Police Reveal How Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Suspect Rex Heuermann Was Caught

Court documents released on Friday reveal how police caught the man they believe is the so-called "Long Island serial killer," using cell phone records, a witness report of a pickup truck and DNA obtained from uneaten pizza crust.

Rex Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect, was arrested by police on Thursday and has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and another three of second- degree murder. He pleaded not guilty to all counts on Friday, and is being held without bail. Authorities allege he is connected to 11 sets of human remains, which were discovered in 2010 and 2011 on Gilgo Beach, a remote site around 40 miles from New York City.

The dead included Amber Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who collectively became known as the "Gilgo Four" with the case outfoxing police for more than a decade. Heuermann has been charged over the murder of the first three and is also the main suspect for the death of Brainard-Barnes.

Heuermann was arrested following an extended investigation, which included over "300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence" according to court filings.

Michael Brown, Heuermann's lawyer, described the evidence against his client as "extremely circumstantial" and said it had left him "distraught."

He added: "We're looking forward to fighting this case in a court of law, not the court of public opinion."

According to prosecutors, police attention was first drawn to Heuermann after a witness reported seeing a pickup truck, matching the description of one he owned, near where one of the victims disappeared in 2010.

All the victims and Heuermann himself had links to Massapequa Park or midtown Manhattan, where he worked, allowing police to narrow their search area.

Police recovered a male hair from the burlap sack containing the body of Waterman, which was preserved as evidence. In January 2023 officers recovered a pizza box discarded by Heuermann in a bin on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue, containing uneaten crusts. Forensic testing revealed profiles of DNA taken from the hair and pizza crust were "the same," excluding 99.96 percent of the North American population.

Police later seized cellphone billing records from Heuermann, linking him with a number of phones used to arrange meetings with three of the victims, as well as make taunting calls to one of Barthelemy's relatives following her killing.

They allege he conducted "thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography" online, along with searching repeatedly about the 'Long Island serial killer' and other suspected or confirmed murderers.

Appearing on NewsNation, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr., who was involved in the investigation, described Heuermann as "the guy next door, there was nothing unusual."

He added: "This is something that was great police work through multiple agencies to really find this individual."

Speaking to Newsweek, one of Heuermann's neighbors described him as "a very quiet person" who they only saw when he was washing his car or doing woodwork.