Explained: Long Island serial killings, and the 'predator that ruined families'

Almost a decade after the brutal killings of more than a dozen women shocked the world, a New York-based architect has been charged with the long-unsolved Long Island serial killings.

59-year-old Rex Heuermann, who is the prime suspect in the murders that happened between 1996 and 2011, has been described by the police as a "demon" and a "predator".

Here's all you need to know about the Long Island serial killings.

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The "Gilgo Four"

In 2010, the Suffolk County police were searching along Ocean Parkway for Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old sex worker who vanished from New Jersey. During the search, the missing persons bureau's Officer John Mallia along with his trained cadaver dog 'Blue' stumbled upon the remains of four women in their 20s.

Police concluded that the women found near Gilgo Beach, Long Island were sex workers who used to advertise their services on Craigslist. The bodies, as per an NBC report were found approximately 500 feet (150 m) from each other.

They were later identified as Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Maureen Brainard-Barnes. In 2015, the body of a fifth woman, an escort, was found.

In total, since 2010, as per AFP, the bodies of at least 11 people — including three unidentified victims — have been found along the isolated stretch of the ocean beachfront on Long Island.

While earlier the police said that they didn't believe all the killings were linked, this soon changed.

Prosecutors concluded that the women are the victims of a serial killer, who would infamously come to be known as the Long Island Serial Killer, the Gilgo Beach Killer or the Craigslist Ripper. The killings would also be the subject of a 2020 Netflix film called Lost Girls.

The victims

Maureen Brainard-Barnes, one of the Gilgo Four was a 25-year-old mother of two, who worked as a paid escort via Craigslist. She disappeared on July 9, 2007, her body was discovered in December 2010.

Melissa Barthelemy, a 24-year-old, was also working as an escort via Craigslist. She went missing on July 12, 2009. Soon after her disappearance, her teenage sister Amanda started receiving a series of calls from Melissa's phone. The "vulgar, mocking, and insulting" calls were made by a man who told the teenager her sister was dead and that he was going to "watch her rot".

The third victim of the Gilgo Four 22-year-old Megan Waterman went missing on June 6, 2010.

Amber Lynn Costello, 27, was a sex worker and a heroin user who went missing on 2nd September 2010. Her family initially believed that she was in a residential drug rehabilitation centre and thus she was not reported missing immediately.

Valerie Mack, also known as Melissa Taylor, went missing in 2000 while working as an escort in Philadelphia. Her partial remains were discovered in Manorville in 2000, and additional body parts were found in 2011. She wasn't identified till 2020.

Jessica Taylor went missing in 2003 in Manhattan. Her dismembered torso was discovered in Manorville later that year, and further remains were found in 2011.

Unidentified Victims:

"Peaches" a murder victim whose dismembered torso was found in Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997. In 2011, additional remains were discovered near Jones Beach State Park, and they were later identified as belonging to "Jane Doe No. 3." DNA analysis connected "Peaches" and "Jane Doe No. 3," and it was determined that "Peaches" was also the mother of a toddler known as "Baby Doe." The skeletal remains of the female toddler were found near the remains of Valerie Mack.

The body of a young Asian male was discovered at Gilgo Beach in 2011. The victim had died from blunt-force trauma and was found wearing women's clothing. He may have been a transgender woman. The victim remains unidentified.

A human skull and teeth were found at Tobay Beach in 2011 and were connected through DNA testing to a set of severed legs found on Fire Island in 1996. The victim, known as "Jane Doe No. 7," had a surgical scar on her left leg and also remains unidentified.

Modus operandi

As per US District Attorney Ray Tierney, the bodies of the first four victims "were found similarly positioned, bound in a similar fashion by either belts or tape, with three of the victims found wrapped in a burlap-type material."

Autopsies of the victims as per LongIsland.com revealed that they had died of strangulation.

"For each of the murders he got an individual burner phone and used that to communicate with the victims," Tierney said. "Then, shortly after the death of the victims, he would get rid of the burner phone." As per Tierney, Heuermann would allegedly commit the murders when his wife and children were out of town.

A "demon"

Talking to reporters, Suffolk County police commissioner Rodney Harrison said: "Ladies and gentlemen, Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us — a predator that ruined families."

As per US District Attorney Tierney, the suspect Heuermann was tied to the murders through multiple pieces of evidence — DNA evidence found on a discarded pizza box, cellphone data linking him to the victims, and a sighting of his vehicle at the home of one of the Long Island serial killing victims.

In addition, as per AFP, the suspect also performed hundreds of searches about the investigation into the murders, looking up questions like "Why hasn't the Long Island serial killer been caught?"

Police also found "a lot of torture porn, and what you would consider depictions of women being abused, being raped and being killed" on Heuermann's computer, revealed the US District Attorney. It was also discovered that Heuermann made "taunting calls" to the sister of one of the victims.

(With inputs from agencies)

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