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

[Eaglette]

Recap:

DNA does not lie

 

[iamshadow21]

Yeah I've just been reading the documents from the summer and see that I was wrong.

Apologies all around!

No problem! It's just really easy for misinformation to grow legs. A bit further back on the thread I linked to the bail documentation from the charging to do with Jessica and Sandra that has a graph that lays out exactly whose hair was found on whom. The only one not listed is Valerie, since charges for her were only just laid, but I know the hair on her was from RH's daughter, who was a toddler at the time of Valerie's murder.

EDIT: Oh snap, and you just posted it! Jinx!

MOO

 

[DS2021]

A more updated version of that graphic

View attachment 552347

 

[bricker]

The lighting in his basement wasn't great. We know that he wears/wore glasses, so his eyesight wouldn't have been great if he wasn't wearing them. He also noted in his manual that tiredness leads to mistakes.

Given how human hairs can shed, lay about, and embed themselves in fabric, tape, etc., it's easy to see (pardon the pun) how they led to his downfall.

 

[bricker]

But he didn’t kill them all. Question ultimately isn’t why but who?

I'd imagine that dozens of sex workers went back to that house. He was almost certainly a frequent flier. He was probably able to keep his urges at bay by paying for BDSM services and consuming the large collection of violent material that he had steadily built up over the years. He may have also engaged in BDSM with his wife. (Note that BDSM is consensual. There isn't anything wrong with it.)

I'd imagine that his family's schedule played a huge role in whether he killed or not. If his family was away for a night, he probably just hired a girl like a normal john. However, if he knew in advance that they would be away for multiple nights, then he likely started prepping for his next victim.

 

[dotr]

Cannot access this link to see if it relates to RH or not, and there is not much info. to be found or a thread would be started.
Fwiw..
Jan. 2 2025

Cold case: 36 years after Theresa Cerney's killing, her family meets with Suffolk investigators

Theresa Cerney's death is one of at least 66 cases of dead women being reviewed by Suffolk County's new cold case unit.

www.newsday.com

 

[DS2021]

Cannot access this link to see if it relates to RH or not, and there is not much info. to be found or a thread would be started.
Fwiw..
Jan. 2 2025

Cold case: 36 years after Theresa Cerney's killing, her family meets with Suffolk investigators

Theresa Cerney's death is one of at least 66 cases of dead women being reviewed by Suffolk County's new cold case unit.

www.newsday.com

No mention of RH

 

[Mr.Dandy]

Cannot access this link to see if it relates to RH or not, and there is not much info. to be found or a thread would be started.
Fwiw..
Jan. 2 2025

Cold case: 36 years after Theresa Cerney's killing, her family meets with Suffolk investigators

Theresa Cerney's death is one of at least 66 cases of dead women being reviewed by Suffolk County's new cold case unit.

www.newsday.com

Cannot access this link to see if it relates to RH or not, and there is not much info. to be found or a thread would be started.
Fwiw..
Jan. 2 2025

Cold case: 36 years after Theresa Cerney's killing, her family meets with Suffolk investigators

Theresa Cerney's death is one of at least 66 cases of dead women being reviewed by Suffolk County's new cold case unit.

www.newsday.com

https://archive.is/JVfn1

 

[Izzylizzy]

That’s very interesting…. The plane crash. Part of me wonders if Rex was excited when his victims were found. Not that she is one, just hypothetically. Excited, but nervous too. If Karen was his victim, she would have been the first known dismemberment. Now, that’s a pretty hard thing to pull off… regardless of who killed her. It requires time, space, tools, privacy, ideal clean up.
As for records, I’m sure LE looked for Karen herself and any other potential suspects they may have had back then. They would be terrible cops if they didn’t. Now that Rex is out, I hope they cross reference with him

I don't recall KV being mentioned in the LISK victim's newspaper articles that RH kept in his office and bedroom that were seized.
At his last presser Ray Tiereny did say that all their evidence has not been disclosed.
Maybe LE has seized articles when KV's remains were twice discovered and RH kept them too?

