Accused Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann allegedly operated just blocks from LI police academy
Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann’s home base was just two blocks from a Long Island police academy — and he likely delighted in targeting women right under the noses of cops, according to a report Friday.
Heuermann, 59, lived a third of a mile from the now-shuttered Nassau County police academy during the time he allegedly slaughtered his victims, according to the Long Island Press.
“It probably gave him an extra kick knowing that the Nassau cops were there,” said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and former Bronx Cold Case Squad commanding officer.
“To think that the Suffolk [County police] had a description of the suspect, his vehicle, knew that the phone pinged in Massapequa, and we realized that the suspect lived around the corner from the Nassau police academy, is wild,” he told the outlet.
The academy — which trained cadets and housed elite investigative units — was open from 2006 until 2021 and was a 5-minute walk from Heuermann’s family home in Massapequa Park.
Heuermann is accused of murdering three women between 2007 and 2010.
Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann operated just two blocks from a police academy on Long Island, police say. AP
The alleged serial killer was likely thrilled to operate so close to cops because it gave him a feeling of power and superiority, another expert said.
“I think he would have especially enjoyed the fact he was doing this under the nose of the police,” said Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist.
Who were the Gilgo Beach victims? Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann — a New York City architect and married dad of two — was arrested in connection with the long-unsolved Gilgo Beach murders. The arrest is tied to the so-called “Gilgo Four,” women found wrapped in burlap within days of each other in late 2010. The years-long investigation that led to the arrest revolved around the discovery of more than 10 sets of human remains along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in Suffolk County between December 2010 and April 2011. Most victims were petite female sex workers with green or hazel eyes. But there were also two exceptions: a 2-year-old girl and a young Asian man. Melissa Barthelemy, 24 Barthelemy was a sex worker who lived in the Unionport section of the Bronx and dreamed of one day opening her own beauty salon. She was last seen alive in her basement apartment on Underhill Avenue on July 12, 2009. Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25 Brainard-Barnes was living in Norwich, Connecticut. She went missing after taking an Amtrak train from New London, Connecticut, to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on July 6, 2007. Amber Lynn Costello, 27 Costello, 27, was a sex worker and heroin addict who lived in West Babylon, New York, at a home with a woman and two men. She advertised on Craigslist and Backpage to support her and her roommates’ drug habits. Costello was found in December 2010 after having been last seen leaving her home that September. Megan Waterman, 22 Waterman, a 22-year-old mom of one, was last seen on June 6, 2010. She lived in Scarborough, Maine, and earned a living as an escort. She was last seen by her family boarding a New York-bound Concord Trailways bus in Maine. Her body was found on December 13, 2010, on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach. Jessica Taylor, 20 Remains belonging to Jessica Taylor, a 20-year-old woman working as an escort in New York City, were found in a wooded area in Manorville on July 26, 2003. Her additional remains — initially labeled “Jane Doe No. 5” — were discovered on March 29, 2011, along Ocean Parkway. Valerie Mack, 24 Valerie Mack was 24 years old and living in Philadelphia when she went missing. She worked as an escort, using the alias “Melissa Taylor.” Relatives last saw Mack in the spring or summer of 2000 in Port Republic, New Jersey, but she was never reported as missing to the police. Her partial skeletal remains were found in Manorville in September 2000 but were initially known as “Jane Doe No. 6.” Unidentified Asian man The skeletal remains of a yet-to-be-identified Asian man were found along Ocean Parkway on April 4, 2011. It is estimated that the man was between 17 and 23 years old at the time of his death. He was approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall with bad teeth. ‘Peaches’ and her daughter An African American woman’s partial remains were discovered in Hempstead Lake State Park back in 1997, and she had become known as “Peaches” because of a bitten tattoo of a peach on her left breast. On April 4, 2011, police uncovered the remains of a toddler, who was about 2 years old at the time of her death. DNA testing confirmed that one of the skeletons was that of the 2-year-old girl’s mother, “Peaches.” Jane Doe No. 7 Remains found on April 11, 2011, along with the body of the woman dubbed “Peaches” was linked by DNA to a body that was found 15 years earlier on Fire Island. On April 20, 1996, skeletal remains of a young white female were discovered in Davis Park on Blue Point Beach. Two sets of remains, collectively known as “Jane Doe No. 7,” have not been identified. Shannan Gilbert, 23 Gilbert was a Craigslist escort who lived in Jersey City, traveled with her driver Michael Pak from Manhattan to meet a client, Joseph Brewer, at his home in the Oak Beach Association on the morning of May 1, 2010. She spoke with two neighbors before disappearing. Her body was discovered in a marsh near Oak Beach — about half a mile from where she was last seen alive — on December 13, 2011.
“Because he liked to think that he is smarter than everybody else. … He loves feeling that he is pulling the wool over on people. And the police having their offices so close to his house gave him an extra thrill, I’m sure.”
Heuermann’s home was a 5-minute walk from the Nassau County police academy. New York Post/Google
Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect with a Manhattan office, was charged last week in the slayings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello — three of the “Gilgo Four” victims whose remains were found in Gilgo Beach in 2010.
He is also the main suspect in the death of the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who disappeared in 2007, authorities have said.
Investigators are probing whether at least one of the killings took place at Heuermann’s home while his wife and children were out of town, a law-enforcement source said Friday.
Police are probing whether any of the killing happened at Heuermann’s Long Island home. New York Post
Heuermann’s alleged victims involve the “Gilgo Four,” whose bodies were found in 2010. AP
The former police academy, which is now a school for special-needs kids, also housed the department’s Real-Time Intelligence system.
The system was designed to help officers share key information quickly and has been credited with helping to improve county crime stats.
Nassau cops didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Source: New York Post
