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

[Passeridae]

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.

I did not know that, jeez. I did find out a reason why JB may have only had two known murders. Apparently he went to trial for a 1990 assault in January or February of 1994 - right after Colleen McNamee was murdered - and was convicted and did some time. Haven't seen anything about what kind of assault, but I can guess.

That may have been the "stressor" that set him off on a short killing spree, but he was in jail before he could kill any more, at least at that time. Maybe he kept his head down after he got out because he knew they'd connected his two and a third woman he didn't even kill and he didn't want to go back to prison? Or he just got a lot more careful after that. Or maybe he heard about Medford Jane Doe, one of Robert Shulman's victims left very close to where found, and thought he'd pissed off another serial killer in the area.

Sadly, New York didn't begin operating their DNA database until after Bittrolff's 1994 conviction or they'd have had his DNA way back then.

When I heard RH was being charged in Sandra's death I was very prepared to think John Bittrolff was innocent, but after doing some reading about the crimes he's convicted of I think he's probably where he belongs.

And yeah, I agree that RH seemed to study and copy other serial killers. I think he was very much influenced by people like Joel Rifkin. I wonder if the creepy phone calls were inspired by EAR/ONS - there were a bunch of news reports and true crime episodes after DNA connected the Sacramento and SoCal crimes in 2001, and they played that one nightmare fuel phone call in every one of them. When I first heard about the LISK calls I actually wondered for a while if EAR/ONS might have moved to New York, but the LISK crimes didn't fit his MO at all.

 

[Soulmagent]

I don't think it would have been that risky, using the boat.

I think most people, seeing, say, a smear of blood on a small boat used for fishing would assume that it is fish blood.

MOO

Plus making sure alternate suspects are available.
Let 15 people borrow your murder location .
Then when the investigators show up and ask the "who has access to? "
You hand the list and wait 8 more months to hear from them.
Works out better in some cases than others..
This is satire ... not advice.

 

[snarast]

Some of Peaches' remains were found along Ocean Parkway, specifically in Jones Beach. They were found April 11, 2011.

The remains were found in a plastic bag. I suspect at least part of those remains was her hands or arms, because found with the remains were bracelets that were similar to the jewellery found on her daughter's remains.

They were found a couple of miles west of Karen's skull.

MOO

I don’t want to sound flippant but there seems to be at least two sets of legs missing. Or three. If RH followed a pattern, maybe the remaining leg bones may be found around Fire Island - like Karen Vergata’s were?

 

[Passeridae]

I want to know where Asa was on/around Feb 14th,1996 when Karen disappeared and if she and RH got married in April 1996 before or after Karen's partial remains were found on April 20,1996.

Do we know if Karen went missing on Feb. 14, or simply didn't have any contact with her family after that? Speaking from personal family experience, that can be two different things. It may be that she went missing in early March or even April, but just wasn't calling home that last month or so.

When her legs were found on April 20, investigators believed that she had only been dead for a few days.

 

[iamshadow21]

I don’t want to sound flippant but there seems to be at least two sets of legs missing. Or three. If RH followed a pattern, maybe the remaining leg bones may be found around Fire Island - like Karen Vergata’s were?

I honestly have no idea if either of Peaches' legs were found with her arms. I don't think the information is out there. Just that bracelets were found with the remains, and her head was not.

This article by Long Island Press suggests some of her limbs have yet to be found.

Murder Victim Dubbed ‘Peaches’ Linked to Long Island Serial Killer Case

Exclusive: Authorities linked an unidentified woman’s torso found 19 years ago in Rockville Centre with skeletal remains discovered on Ocean Parkway in '11.

www.longislandpress.com

MOO

 

[iamshadow21]

Do we know if Karen went missing on Feb. 14, or simply didn't have any contact with her family after that? Speaking from personal family experience, that can be two different things. It may be that she went missing in early March or even April, but just wasn't calling home that last month or so.

When her legs were found on April 20, investigators believed that she had only been dead for a few days.

Yeah, I don't think there is certainty about her actual date of disappearance, just a last known contact.