 

[bricker]

I don't recall KV being mentioned in the LISK victim's newspaper articles that RH kept in his office and bedroom that were seized.
At his last presser Ray Tiereny did say that all their evidence has not been disclosed.
Maybe LE has seized articles when KV's remains were twice discovered and RH kept them too?

I was thinking about this the other day. If he kept news articles about his victims, then he has basically handed investigators a trail. If, for example, they find a newspaper from a random date in 1992, then I'd imagine they will search it for any articles about bodies being found.

 

[Mr.Dandy]

I don't recall KV being mentioned in the LISK victim's newspaper articles that RH kept in his office and bedroom that were seized.
At his last presser Ray Tiereny did say that all their evidence has not been disclosed.
Maybe LE has seized articles when KV's remains were twice discovered and RH kept them too?

True….but those are still pending investigations. LE normally doesn’t give away their key evidence until they have enough for an arrest… or in this case, an indictment.

 

[DS2021]

Cannot access this link to see if it relates to RH or not, and there is not much info. to be found or a thread would be started.
Fwiw..
Jan. 2 2025

Cold case: 36 years after Theresa Cerney's killing, her family meets with Suffolk investigators

Theresa Cerney's death is one of at least 66 cases of dead women being reviewed by Suffolk County's new cold case unit.

www.newsday.com

D

NY Thread 'NY- Theresa Cerney, 35, found murdered behind a factory on New Highway, Amityville, November 1988, *New initiative*'

Jan 2, 2025

Jan 2, 2025 #newyork #coldcase #investigations
'Two teens going to play handball found Theresa Cerney’s body. She was lying behind a factory on New Highway in Amityville. There was blood, and her hair was matted over her face. She seemed underdressed for the cold weather that day, recalled one of the teens, Kirk Carter. It was Thanksgiving morning, 1988.Thirty-six years later, her killing remains unsolved.Her family still wrestles with their unanswered questions. Worse, they say, they haven’t heard from police since the late 1980s.Cerney’s case is one...

• dotr

• 

 

[AppleTreeGreen]

Its probably been discussed before but I've just had a proper look at gilgo beach on Google maps and im half surprised he didn't (as far as we know) dump body/s in the water (ie off the bridges that lead to gilgo) as that seams most logical to me and what meny murderers do ie dump/put bodys in water just my thought

I think he did as well, at some point(s). He had that "sandbagger" email address. And this would be especially cunning jmo if he weighted the bodies down.

My apologies for the graphic imagery, but I do wonder or question if RH chose to further desecrate his victims by dismembering their remains because he did intend and/or actually did use the beach or accessible bodies of water to horrifically dispose of specific body parts, such as arms, calves or head, that he imagined would easily float out to the Atlantic due to their light weight, quickly sink and decompose rapidly or be consumed by the island’s returning shark populations and other opportunistic marine life drawn to them?

Perhaps, however, as his MO changed and he chose hide the remains of his victims whole or intact he decided against disposing them in the beach or nearby bodies of water because of his fear that they would be discovered by growing number of visitors to Ocean Parkway Beach area who participated in scuba diving expeditions, fishing, surfing and swimming competitions, boogie boarding and snorkeling off their sailboats or yachts. Unlike the the grassy and muddy marsh off the parkway, the waters of Gilgo Beach was heavily used and explored, particularly during the summertime by fishermen, sailors and tourists alike. In that case, RH possibly would have to rely on the sand, underwater plant life and sheer luck that the remains would not be incidentally discovered by those that happened to have either swum, dived, snorkeled, accidentally crash landed from their boards, used sonar or fish nets in the area where the remains were located. Even if he disposed of the remains at night from either the bridge or the beach, he would be at risk of being spotted by residents and vacationers who are either boating or fishing or in the waters below or spotted him as they drove or walked past on the bridges themselves or noticed him as they indulged in some overnight fishing and camping on one of the beaches nearby.

Not to mention, even if he did use sandbags on the remains, he would have to hope the surrounding marine life, particularly newborn great white sharks and tiger sharks, did not undo in their curiosity or frenzied hunger undo his sandbagging methods thereby increasing the risk of the remains floating to the surface or the tide causing them to drift back to the shoreline. Additionally, not only does the dumping human remains in open further violate the sanctity of person’s body or remains, and make them harder to find or locate, they also increase the risk of shark attacks among swimmers, surfers and divers. The parks and animal wildlife services, who were already actively and closely studying the animals and their new habitat, would have no choice but to investigate the cause of these attacks further increasing the chance of any remains being discovered in the water.

