The accused Gilgo Beach serial killer was a ‘sexual sadist’ who used fake names and burner phones to contact sex workers more than 500 times before being arrested, prosecutors said.
Rex Heuermann, 63, allegedly created a Tinder account and utilized false identities to incessantly reach out to prostitutes before he was taken into custody in 2023.
Heuermann used the aliases ‘Andrew Roberts’ and ‘Thomas Hawk,’ according to a motion filed Tuesday by the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.
He is currently awaiting trial after being charged with murdering seven women between 1993 and 2010.
A police detective cited in Tuesday’s filing described Heuermann’s online activity as ‘clear evidence’ that he derived pleasure from others’ physical pain.
One of the burner phones described in the legal filing was in Heuermann’s possession when he was arrested.
He allegedly contacted at least 56 sex workers and reached out to massage parlors more than 300 times between January 2021 and March 2022.
Another phone, used through February 2023, was allegedly used to contact at least 61 ‘prostitution–related’ numbers more than 220 times.
The phones were consistently kept near a phone registered in Heuermann’s real name, prosecutors claimed.
Rex Heuermann, 63, in one of his Tinder profile pictures. He allegedly murdered seven women from 1993 to 2010
Prosecutors from the Suffolk County district attorney’s office described Heuermann as a ‘sexual sadist’ who used burner phones and aliases to repeatedly contact sex workers
Andrew Lee, the Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney, said in the motion that Heuermann’s ‘modern day use of burner phones to patronize prostitutes [was] probative’ of his behavior.
Heuermann also allegedly conducted thousands of pornography–related searches using a Gmail account.
That same account was used for more than 100 searches related to the Gilgo Beach serial killings, the filing said.
Some of Heuermann’s searches allegedly included ‘why hasn’t the long island serial killer been caught,’ ‘Map of all known serial killers’ and ‘Cops launch Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force.’
He also looked up violent pornography and content ‘related to bindings, torture, rape, snuff videos, crying, bruised and impaled women and/or girls,’ prosecutors said.
Heuermann’s internet history also allegedly featured searches for images of victims’ family members ‘mourning the deceased.’
Prosecutors submitted the filing in response to a defense motion seeking to suppress certain evidence in the case.
The alleged victims clockwise from left: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla
Heuermann’s alleged victims are Maureen Brainard–Barnes, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla.
The Long Island man lived with his wife and two children in Massapequa Park and commuted to Manhattan for work.
He was arrested by police detectives on July 13, 2023, as he left his midtown architecture office.
Law enforcement authorities took Heuermann into custody after keeping him and his family under surveillance for ten months.
His DNA was obtained from a pizza box that he tossed in a garbage can near his office.
That sample was later matched to DNA taken from the burlap sack used to conceal Waterman’s body after her remains were discovered in December 2010.
Heuermann was arrested in July 2023 by police investigators near his Midtown Manhattan office
The pizza box that Heuermann discarded and was recovered by investigators, which eventually matched his DNA
Most of the women were sex workers whose remains were found along an isolated parkway near Gilgo Beach and Heuermann’s home.
The defense has asked that the second–degree murder charge in Sandra Costilla’s death be dismissed because it relies on ‘an exaggerated characterization of the facts.’
They have also argued that investigators violated privacy laws when they obtained Heuermann’s DNA from the discarded pizza box.
Prosecutors shot back that this argument in fact proved that the DNA match was legitimate, which was also later confirmed through a court–ordered swab.
In total, prosecutors said they have compiled more than more than 150 pages of potential. civilian, law enforcement and expert witnesses who could testify in Heuermann’s trial.
Prosecutors also noted that the defense was yet to provide any discovery and urged New York Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei to compel them to do so.
Heuermann is scheduled to return to court March 17. He has pleaded not guilty to all seven murders.
