Update 2: DNA found on crust inside a pizza box led Suffolk County police to Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann.
A bail application made on Friday described a male hair found on the bottom of a burlap bag used to wrap the naked body of Megan Waterman, Fox News reports.
Waterman was one of four female victims found wrapped in burlap sacks on Gilgo Beach in 2011.
The male hair was sent to a lab for analysis which revealed it had “Caucasian/European” characteristics.
In 2020 the hair was submitted to a lab for further analysis which revealed the male had a specific type of DNA.
A witness to the disappearance of Amber Costello back in 2011 described seeing a man driving a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche away from the scene.
Investigators discovered Heuermann drove a first generation Chevrolet Avalanche back in 2010.
A surveillance team trailing Heuermann in March of this year watched him throw away a pizza box in Manhattan on March 23.
DNA from crust inside the pizza box was sent to the lab for comparison to the hair found in the burlap bag in 2011. Both DNA samples were a match.
Heuermann was arrested Thursday night outside his Manhattan office.
Watch the video below.
Update, July 14, 2023 at 3:21 PM:
Shannon Gilbert’s sister says Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann deserves to “rot in prison for the rest of his life.”
Heuermann, a successful NYC architect, was arrested Thursday night outside his Manhattan offices.
Police and forensics teams flooded Heuermann’s Massapequa Park, Long Island home early Friday morning.
A freezer was among the items removed from the house by forensics officers.
A crowd gathered outside Heuermann’s to watch the search for evidence on Friday morning.
Heuermann is charged with six counts of first-degree murder stemming from the first four murders of young prostitutes in their 20s. Their remains were found in burlap sacks on Gilgo Beach in 2011.
The four victims became known as the “Gilgo Beach four”.
Their bodies were found during the 19-month search for Shannon Gilbert, a 24-year-old escort from New Jersey who went missing after midnight on May 1, 2010. Police say she disappeared while visiting a client’s home in Oak Beach, Long Island.
Gilbert’s body was found in a swamp in Oak Beach in December 2011. Her neck was broken and a small hole was drilled into her neck, police say.
Gilbert’s sister, Sherre Gilbert, told NBC News she is “relieved” that Heuermann was caught and she hopes he “rots in prison for the rest of his life.”
“I am overwhelmed but relieved that they finally caught him,” she said.
“It’s been a long time coming and I never gave up hope that one day justice would be served. The suspect deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his life. He destroyed many lives so while it won’t bring our loved ones back, it does help that one less monster is off the streets and he can’t ever hurt anyone else.”
The search for Gilbert uncovered a serial killer’s dumping ground along Gilgo Beach and Oak Beach in suburban Long Island.
The body count grew to at least 10 victims and as many as 17, including an Asian man and a toddler, The NY Post reported.
Originally published on: July 14, 2023 at 09:48 AM:
A man suspected of killing at least 9 women and a toddler and dumping their remains on a Long Island beach was arrested early Friday after a 13-year manhunt.
According to news reports, Suffolk police arrested Rex Heuermann at a Massapequa Park, Long Island address early Friday morning.
Heuermann, 59, is believed to be the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killer who brutally killed at least 9 women and a toddler before dumping their remains along the beach. He was also dubbed the “Long Island serial killer.”
Most of the victims were prostitutes with slim builds and green or hazel eyes. One victim was an Asian male, a transgender sex worker, whose body was found in April 2011. Police believe he died in 2006.
The most well-known victim was Shannon Gilbert, a 24-year-old sex worker from New Jersey. Gilbert was the subject of numerous crime programs, a book called Lost Girls, and a Netflix dramatization based on the Lost Girls book.
Gilbert disappeared after going to a Long Island home to meet a client around midnight on May 1, 2010.
In a frantic 911 call at 4:51 a.m., Gilbert was heard saying someone was after her. “They’re trying to kill me,” she said.
Gilbert was last seen banging on the front door of a nearby Oak Beach house and screaming for help before fleeing. Her body was found in a swamp in December 2011.
Despite having a broken neck, the medical examiner ruled that Gilbert “accidentally drowned” in a “drug induced panic.”
Tanya Rush, a 39-year-old mother-of-three took up sex work to support a drug addiction. She disappeared on June 23, 2008 around 3 a.m. while walking towards a subway station in Brooklyn.
A state road cleaning crew discovered Rush’s dismembered body in a suitcase on a ramp leading to the Southern State Parkway in Bellmore, New York on June 27, 2008.
Rush was described by law enforcement as “possibly” being connected to the other victims found in the Gilgo Beach area.