Fortunately the increase in these risks is exactly what we and LE would want in the pursuit of justice and the recovery and identification of RH’s remains victims and restoring their loved ones ability to fully grieve as they lay their beloveds to rest peacefully. Furthermore, in order for RH to use the beach as dumping site at night he would have to purchase a some type of permit to get access, meaning he would leave a paper trail behind. Sadly, however, RH likely recognized these risks and the chances of heinous crimes and murders coming to light or known to the public if he dumped whole body remains into the waters surrounding Gilgo Beach. Instead he took advantage of the cold hard-to-transverse grassland and lack of streetlights to successfully cover and hide his victims’ remains for years, further extending their loved ones’ suffering.

JMO/Just my own thoughts or theory
Of course could be wrong

RIP Theresa Cerney

https://parks.ny.gov/documents/regions/LongIslandPermitsGuide.pdf

GILGO BEACH History - gilgo.com

History of Gilgo Beach from its beginning in the 1860s at Hemlock Cove to the Gilgo Beach surf culture in 1960s.

gilgo.com

Here's a complete timeline of the Gilgo Beach serial killings

Rex Heuermann, 60, has been charged with killing six women, more than a decade after 10 bodies were found during the Long Island search for a missing woman.

www.nbcnews.com

Too close for comfort: Pack of 18-foot sharks head towards Long Island shore

A West Hampton beach was closed of after a group of sharks were spotted 15 feet off the coast. The 18-foot long shark sightings have shocked residents and beach goers.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Mr.Dandy]

My apologies for the graphic imagery, but I do wonder or question if RH chose to further desecrate his victims by dismembering their remains because he did intend and/or actually did use the beach or accessible bodies of water to horrifically dispose of specific body parts, such as arms, calves or head, that he imagined would easily float out to the Atlantic due to their light weight, quickly sink and decompose rapidly or be consumed by the island’s returning shark populations and other opportunistic marine life drawn to them?

Perhaps, however, as his MO changed and he chose hide the remains of his victims whole or intact he decided against disposing them in the beach or nearby bodies of water because of his fear that they would be discovered by growing number of visitors to Ocean Parkway Beach area who participated in scuba diving expeditions, fishing, surfing and swimming competitions, boogie boarding and snorkeling off their sailboats or yachts. Unlike the the grassy and muddy marsh off the parkway, the waters of Gilgo Beach was heavily used and explored, particularly during the summertime by fishermen, sailors and tourists alike. In that case, RH possibly would have to rely on the sand, underwater plant life and sheer luck that the remains would not be incidentally discovered by those that happened to have either swum, dived, snorkeled, accidentally crash landed from their boards, used sonar or fish nets in the area where the remains were located. Even if he disposed of the remains at night from either the bridge or the beach, he would be at risk of being spotted by residents and vacationers who are either boating or fishing or in the waters below or spotted him as they drove or walked past on the bridges themselves or noticed him as they indulged in some overnight fishing and camping on one of the beaches nearby.

Not to mention, even if he did use sandbags on the remains, he would have to hope the surrounding marine life, particularly newborn great white sharks and tiger sharks, did not undo in their curiosity or frenzied hunger undo his sandbagging methods thereby increasing the risk of the remains floating to the surface or the tide causing them to drift back to the shoreline. Additionally, not only does the dumping human remains in open further violate the sanctity of person’s body or remains, and make them harder to find or locate, they also increase the risk of shark attacks among swimmers, surfers and divers. The parks and animal wildlife services, who were already actively and closely studying the animals and their new habitat, would have no choice but to investigate the cause of these attacks further increasing the chance of any remains being discovered in the water.

