On July 14, 2023, Rex Heuermann was indicted on six counts of murder in connection with victims of the Long Island serial killer. The victims are Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. He was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree murder in the case, giving him a total of six charges.
In January 2024, Rex was charged with murdering a fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
On June 6, 2024, Rex was accused of murdering two additional women, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. We also learned that he was being investigated for the death of Valerie Mack.
The 37-page court document has been released and we've learned a lot of new information about the case. In this episode, we take a look at some new information. Be sure to listen to previous episodes for updates on events so far.
This document explains how Jessica Taylor's remains were discovered. She was last seen in July 2003. She was working in the sex industry in midtown Manhattan. Jessica last used her cell phone on July 21, 2003. She called her mother and the two talked for a few minutes. Jessica made plans to visit her mother in Poughkeepsie, New York, on July 25, 2003. Jessica's last activity on the phone was at 10:22 that night.
When Jessica did not arrive to meet her mother on July 25, her mother called the police.
On July 26, 2003, a person walking his dog in Manorville, New York discovered human remains and notified authorities. When police arrived on the scene, they found the victim lying on the floor with his legs bent. His body was decapitated and his arms were severed below the elbows.
The victim had a tattoo that had been badly erased by a sharp object.
The remains were soon identified as Jessica Taylor's.
On March 29, 2011, Jessica's skull, hand, and forearm were discovered just east of Gilgo Beach. These additional remains were found on the same side of the road where Maureen, Melissa, Megan and Amber (Gilgo Four) were found. The other women were found there in December 2010.
The victims were all found within 50 feet of the edge of the parkway. Jessica's body was found less than a mile away from the other victims.
During the police investigation into Jessica's murder, it was revealed that Rex worked in the same area where Jessica worked as a sex worker. Records show that Rex was in the same area as Jessica the day she disappeared.
After the first of Jessica's bodies was discovered, police canvassed the surrounding area and spoke to witnesses. A witness said that around 10:30 p.m. on July 25, 2003, he saw a dark Chevrolet pickup truck returning to the woods where Jessica's body would later be found. That happened about 13 hours before the person who found Jessica called 911.
Rex reportedly purchased a 2002 dark-colored Chevy Avalanche in late March 2002. He owned the vehicle at the time Jessica's remains were discovered.
Records on Rex's digital devices show that he read a Newsday article titled “Cops Seek” on July 28, 2003.
Please help Manorville Body IDing.” The article said that Jessica's body had been found.
This online activity was deleted on or about July 29, 2003. Rex too
I did an internet search for a new Chevrolet Avalanche even though the 2002 Avalanche is a little over a year old. Rex later attempted to delete this search for a new vehicle.
Rex was specifically searching for Chevys in different colors at the time.
When authorities examined Jessica's remains, they found male hair on her body. It was found in surgical drapes underneath her body.
The hair was determined to be that of a male with Caucasian/European features. At the time, it was determined that DNA testing could not be performed due to incompatibility.
In August 2023, Gilgo Homicide submitted the hair for further testing. When compared to Rex's hair, the profiles developed were identical and excluded 99.96% of the North American population.
Additional testing was performed on the hair and it was determined that the hair was 1.837 x 10603 times more likely to come from someone genetically identical to Rex's SNP genotype file than from an unrelated individual.
Police determined that Rex's wife, Asa, and their children were out of state at the time of Jessica's murder. This seems to be Rex's pattern. He chose murder when his family was not around. Court documents detail how Asa established he was on vacation at the time. For example, a record of Rex's phone call to Asa.
The documents also state that investigators took a hard drive from Rex's home in July 2023. The drive contains a Palm Pilot backup file containing Rex's schedule/calendar. The file also confirmed Asa's whereabouts at the time of the murder.
On November 20, 1993, two men were hunting in a wooded area near Southampton, Suffolk County, New York. They found the remains of a woman. Sandra Costillo, who was 28 years old at the time of her death, was found lying on her back with her arms outstretched. Her exposed legs were spread. Her shirt was pulled over her head, exposing her breasts. She suffered sharp force injuries to her face, torso, chest, left thigh and genital area.
Sandra was originally from Trinidad and Tobago, but was living in New York before she was murdered.
When Sandra's body was examined, three hairs were found. Two of the hairs belonged to the female and one to the male.
The hairs were first tested in 2014 and a unique DNA profile was created for each. After Rex was arrested, his hair was tested and compared to his samples. In February 2024, male hair profiles were found to exclude 99.96% of the population when compared to Rex's sample. Later tests also found that the hair was 4.347 x 10332 times more likely to come from someone genetically identical to Rex's SNP genotype file than from an unrelated individual.
In 1993, Rex was living with a woman named Witness 3. As a side note, he married Asa in 1996. Witness 3 and Rex began living together in 1991. She left her home in September 1993, two months before Sandra moved out. Murder. Witness 3's identity has not been released but is known to law enforcement. She gave them a DNA swab related to the case.
Police compared the swabs to the hair found on Sandra and found that comparing the two samples excluded 99.98% of the population.
The new documents also state that more than 350 electronic devices were seized from Rex's home.
The device revealed Rex's fascination with violent bondage and torture porn, which began in 1994.
Images accessed include breast mutilation, vaginal torture, sexual substitution using objects for penetration, sexual objectification of beheaded women, bondage and whipping.
A Word document titled “HK2002-04”. Document found in 'unallocated space'. “Allocated space” refers to the space your computer is using for stored data (files) that can be viewed and opened by others.
user). On the other hand, “unallocated space” refers to free or “unstructured” data that cannot be easily viewed or opened by users. Unallocated space often contains space for “new data” or “old data” that has been deleted, sent to the “Recycle Bin,” or overwritten. For example, when a user deletes data, many users think that the files have been completely removed. . However, “deleting” a file only tells your computer that the space it previously occupied is now available. “Deleted” data remains in “unallocated space” until it is overwritten by other files. Data contained in 'unallocated space' can be retrieved through a computer forensics extraction method called 'file carving'.
This analysis shows that the draft was created locally and was not downloaded from the Internet. It was also recovered from the hard drive Rex had been using. This document was first written in 2000 and was accessed and modified between 2001 and 2002.
Police call the document the 'HK Planning Document' and believe Rex used it to plot and plan the murder.
This document details how the body preparation section relates to the remains of Jessica and Valerie Mack. Jessica's tattoos were also attacked with sharp objects in an attempt to damage and hide them.
Read the full article here. – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Zx8bbm41n81cKRdvQ-JhW0sJ5zUxrqFW/view