 

[Soulmagent]

She'd have to get the place ready to view and if she's also a hoarder it would be just too traumatic for her. /s

For starters she'd have to

1. get a dumpster
2. get 2nd dumpster
3. get 3rd dumpster
4. get a 4th dumpster

Is hoarding not a side effect of a mental illness ?
She is not selling the house if she is a hoarder.
She not getting a dumpster either if she is a hoarder.
She will divorce her husband before she loses her hoard .
But maybe he is the hoarder.

 

[snooptroop88]

I don’t want to sound flippant but there seems to be at least two sets of legs missing. Or three. If RH followed a pattern, maybe the remaining leg bones may be found around Fire Island - like Karen Vergata’s were?

Agreed, and Peaches' skull is still missing.

And don't forget the victim from Las Vegas, Lindsay Marie Harris. They recovered Lindsay's legs, but noting this because of those HK photo references. Source:
"Lindsay Marie Harris went missing from Henderson in 2005. Her severed legs were discovered in similar circumstances to Fire Island Jane Doe 7, identified just over a week ago as Karen Vergata."

Family grieves, yet feels relief

www.reviewjournal.com

A lot of people on here speculated when they saw that horrible poster taken from RH's home that the beaten woman in the poster resembled Lindsay Harris. This is even more of a concern now that RH's "HK" notes mention photos and "pic's." A long time ago when wondering about this, I said I hope not, and not likely. I still hope not, but not as unlikely, jmo.

 

[Soulmagent]

I've never even looked at her FB photos/info. (Some sleuther I am, lol)

I have not either .
I could not bring myself to do it after seeing her on the porch during the first few days.

 

[Passeridae]

Fire Island John Doe also so at least 2 bodies

Karen Vergata is Fire Island Jane Doe. She was identified last summer shortly after RH was arrested. Her legs were found at Davis Park on Fire Island, and her skull on Tobay Beach between Gilgo and Jones beaches. Her torso and arms have never been found. 1019UFNY

I honestly have no idea if either of Peaches' legs were found with her arms. I don't think the information is out there. Just that bracelets were found with the remains, and her head was not.

This article by Long Island Press suggests some of her limbs have yet to be found.

Murder Victim Dubbed ‘Peaches’ Linked to Long Island Serial Killer Case

Exclusive: Authorities linked an unidentified woman’s torso found 19 years ago in Rockville Centre with skeletal remains discovered on Ocean Parkway in '11.

www.longislandpress.com

MOO

The Doe Network says her arms and legs were found on Jones Beach, but it also said her head was there and that was not true. That's why she doesn't have a forensic sketch - they never found her skull. Karen Vergata's skull was found not far away, so it may be that someone assumed that was Peaches' skull and they never corrected it? I also found old Newsday articles from 2011 identifying her toddler and Doe Network says that didn't happen until 2016, so I don't know what's going on with her entry there. But some of her remains were definitely found during the second major Gilgo/Jones Beach search, and since that's when they found her bracelets I am assuming it was at least her arms.

151UFNY

Article clipped from Daily News

Clipping found in Daily News published in New York, New York on 9/21/2011.

www.newspapers.com

ETA: The 2011 Daily News article uses some pretty anti-sex worker and transphobic language, because of course it does. Just a heads up. /ETA

And between looking this stuff up and reading the discussion of VH's age, I just realized that Peaches' baby would have been about the same age as VH.

 

[LadyL]

Is hoarding not a side effect of a mental illness ?
She is not selling the house if she is a hoarder.
She not getting a dumpster either if she is a hoarder.
She will divorce her husband before she loses her hoard .
But maybe he is the hoarder.

Well, he definitely is. He hoarded guns and electronic devices that we know of.

 

[snarast]

Well, he definitely is. He hoarded guns and electronic devices that we know of.

Collecting isn‘t hoarding, though.

 

[Just K]

Yes. Just went back to try to include that in my post, but time had elapsed.