Fortunately the increase in these risks is exactly what we and LE would want in the pursuit of justice and the recovery and identification of RH’s remains victims and restoring their loved ones ability to fully grieve as they lay their beloveds to rest peacefully. Furthermore, in order for RH to use the beach as dumping site at night he would have to purchase a some type of permit to get access, meaning he would leave a paper trail behind. Sadly, however, RH likely recognized these risks and the chances of heinous crimes and murders coming to light or known to the public if he dumped whole body remains into the waters surrounding Gilgo Beach. Instead he took advantage of the cold hard-to-transverse grassland and lack of streetlights to successfully cover and hide his victims’ remains for years, further extending their loved ones’ suffering.

JMO/Just my own thoughts or theory
Of course could be wrong

RIP Theresa Cerney

https://parks.ny.gov/documents/regions/LongIslandPermitsGuide.pdf

GILGO BEACH History - gilgo.com

History of Gilgo Beach from its beginning in the 1860s at Hemlock Cove to the Gilgo Beach surf culture in 1960s.

gilgo.com

Here's a complete timeline of the Gilgo Beach serial killings

Rex Heuermann, 60, has been charged with killing six women, more than a decade after 10 bodies were found during the Long Island search for a missing woman.

www.nbcnews.com

Too close for comfort: Pack of 18-foot sharks head towards Long Island shore

A West Hampton beach was closed of after a group of sharks were spotted 15 feet off the coast. The 18-foot long shark sightings have shocked residents and beach goers.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I don’t think a permit is an issue in Long Island, by means of dumping. There are so many bodies of water, it doesn’t seem impossible to me that he wouldn’t be able to find an accessible one. On top of that, there are a lot of bridges. We know he was right next to the fire island bridge…. What is that? Robert Moses causeway? We know he was right there because Maureen’s phone last pinged from there. You know, Long Island is basic an archipelago. You won’t have too many sharks coming inland… tourists? Yes, maybe.

Of confirmed victims, we have an arm and a foot missing. I have not read if Jessica had a tattoo on her arm, but I’m willing to bet she did. We know Valerie had a tattoo on her missing ankle.

Unconfirmed victims- Peaches head, Karen Vergata’s torso and arms. Not to mention every victims personal effects.
I feel like it’s safe to assume the G4s tattoos were mutilated. We will never know for sure. I have also hypothesized that he disguised the G4 to look like sandbags as no one would think twice if they saw them on the side of the road…. And he was right for years. Then again, the only three victims discovered for years were the bodies he didn’t dump near a beach.
In the book lost girls, the author explains that LE wasn’t sure if they girls bodies had been stripped of flesh or if they just decomposed quickly. I’d never heard of that flesh stripping theory so it makes me wonder if there was something else that gave them that impression… cut marks perhaps. Not sure. Just a hypothetical opinion.
All of this is my opinion, of course….

 

[AppleTreeGreen]

I don’t think a permit is an issue in Long Island, by means of dumping. There are so many bodies of water, it doesn’t seem impossible to me that he wouldn’t be able to find an accessible one. On top of that, there are a lot of bridges. We know he was right next to the fire island bridge…. What is that? Robert Moses causeway? We know he was right there because Maureen’s phone last pinged from there. You know, Long Island is basic an archipelago. You won’t have too many sharks coming inland… tourists? Yes, maybe.

Of confirmed victims, we have an arm and a foot missing. I have not read if Jessica had a tattoo on her arm, but I’m willing to bet she did. We know Valerie had a tattoo on her missing ankle.

Unconfirmed victims- Peaches head, Karen Vergata’s torso and arms. Not to mention every victims personal effects.
I feel like it’s safe to assume the G4s tattoos were mutilated. We will never know for sure. I have also hypothesized that he disguised the G4 to look like sandbags as no one would think twice if they saw them on the side of the road…. And he was right for years. Then again, the only three victims discovered for years were the bodies he didn’t dump near a beach.
In the book lost girls, the author explains that LE wasn’t sure if they girls bodies had been stripped of flesh or if they just decomposed quickly. I’d never heard of that flesh stripping theory so it makes me wonder if there was something else that gave them that impression… cut marks perhaps. Not sure. Just a hypothetical opinion.
All of this is my opinion, of course….

