Gilgo Beach suspect may have killed victims at his LI home while wife, kids were away: investigators
Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann may have murdered victims at his family’s home while his wife and kids were out of town — because it gave him “all the time in the world” and access to items such as tape and burlap bags, according to a law-enforcement source.
The women who Heuermann allegedly killed disappeared during periods when his wife, Asa Ellerup, 59, and two adult children were traveling — possibly prompting him to lure the victims to their modest ramshackled house in Massapequa Park, Long Island, instead of a hotel, the source told The Post on Friday.
Slaying the women at his house would give Heuermann a controlled setting and “make it easier to remove the bodies” in bags without being seen, the source noted.
“It was a theory from day one by some investigators that he committed some of the crimes in his home,” the source said.
“Investigators who think he committed it in his house say it would make sense because no one was home. He had all the time in the world, and it would be easier to remove the bodies in a burlap bag from his home, than a hotel where someone might see him.
“One problem proving this is that he choked the victims to death, so there was no blood. If he shot or stabbed them, they would probably find some from the victims,” the source said.
“They have not found any DNA from the victims in the home as of this time,” the source said of authorities.
“There is no proof at this time” that the suspect killed them there, the source added.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in a statement Friday, “At the time of the arrest, we indicated the causes of death were homicidal violence.
“The locations of the murders were never specified,” the DA said. At this juncture, if any law-enforcement officials are saying anything contrary to that, they do not know what they are talking about.”
Investigators who did find tape and burlap bags at the crime scene are still combing his house for any evidence that may be linked to victims.
Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect with a Manhattan office, was charged last week in the slayings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, three of the “Gilgo Four” victims whose remains were found in Gilgo Beach in 2010.
He is the main suspect in the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who disappeared in 2007, authorities have said.
Multiple sources also told News 12 that investigators believe at least one of the Gilgo Beach murders took place at Heuermann’s home.
“It’s pretty common — a lot of people have killed their victims … in their homes because their homes provide them with familiar, security. It’s their comfort zone,” said retired NYPD detective and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Michael Alcazar, to the outlet.
Who were the Gilgo Beach victims?
Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann — a New York City architect and married dad of two — was arrested in connection with the long-unsolved Gilgo Beach murders. The arrest is tied to the so-called “Gilgo Four,” women found wrapped in burlap within days of each other in late 2010.
The years-long investigation that led to the arrest revolved around the discovery of more than 10 sets of human remains along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in Suffolk County between December 2010 and April 2011.
Most victims were petite female sex workers with green or hazel eyes. But there were also two exceptions: a 2-year-old girl and a young Asian man.
Melissa Barthelemy, 24
- Barthelemy was a sex worker who lived in the Unionport section of the Bronx and dreamed of one day opening her own beauty salon. She was last seen alive in her basement apartment on Underhill Avenue on July 12, 2009. Heuermann was charged for Barthelemy’s murder in July 2023.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25
- Brainard-Barnes was living in Norwich, Connecticut. She went missing after taking an Amtrak train from New London, Connecticut, to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on July 6, 2007. Her remains were found in December 2010. Heuermann was charged for Brainard-Barnes’ murder in January 2024.
Amber Lynn Costello, 27
- Costello, 27, was a sex worker and heroin addict who lived in West Babylon, New York, at a home with a woman and two men. She advertised on Craigslist and Backpage to support her and her roommates’ drug habits. Costello was found on December 13, 2010, after having been last seen leaving her home September 2, 2010. Heuermann was charged for Costello’s murder in July 2023.
Megan Waterman, 22
- Waterman, a 22-year-old mom of one, was last seen on June 6, 2010. She lived in Scarborough, Maine, and earned a living as an escort. She was last seen by her family boarding a New York-bound Concord Trailways bus in Maine. Her body was found on December 13, 2010, on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach. Heuermann was charged for Waterman’s murder in July 2023.
Jessica Taylor, 20
- Remains belonging to Jessica Taylor, a 20-year-old woman working as an escort in New York City, were found in a wooded area in Manorville on July 26, 2003. Her additional remains — initially labeled “Jane Doe No. 5” — were discovered on March 29, 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
Valerie Mack, 24
- Valerie Mack was 24 years old and living in Philadelphia when she went missing. She worked as an escort, using the alias “Melissa Taylor.” Relatives last saw Mack in the spring or summer of 2000 in Port Republic, New Jersey, but she was never reported as missing to the police. Her partial skeletal remains were found in Manorville in September 2000 but were initially known as “Jane Doe No. 6.” More bones were found on April 4, 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
Unidentified Asian man
- The skeletal remains of a yet-to-be-identified Asian man were found along Ocean Parkway on April 4, 2011. It is estimated that the man was between 17 and 23 years old at the time of his death. He was approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall with bad teeth.
‘Peaches’ and her daughter
- An African American woman’s partial remains were discovered in Hempstead Lake State Park back in 1997, and she had become known as “Peaches” because of a bitten tattoo of a peach on her left breast. On April 4, 2011, police uncovered the remains of a toddler, who was about 2 years old at the time of her death. DNA testing confirmed that one of the skeletons was that of the 2-year-old girl’s mother, “Peaches.”
Karen Vergata
- A victim previously referred to as Jane Doe No. 7 has been identified as 34-year-old Manhattan woman Karen Vergata. Vergata is believed to have disappeared around Feb. 14, 1996; two months later, her legs were found in a plastic bag at a park near Fire Island’s Blue Point Beach. At the time of her disappearance, Vergata was believed to have been working as an escort. Two sets of Vergata’s remains were identified in August 2023.
Shannan Gilbert, 23
- Gilbert was a Craigslist escort who lived in Jersey City, traveled with her driver Michael Pak from Manhattan to meet a client, Joseph Brewer, at his home in the Oak Beach Association on the morning of May 1, 2010. She spoke with two neighbors before disappearing. Her body was discovered in a marsh near Oak Beach — about half a mile from where she was last seen alive — on December 13, 2011.
Jessica Taylor, 20
- Taylor, a 20-year-old woman working as an escort in New York City, were found in a wooded area in Manorville on July 26, 2003. Her additional remains — initially labeled “Jane Doe No. 5” — were discovered on March 29, 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
Sandra Costilla
- Costilla was murdered in 1993 but had not been included among the so-called Gilgo Beach victims — until now. Investigators suspected convicted serial killer John Bittrolff in Costilla’s death, but he was never charged in her slaying — which remains one of several unsolved Long Island murders.
Evidence could abound at the dwelling, he said.
“It could be something he performed ritualistically, like what he did with his victims,” Alcazar said. “It could be trophies, it could be his tools, his arsenal of weapons, maybe he recorded it.”
Family neighbor Betty Vrana added to the station, “You wonder, how could that happen?
“A lot of people are wondering, was his wife away a lot?”
Barthelemy, a 24-year-old sex worker living in the Bronx, was last seen July 12, 2009, while Waterman, a 22-year-old sex worker and mom from Maine, vanished June, 6, 2010.
Costello, a 27-year-old escort who struggled with heroin addiction, was last seen leaving her home September 2, 2010.
Cellphone records and surveillance camera footage show the women traveled to the area of Heuermann’s around the times they disappeared, police have said.
Ellerup was blindsided by her husband’s allegedly sadistic double life, according to police, and filed for divorce Wednesday, less than a week after his arrest in New York City.
Heuermann’ was “alone in the tri-state area” during the time of the killings, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said last week.
-Additional reporting by Joe Marino
