Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann’s ‘disturbing’ behavior before arrest – and why police cannot rule out another serial killer

Suspected Gilgo Seashore assassin Rex Heuermann was nonetheless engaged in “disturbing” habits whereas being tailed proper up till his arrest, the highest cop within the case revealed — whereas refusing to rule out the likelihood that one other Lengthy Island serial killer may nonetheless be on the free.

“I can’t discuss if he was getting ready to kill once more,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told Newsday Wednesday of married father of two Heuermann.

However “he’s any individual that was nonetheless participating in exercise that was disturbing, be it his web searches, be it participating in different actions that he shouldn’t be participating in.

“That’s one thing I used to be very, very enthusiastic about, concerning ‘we have to see what his way of life is,’” he mentioned of the extraordinary surveillance main as much as his arrest.

Harrison defended calling 59-year-old architect Heuermann “a demon that walks amongst us” and a “predator” at a press convention the day after the bombshell arrest.

“I’m very assured that Mr. Heuermann’s our topic,” he informed the outlet in a video interview.

“Due to my confidence, I’m gonna name him what I wanna name him — any individual that ruined households, any individual who’s a predator, any individual who shattered lives.

“And never only one, a number of, and there could also be extra. I didn’t say that there’s, however there could also be extra. If the relations have an issue with me calling him a demon, then I’ll apologize.”

Heuermann pleaded not responsible final month to a number of first- and second-degree homicide prices associated to the decade-old strangulation deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Amber Lynn Costello, 22, and Megan Waterman, 27. He’s additionally the prime suspect within the killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.

The stays of all 4 ladies have been discovered off Ocean Parkway close to Gilgo Seashore in December 2010.

As for the extra our bodies found in and across the coastal Lengthy Island enclave – together with that of Karen Vergata, whose identification was introduced final week – Harrison mentioned police can’t rule out the potential for one more serial predator.

“We have been in a position to carry consolation to a few households, we’re very near a fourth one, however we nonetheless have extra work to do to establish the topic or topics that have been concerned with the opposite our bodies that have been found,” he informed Newsday.

When pressed on whether or not Lengthy Island residents ought to be nervous about one other potential killer of their midst, Harrison mentioned he needs he “may give … a solution.”

“I can’t let you know right now,” he mentioned.

“Is Rex Heuermann going to be held accountable for the opposite our bodies on Ocean Parkway? Time will inform.”

Harrison maintained that the dying of Shanann Gilbert, the Jersey Metropolis lady whose Could 2010 disappearance sparked the search that led to the invention of the Gilgo our bodies, was “a horrible accident.”

“Myself and the investigators assigned to the murder squad nonetheless consider it was simply an incident the place she bumped into the marsh and sadly drowned on that horrible day,” he informed Newsday,

Although Gilbert’s post-mortem dominated her reason behind dying undetermined, the lawyer representing her property maintains {that a} second examination carried out on the household’s request revealed she died from strangulation.

Harrison, a 30-year NYPD veteran, mentioned he shaped the Gilgo Seashore activity drive shortly after he grew to become commissioner in December 2021 – eleven years after the so-called “Gilgo 4” have been discovered.

“After I came upon [from homicide chief Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer] that there was one investigator assigned to this case, I used to be like, ‘this case is rarely gonna be solved like that, particularly if this particular person, this detective, can also be catching different circumstances,’” he defined.

Harrison initially elevated the variety of full-time investigators to 4. A couple of months later, on March 14, 2022, Heuermann was recognized as a suspect after a state police officer discovered his Chevrolet Avalanche on a database that Suffolk County authorities didn’t have entry to.

The car, which was later seized in South Carolina, matched the outline of the automobile final seen at Costello’s residence earlier than she vanished, prosecutors have mentioned.

From March 2022 via his arrest final month, Heuermann was surveilled in a “host of various methods,” Harrison informed the outlet.

FBI Particular Company Craig Matteo finally swiped the pizza crust and serviette that linked Heuermann’s DNA to the burlap with Waterman’s physique – although Harrison famous that the FBI nearly didn’t be part of the duty drive.

“They have been reluctant at first. They have been involved about, I suppose, some previous relationships the place they weren’t essentially a part of being contained in the loop of the case.

“So I reassured them, ‘that’s not one thing you need to fear about any additional. I want you, I want your experience,’” Harrison mentioned, tacitly referring to the various controversies below disgraced ex-police chief James Burke.

The DNA proof, Harrison continued, was “instrumental” in making the arrest.

“As soon as we received Rex in our sights, we had to determine the right way to gather his DNA. That was one thing that [the FBI] actually had a serious function in, gave us some steering in sending us to the precise labs,” he mentioned.

“As soon as we received these matches, I don’t assume I must let you know anything, that was actually a spot the place we went from affordable suspicion to possible trigger.”

Now that Heuermann is in custody, Harrison added, the duty drive nonetheless meets every day on the Suffolk County Police Academy in Brentwood.

The group at the moment features a sergeant and three detectives who work on the case full-time, along with FBI, state police, the sheriff’s workplace, and investigators and prosecutors from “our pit bull of a district lawyer Ray Tierney.”

Police investigators spent over every week combing via the Massapequa Park residence Heuermann shared together with his spouse, Asa Ellerup, and two grownup kids.

Apart from the 279 firearms taken from a vault contained in the South Shore native’s residence, police have declined to element any further proof that was discovered on the property.

On the time of his arrest, a court docket doc said that Heuermann continued to proposition intercourse staff and considered baby pornography within the years after he allegedly killed the Gilgo 4.

Telephone information additionally linked him to the burner cells used to contact the victims and even taunt their households.

Additionally on Wednesday, a judge ordered Heuermann to submit a cheek swab DNA sample for added testing within the investigation.

His authorized staff had argued that the prosecution didn’t have “possible trigger” to demand the fabric.