Several missing women, four sets of human remains found along a Long Island beach, a Netflix film about four unsolved murders, a pickup truck and pizza crust.
Those are some of the events leading up to the arrest of a New York architect in the string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders.
More than 15 years after the first victim went missing, police charged Rex Heuermann with murder in the deaths of three victims Friday, according to Suffolk County court records, after DNA from a pizza Heuermann ate matched a male hair found on one of the victim’s remains.
Heuermann was charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27, whose bodies were found along a Long Island beach roadway in 2010. He pleaded not guilty to three counts each of first- and second-degree murder.
He’s also the prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, whose body was also found around the same time, according to court records. All four victims were believed to be sex workers at the time.
Asa Ellerup:Wife of Gilgo Beach murder suspect, Rex Heuermann, files for divorce after he’s charged
Here’s a timeline of events leading up to Heuermann’s arrest.
July 2007: Maureen Brainard-Barnes last seen in NYC
On July 6, 2007, Brainard-Barnes, who lived in Norwich, Connecticut, was contacted by a burner phone. From July 6, 2007 to July 9, 2007, there were sixteen interactions between Brainard-Barnes’ phone and the burner phone, court records show.
On July 9, 2007, Brainard-Barnes’ phone was last traced in Midtown Manhattan near the 59th Street Bridge around 11:56 p.m. local time, according to court records.
She was last seen in New York City.
On July 12, 2007, three days after Brainard-Barnes’ disappearance, two outbound calls were made on her phone near the Long Island Expressway in Islandia, New York, according to court records. The calls were made to check her voicemail.
Early July 2009: Melissa Barthelemy contacted by burner phone before she was last seen in NYC
Barthelemy was contacted by a burner phone on July 3, July 6, July 9 and July 10, 2009.
On July 8, 2009, Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, traveled to Iceland, according to travel records.
Barthelemy was last seen on July 10, 2009, in New York City, court records show.
According to cell site records, the burner phone was traced back to Massapequa Park and Midtown Manhattan on July 10. Later that evening, Barthelemy’s phone was traced to Midtown Manhattan and then Massapequa.
On July 11, 2009, around 1:43 a.m., Barthelemy’s phone was used to make an outbound call checking her voicemail in Freeport, New York, according to court records. Later that day and on July 12, 2009, Barthelemy’s phone was used to make two more outbound calls checking her voicemail in Babylon, New York, court records show.
July 17 to August 26, 2009: Man calls Barthelemy’s family from her phone
On July 17, July 23, August 5, August 19 and August 26, 2009, a man called Barthelemy’s family members from her phone.
In a call between the man and a relative, the man admitted to killing and sexually assaulting Barthelemy, according to court records. The phone calls were traced back to Midtown Manhattan, court records show.
On August 18, 2009, Ellerup returned to the United States.
June 2010: Megan Waterman contacted by burner phone, last seen leaving Holiday Inn
On June 4, 2010, Ellerup traveled to Maryland, according to cell phone billing records.
On June 5, 2010, Waterman was contacted by a burner phone which was newly activated, according to court records.
Waterman communicated with the burner phone up until June 6, 2010 when surveillance video showed her leaving a Holiday Inn in Hauppauge, New York. This was the last time she was seen.
According to cell site records, the phone was traced back to Massapequa Park, which was in the vicinity of Heuermann’s home, around 3:11 a.m.
On June 8, 2010, Ellerup returned to New York from Maryland, according to cell phone records.
September 2010: Amber Costello contacted by burner phone, last seen leaving home in West Babylon; witness described seeing pickup truck
On August 28, 2010, Ellerup traveled to New Jersey, according to cell phone records.
On September 1, 2010, Costello was contacted by a burner phone located at West Amityville and Massapequa Park, according to court records. Costello received the calls around 11:33 p.m. and 11:34 p.m.
Shortly after, the burner phone traveled to West Babylon, where Costello lived. Costello was contacted by the burner phone around 12:05 a.m. September 2, 2010.
According to witnesses, when a prostitution client entered Costello’s home, a man, who was pretending to be Costello’s boyfriend, pretended to be outraged after Costello received the money from the client and the client left the home, court records show.
A witness told officials the client said he was “just her friend” and to “tell her I’ll give her a call” as he walked out the door.
“Based upon interviews, that client was described as a large, white male, approximately 6’4 to 6’6 in height, in his mid-forties, with ‘dark bushy hair,’ and ‘big oval style 1970s type eyeglasses,’” according to court records.
A witness said the client drove a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche, which was parked in the driveway.
Around 1:18 a.m., Costello received a text message from the burner phone which said, “That was not nice so do I [get] credit for next time,” according to court records. Phone records show the burner phone was located in Massapequa Park within two minutes of the text message being sent.
According to a witness, Costello was contacted by the same client later that day.
“Amber told us that he wanted to see her again, but he didn’t want to come back to the house because of her boyfriend,” the witness said.
Costello was contacted by the burner phone four times that night, between 9:30 p.m. and 11:17 p.m., with calls being traced back to Midtown Manhattan, then Massapequa Park, then West Babylon, court records show.
Costello, who left her phone behind, was last seen on September 2, 2010, leaving her home that night. A witness said they saw a dark-colored truck pass the house coming from the direction Costello had walked towards, court records show.
On September 5, 2010, Ellerup returned to New York from New Jersey.
December 2010: Remains of four people found along Gilgo Beach roadway; male and female hairs found
On December 11, 2010, Suffolk County Police Department Officer John Malia was conducting a training exercise with his K9 partner, Blue, along a Gilgo Beach roadway when Blue found a set of human remains belonging to Melissa Barthelemy, according to court records.
