In Gilgo Beach Killings, an Arrest Bears Out a Decade-Old Prediction
In April 2011, just months after the bodies of four women were discovered buried near Gilgo Beach on Long Island’s South Shore, several experts and criminologists put together a sketch for The New York Times of the characteristics they expected to see in a suspect.
The women, wrapped in burlap and buried within a quarter-mile of each other in an area where the remains of 11 people in total would eventually be found, were probably killed by a white man in his mid-20s to mid-40s, they said. He is married or has a girlfriend. He is well educated and well spoken. He is financially secure, has a job, owns an expensive car or truck, and lives or used to live near where the bodies were found.
On Friday, details began emerging about Rex Heuermann, who was arrested and charged with murder in the killings of three of the women. Prosecutors said he was the prime suspect in the death of the fourth woman. Mr. Heuermann, 59, is a married white man who works as an architect in Manhattan and lives in Massapequa Park, about 15 miles from Gilgo Beach. He owned a Chevrolet Avalanche truck at the time of the killings, prosecutors said.
None of this proves that Mr. Heuermann is the serial killer, and experts noted that profiles are typically used to evaluate individuals who have already come to the attention of investigators. But the similarities did not go unnoticed by some of the experts who put together the 2011 profile.
Source: The New York Times