Police chief partied with Gilgo 'serial killer at crack-fueled motel bash'

DISGRACED ex-Long Island police chief James Burke once partied with alleged Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann decades ago at a drug-fuelled motel gathering, a woman has claimed in a new sworn affida…

www.the-sun.com

This reminds me of the woman who described a similar situation in an AC, NJ motel. Something about waking up without her shoes and a big guy and a van. I can’t remember the order or the details but I remember WSers were concerned because she later dropped off the radar.

 

[Friday13]

Agreed, and Peaches' skull is still missing.

And don't forget the victim from Las Vegas, Lindsay Marie Harris. They recovered Lindsay's legs, but noting this because of those HK photo references. Source:
"Lindsay Marie Harris went missing from Henderson in 2005. Her severed legs were discovered in similar circumstances to Fire Island Jane Doe 7, identified just over a week ago as Karen Vergata."

Family grieves, yet feels relief

www.reviewjournal.com

A lot of people on here speculated when they saw that horrible poster taken from RH's home that the beaten woman in the poster resembled Lindsay Harris. This is even more of a concern now that RH's "HK" notes mention photos and "pic's." A long time ago when wondering about this, I said I hope not, and not likely. I still hope not, but not as unlikely, jmo.

Regarding the last part of your post, referring to the poster or painting that was taken out of the home during the first search, i was reminded of it after looking over the latest bail document, where it refers to to the book Mindhunter, I believe. The author says something along the lines of “look at the painting - what/why/who” I know this wasn’t intended in the book as a literal painting but maybe RH kept that awful painting around as a reminder of his victims, something he could keep around to relive the heinous acts he did over and over. It would be safer than keeping actual photographs or video laying around. MOO

 

[FromGermany1]

This reminds me of the woman who described a similar situation in an AC, NJ motel. Something about waking up without her shoes and a big guy and a van. I can’t remember the order or the details but I remember WSers were concerned because she later dropped off the radar.

Did she speak of a big guy with aviator glasses???
I can't remember, where I read about that detail. It isn't long ago, and it was connected with murders and this case, but not directly with RH, I believe. I was immediately thinking of RH re "aviator glasses", but didn't know exactly, if I was right or wrong.
ETA: I want to find it again.

 

[FromGermany1]

Collecting isn‘t hoarding, though.

Not throwing anything away is hoarding, I believe? 300 guns are rather collecting. IMO

 

[nhmemorymaker]

He seemed to have died when he was age 50, in 1975 when RH was about 12. He was a veteran of WWII

There are some family details in these articles:

Exclusive | Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann was ‘momma’s boy’: sources

Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann was bizarrely close to his “controlling” mother while he was an adolescent, according to sources.

nypost.com

Everything we know about family of ‘quiet’ Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann

Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann is a twice-married architect quietly raising two children — including a son with special needs — in the ramshackle Long Island home he grew up i…

nypost.com

Well, one of these articles definitely answers one outstanding quiestion.
His mother was living in a senior center in NJ, but went to live with one of her daughters.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Ok, just thinking this over. What if RH did have some association with Bittrolff and Bittrolff tipped them off to him? Meaning Bittrolff maybe put him "on the map" or advanced the investigation in some way. Snitches get stitches, so I doubt Bittrolff would want such information "out there." And probably LE wouldn't either, since... snitches get stitches. And Bittrolff would be "their" snitch. Plus, it's bad policy for LE's snitch to get stitches because others in JB's position will be reluctant to step forward in the future.

There's a definite reason for RH to search JB in that.

must admit... I do keep thinking that your words are in fact what has transpired...
wonder if we will ever know.

 

[FromGermany1]

Regarding the last part of your post, referring to the poster or painting that was taken out of the home during the first search, i was reminded of it after looking over the latest bail document, where it refers to to the book Mindhunter, I believe. The author says something along the lines of “look at the painting - what/why/who” I know this wasn’t intended in the book as a literal painting but maybe RH kept that awful painting around as a reminder of his victims, something he could keep around to relive the heinous acts he did over and over. It would be safer than keeping actual photographs or video laying around. MOO

I would like to know, who the artist was.

 

[Deleted member 117884]

I would like to know, who the artist was.

And where in the house it was hanging.

jmo