A man arrested after a 13-year investigation as a suspect in a series of murders on Long Island was charged Friday with killing three women. Also known as the Kilgo Beach murders, the suspect in the murders based on the Netflix movie Lost Girls is Rex Heuerman, a 59-year-old father of two and a well-known Manhattan architect. On Friday, through his lawyer, the man denied committing the murders. At the same time, the judge ordered him to be held without bail due to the “extremely depraved” nature of the alleged crime, MTI reported.
BBC includes that: He was charged in connection with the deaths of three of the eleven victims of the long-unsolved murders in Kilgo Beach, New York, but was also suspected in the fourth. The four cases took place between 2007 and 2010, and because of the way they happened and the way the victims were hidden, police believe they are the same culprit.
District Attorney Ray Tierney said at a news conference Friday, “All four victims were found in similar positions, similarly bound by a belt or tape, and three victims were wrapped in burlap-like material.”
In 2010 and 2011, the remains of eleven victims of the serial killer were buried close to each other at Kilgo Beach on Long Island, near New York. Most of the victims were sex workers, but the remains of a young child and a man were also found.
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Scenes at Rex Hearman’s home on July 14, 2023.
Photo: KYLE MAZZA/Anadolu Agency via AFP
Authorities found clues to the 2010 serial killings after 24-year-old Shannon Gilbert called a police hotline in May 2010 to say someone was following her. However, he could not determine his exact location, so only his body was found later. Subsequently, the authorities found the bodies of the deceased.
Police and the prosecutor’s office announced the results of the investigation at a press conference Friday. Hearman’s name first surfaced in March 2022 after being linked to a van seen by a witness around the time one of the victims disappeared in 2010. The man was later linked to additional evidence, including fake email addresses and temporary phone numbers he used to arrange meetings with victims. It is linked to the 2009 harassment of the family of one of the missing women by an unknown man claiming to be the killer. In March of this year, investigators obtained a DNA sample from a pizza box thrown away by Heurman in Manhattan, which matched hair from one of the victims.
Ray Tierney also spoke: In recent months, Heuermann specifically reviewed information about the status of the investigation into the case, and repeatedly sought the names of the victims. He also said that he found various recordings depicting sexual violence, including minors.