On December 13, 2010, police found the remains of three other women. Each of the four victims’ bodies were examined by a forensic scientist at the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory, court records show.
A female’s hair, different from the victims, was found on three of the four bodies. The hairs were sent to an outside forensics laboratory, court records show. A male’s hair was also found on one of the victim’s remains.
“The hair was unsuitable for further DNA analysis at that time by the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory,” court records show.
Around this time, police were searching for 24-year-old Shannon Gilbert, a sex worker from New Jersey who vanished in 2010 after leaving a client’s house in Oak Beach.
July 31, 2020: DNA profile generated for male’s hair found on remains
On July 31, 2020, the hair found on one of the victim’s remains was submitted for further DNA analysis. Forensic scientists generated a DNA profile for the hair recovered and determined the hair belonged to a male in mitochondrial haplogroup V7a.
March 2022: Police identify Heuermann as a suspect in the murder of Costello after linking him to the pickup truck the witness saw
In March 2022, Heuermann was identified as a suspect in the murder of Costello after detectives linked him to a pickup truck that the witness reported seeing in 2010.
Following the discovery of the Chevrolet Avalanche, which was registered to Heuermann, detectives began investigating cell phone records and other items, according to court records.
Heuermann made purchases, calls in same location where burner phones were used
According to court records, Heuermann used his American Express card in the same area where he used the burner phone to contact the victims.
Heuermann also made calls from the same locations where he checked voicemails and called Barthelemy’s family members.
“Significantly, investigators could find no instance where Heuermann was in a separate location from these other cellphones when such a communication event occurred,” according to court records.
Heuermann’s Tinder account linked to one of the burner phones
American Express records obtained by a subpoena revealed recurring “Google Pay” payments made by Heuermann to Tinder, court records show.
According to records obtained from Tinder, Heuermann, who went by the name “Andy” on his Tinder profile, had links to a phone number which was connected to one of the burner phones, court records show.
The burner phone was linked to an email account, according to court records. The account was created on January 15, 2011. A search warrant on the email accout revealed selfie photos that “appeared to have been taken by defendant Rex Heuermann of himself,” according to court records.
A burner email had searches related to the Long Island serial killer
According to court records, another burner email account, was used to conduct “thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography.”
The email account was also used to search active and known serial killers, the disappearances and murders of Brainard-Barnes, Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello, a number of podcasts and documentaries about the investigation and articles concerning the task force investigating the murders, according to court records.
July 2022: DNA profile generated for female’s hair found on remains
In July 2022, forensic scientists determined each of the female hairs recovered on the three victims – Brainard-Barnes, Waterman and Costello – belonged to a female in the “mitochondrial haplogroup K1c2,” court records show.
On July 21, 2022, an undercover detective recovered eleven bottles from a trash can in front of Heuermann’s home.
The Suffolk County Crime Laboratory took swabs of the bottles, and sent them to the forensic laboratory for DNA profiling, according to court records.
January 26, 2023: Detectives recover a pizza box thrown in trash can which belonged to Heuermann
On January 26, 2023, a surveillance team recovered a pizza box belonging to Heuermann from a garbage can in Manhattan, according to court records.
“This pizza box was sent to the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory for analysis, where a swab was taken from the leftover pizza crust,” court records show.
February 24, 2023: DNA profile found on hairs match bottles; linked to Asa Ellerup
On February 24, 2023, forensic scientists said one of the DNA profiles from the bottles taken from Heuermann’s home “indicated a female individual belonging to mitochondrial haplogroup K1c2,” which is the same mitochondrial haplogroup as the female hairs recovered from the three victims, according to court records.
“Based upon the investigation and evidence recovered to date, that female is believed to be the wife of defendant Heuermann,” court records show.
March 23, 2023: Swab from pizza sent to forensic lab
On March 23, 2023, the county crime laboratory sent a swab from the pizza crust to another forensic laboratory.
April 28, 2023: Detective delivers male hair to forensic laboratory for testing
On April 28, 2023, a detective hand-delivered a portion of the male hair found on one of the victim’s remains to a forensic laboratory for testing, court records show.
May 19, 2023: Heuermann buys minutes on one of the burner phones
On May 19, 2023, Heuermann was captured on surveillance video purchasing minutes on one of the burner phones.
June 12, 2023: Lab determined the male hair and swab from the pizza crust had the same DNA profiles
On June 12, 2023, a forensic laboratory determined the male hair found on one of the victims and the swab from the pizza crust had the same mitochondrial DNA profiles, according to court records.
July 13, 2023: Rex Heuermann was arrested, charged
On July 13, 2023, Heuermann was arrested in connection with three of the Gilgo Beach murders. His home and other locations are being searched.
Until his arrest, Heuermann continued to use burner phones to contact sex workers. He also had permits for 92 guns, The Associated Press reported.
Since his arrest, Heuermann has been on suicide watch at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility, according to a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office, The AP reported.
Heuermann was charged with first-degree murder. He is being held without bail, according to court records.
July 19, 2023: Ellerup files for divorce
Ellerup filed for divorce Wednesday, her attorney said, per the AP. Ellerup filed the complaint in the Suffolk County Supreme Court.
Police have been seen taking boxes of material from his home where the couple lived together. These items included more than 200 firearms, a filing cabinet, a computer, a large doll in a glass case and other household items, The AP reported.
The home is located across a bay from where the remains were discovered. He has lived in the home for decades.
Contributing: The Associated Press
