Rex Heuermann’s family was apparently stunned by the Massapequa Park, Long Island resident’s alleged role in the so-called “Gilgo Beach murders.” Heuermann, 59, was charged Friday with killing at least three people found buried near Gilgo Beach in 2010.
“When we initially informed them about their husband, their father, they were shocked,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CBS New York in an interview that aired Monday. “They were disgusted. They were embarrassed.”
Harrison continued, “If you ask me, I don’t believe they knew about this double life that Mr. Heuermann was living.”
Heuermann, an architect who worked in Manhattan, is accused of murdering Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Costello, 27. He is also suspected in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, but has yet to be charged in her killing.
All four women worked as online sex workers before they went missing between 2007 and 2010, according to People. Authorities previously stated that Heuermann’s wife and two children weren’t in town at the time of these killings.
The skeletal remains, found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach between December 2010 and April 2011, comprised at least 10 victims. While most were identified as female sex workers, one was an Asian man — and another was a two-year-old girl.
Investigators working on the case were stumped, as dramatized in the 2020 Netflix movie “Lost Girls.” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told People that DNA from three victims linked Heuermann to the crime scene, in addition to cell tower data.
The father of two reportedly looked at images of the victims and their families online.
“This is a day that is a long time in coming, and hopefully a day that will bring peace to this community and to the families — peace that has been long overdue,” said New York Gov. Kathy Hochul during an appearance Friday on Long Island.
Heuermann was arrested Thursday in Massapequa and arraigned in state court in Riverhead Friday when authorities began searching his home. He pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder.
Heuermann is scheduled for another court appearance in August.