That’s a good point about there being lots of bridges! I might just be a little biased about the importance of the permit because I recall when my friends offered to drive a group of us to Jones Beach after dark an official kindly asked us to leave. To be fair, we were new drivers and weren’t aware yet about the permit system but we didn’t mind. We just carelessly followed a few campers or fishermen and the official was really nice about it but you are right it is possible that depending on the beach, time, lighting or how closely monitored certain sections are, RH could have had the opportunity to use the surrounding waterways as a dump site without being seen.

And IIRC, I think you are right that it was on the Robert Moses Causeway, which pretty much connects the state park or the tip of Fire Island to Jones Beach, that Maureen’s phone was pinged on. However, I unfortunately cannot remember where I came across that information and a lot of sources I have been able to find state that the phone pinged in the vicinity of Fire Island or off a phone tower within a few miles of Gilgo Beach.

Robert Moses Causeway

Descriptive history and current conditions on the Robert Moses Causeway on Long Island.

www.nycroads.com

Gilgo Case - Victims

Victims of the Long Island Serial Killer.

www.gilgocase.com

A Serial Killer in Common

Five dead women turn up on a beach, and their families ask: Who murdered my daughter? Who was my sister — really?

nymag.com

 

[Mr.Dandy]

That’s a good point about there being lots of bridges! I might just be a little biased about the importance of the permit because I recall when my friends offered to drive a group of us to Jones Beach after dark an official kindly asked us to leave. To be fair, we were new drivers and weren’t aware yet about the permit system but we didn’t mind. We just carelessly followed a few campers or fishermen and the official was really nice about it but you are right it is possible that depending on the beach, time, lighting or how closely monitored certain sections are, RH could have had the opportunity to use the surrounding waterways as a dump site without being seen.

And IIRC, I think you are right that it was on the Robert Moses Causeway, which pretty much connects the state park or the tip of Fire Island to Jones Beach, that Maureen’s phone was pinged on. However, I unfortunately cannot remember where I came across that information and a lot of sources I have been able to find state that the phone pinged in the vicinity of Fire Island or off a phone tower within a few miles of Gilgo Beach.

Robert Moses Causeway

Descriptive history and current conditions on the Robert Moses Causeway on Long Island.

www.nycroads.com

Gilgo Case - Victims

Victims of the Long Island Serial Killer.

www.gilgocase.com

A Serial Killer in Common

Five dead women turn up on a beach, and their families ask: Who murdered my daughter? Who was my sister — really?

nymag.com

I just finished reading Lost Girls and it referenced that particular cell tower by the water tower. Because that’s what the police told her Maureen’s sister…. It was those little lost details that led me back to re-reading that book. So much gets lost and jumbled through social media and chat boards and whatnot. I have found more inconsistencies and misinformation than I am comfortable with so I find myself constantly cross referencing new tidbits I find.
So looking at a map, I can see that Jones Beach is definitely more of a gathering type place then say, some random stretch with a marker that says old field 9.(Google maps)Sorry…. I’m a Californian. Things are different out there… Maybe it is possible that beach access is only monitored where interests are like stores and buildings. That’s actually a very good question with a very important answer. How much of oak beach parkway is monitored by police or security? And what times? Rex would absolutely have to know every detail about that.

 

[imstilla.grandma]

• 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

Gilgo Beach killings: Accused serial killer Rex Heuermann kept news articles as 'souvenirs' of his alleged crimes, prosecutors say in court papers

"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.

www.newsday.com

 

[Mr.Dandy]

View attachment 555858

• 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

Gilgo Beach killings: Accused serial killer Rex Heuermann kept news articles as 'souvenirs' of his alleged crimes, prosecutors say in court papers

"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.

www.newsday.com

You’d think the planning doc would have helped with first degree murder charges for at least Valerie and Jessica.
If he killed anyone else, I guarantee he kept clippings. MOO

 

[iamshadow21]

You’d think the planning doc would have helped with first degree murder charges for at least Valerie and Jessica.
If he killed anyone else, I guarantee he kept clippings. MOO

It's a quirk of New York law, not the seriousness of the crime, that means the earlier cases are second degree.

MOO

 

[Mr.Dandy]

It's a quirk of New York law, not the seriousness of the crime, that means the earlier cases are second degree.

MOO

Ohhh.. I see