Gilgo Beach murder suspect not charged in fourth killing due to missing cell tower records: court docs
Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann was charged with killing three women, and is considered the prime suspect in the death of a fourth victim — but authorities haven’t formally accused him in the case because of missing cell phone records, according to court records.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose body was found on Ocean Parkway in December 2010 along those of the other “Gilgo Four” victims, connected with a burner phone sixteen times between July 6 and July 9, 2007, according to a denied bail application for Heuermann.
Brainard-Barnes, who was 25 at the time and working as a prostitute, had taken a train from New London, Conn., to Manhattan.
She was last heard from on July 9, when she told a friend she was making an “out-call” instead of attending to her in a motel room.
Investigators, however, did not retrieve the cell tower records for the burner phone used to contact Brainard-Barnes at the time, and the records no longer exist, the bail application notes.
Heuermann is the prime suspect in Brainard-Barnes’ death, prosecutors with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office said in the paperwork.
Who is Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann?
A suspected serial killer has been arrested over the notorious Gilgo Beach murders in Long Island, The Post can confirm.
Rex Heuermann, 59, a married dad of two and architect at a New York City firm, has a home on 1st Avenue in Massapequa Park, sources told The Post.
His arrest is tied to the “Gilgo Four,” four women — Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25 — found wrapped in burlap within days of each other in 2010.
The body of Barthelemy was first found along Ocean Parkway on Dec. 11, 2010, sparking fears of a serial killer in the area.
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By spring 2011, the number of bodies had climbed to 10, including eight women as well as an unidentified man and toddler.
Heuermann’s arrest comes after Suffolk County’s new police commissioner created a special Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force in February 2022.
Heuermann, 59, has not been charged in her death, but prosecutors said the investigation is expected “to be resolved,” and noted that Brainard-Barnes’ death and disappearance is similar to those to the pattern they allege he carried out with three other women — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
Cell phone bills linked to Heuermann revealed that he used a burner phone to meet up with Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello, who also were sex workers and whose bodies were found on Ocean Parkway around the same time as Brainard-Barnes, according to the bail application.
Follow The Post’s live blog for updates on the Gilgo Beach serial killings arrest
Heuermann was also found to have been in the same location as the burner phones that were used to contact the three women.
Heuermann pleaded not guilty on Friday to a slew of charges, including first-degree murder, in connection to the deaths of Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello.
