE couldn't have made a worse choice in the attorney she hired .
Macedonio was part of the toxic corrupt Suffolk County web, the same politicians that stymied finding the LISK while protecting their own in Suffolk County across the board.

Macedonio also has a conflict of interest by financially benefiting by the deal he arranged for Asa and the Peacock Documentary.

"Newsday"

The Curious Case of Robert Macedonio

In December 2008, veteran criminal defense attorney Robert Macedonio appeared in a Suffolk County courtroom, this time as a defendant. “It’s embarrassing for me to be standing here,” Macedonio told…

matthewdoig.com

 

[Mountain_Kat]

Which of the known victims charged to RH does John Ray represent ? Does anyone know ? I know he doesn't represent Maureen, Megan. Jessica or Melissa's families. Does he represent the family of Sandra Costilla or Amber Costello ?

 

[Izzylizzy]

Spota faces scrutiny for lawyer's reduced conviction​

News 12 - Long Island
http://longisland.news12.com › spota-faces-scrutiny-for...




Mar 11, 2016 — Robert Macedonio, a criminal defense attorney and former Suffolk County prosecutor, pleaded guilty in 2008 to felony cocaine possession and he .

 

[Mountain_Kat]

AE couldn't have made a worse choice in the attorney she hired .
Macedonio was part of the toxic corrupt Suffolk County web, the same politicians that stymied finding the LISK while protecting their own in Suffolk County across the board.

Macedonio also has a conflict of interest by financially benefiting by the deal he arranged for Asa and the Peacock Documentary.

"Newsday"

The Curious Case of Robert Macedonio

In December 2008, veteran criminal defense attorney Robert Macedonio appeared in a Suffolk County courtroom, this time as a defendant. “It’s embarrassing for me to be standing here,” Macedonio told…

matthewdoig.com

My comment was just a general comment about the wisdom of hiring an attorney so early on.

 

[CuriousCricket]

Yes! And perhaps why RH obtained that Chevrolet Avalanche? High ground clearance and likely 4-wheel drive. Better for rough undeveloped terrain IMO. Plus a large hidden covered cargo area. Wonder if his MO and locations, etc changed around that time? Wonder what vehicles had he driven before? MOO

Long Island 4x4 Beaches Club​

Off-roading is a popular pastime, but on Long Island off-road vehicles can only be used on public lands under very specific circumstances. Four-wheel drive vehicles are generally not allowed to be driven on Long Island’s parks and beaches, but there is a set of conditions under which 4x4 owners can access several beaches.

Long Island 4x4 Beaches Club

Long Island's #1 source for 4x4 Beach Information

longisland4x4beaches.com

This was discussed soon after RH's arrest. I don't recall if we determined RH had licensing for this, but learning about the 4x4 license made me pull back on the certainty he had used his duck hunting boat to dispose of remains.

 

[Izzylizzy]

Which of the known victims charged to RH does John Ray represent ? Does anyone know ? I know he doesn't represent Maureen, Megan. Jessica or Melissa's families. Does he represent the family of Sandra Costilla or Amber Costello ?

No longer Jessica Taylor, Gloria Allred now does and was with JT's mother at Thursday's presser.