Shocking new developments in the long island serial killer case after years of investigation
Bodies found
The police first found human remains at the oak beach on December 11, 2010. The search for a missing person Shannan Gilbert had been prompted by the police. But it wasn’t Shannan’s Body that had been found that night. The Suffolk County Police Department had found four bodies of women killed similarly. They were bound with duct tape or belts and had camouflage-patterned burlap sacks, which was usually used by hunters to hide in plain sight.
These women would later be known famously as the ‘Gilgo Beach Four’. They were Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Amber Lynn Costello. Amber was the last to go missing among them. They had worked as escorts and all of them were in contact with a burner phone before going missing.
In addition to this, there were seven more bodies found along the bay area of Gilgo Beach. Except for one Asian man and a toddler, all of them were women. The police were puzzled by the shocking amount of bodies discovered within a year and a few months. Almost all the later recovered bodies were unidentified and dubbed “Asian Man” “Jane Does No.6” and “Baby Doe”.
Shannan Gilbert’s body was found in the same week as the Gilgo Beach Four, about 300 meters from the first discovery of bodies in a marsh. She was also an escort and had been on the radar of a police search after she made a distressing call to 911 after leaving a client’s house but went missing right after.
Image source: Wikipedia
The suspect
No arrest had been made in connection to these killings until last week when Manhattan-based architect, Rex Heuermann, age 59 was taken into police custody. Heuermann is married and has two children. He lived less than 3 kilometers away from where the bodies were found for more than 25 years with his family. The police were able to gather enough evidence to convict Rex after finding hair samples on the victims’ and matched that of Heuermann’s from a discarded pizza box in the garbage.
Rex’s wife was informed about this and she was disgusted, shocked and embarrassed. Asa Ellerup, also 59, was completely unaware of her husband living a double life and that these murders were allegedly committed in their own home. The hair sample found on the victims was that of Ellerup’s but she claims to be out of the tristate area during the time of the killings. The police believe that Heuermann unintentionally carried the hair on his clothing.
Heuermann has been served with counts of first and second-degree murder of three women and has now been accused of killing the fourth as well. He has pleaded not guilty but has been withheld with no bail. Asa Ellerup has now filed for divorce less than a week after Heuermann’s arrest. They had been married since 1996 and lived in Heuermann’s childhood home in Long Island with their daughter and Heuermann’s stepson. The family has not visited Rex Heuermann in jail since his arrest. The families of the victims are hoping that they get justice after a decade of living in mourning of losing their loved ones.
Hermann has been dubbed the Long Island serial killer and Gilgo Beach killer since the time of the murders.
