Rex Heuermann, the alleged serial murderer of Gilgo Beach, is accused of a fourth murder in the state of New York.
The 60-year-old Mr. Heuermann was already charged in July with the murders of three women over ten years ago, as part of a Long Island murder spree that may have included as many as eleven victims.
According to CBS News, a partner of the BBC, he entered a not guilty plea when he appeared in court on Tuesday.
Mr. Heuermann is being held without access to bond at the Suffolk County Jail.
During his brief court appearance, he was noted by the local news as being silent and expressionless. Asa Ellerup, his estranged wife, and their daughter were also in attendance.
“After the court hearing, his attorney Michael Brown told reporters that his client was looking forward to fighting these charges, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
Along with these allegations, Mr. Heuermann entered a not guilty plea this summer to three first-degree murder counts and three second-degree murder counts pertaining to the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was the fourth victim.
“While the loss of my mom has been extremely painful,” her daughter Nicolette Brainard-Barnes told reporters that the accusations “brought hope for justice for my mom and my family.”
Melissa Cann, the sister of Ms. Brainard-Barnes, was present in court on Tuesday as well.
“It has been 16 years since I last saw my sister, 16 years since I heard her voice, because 16 years ago, she was silenced,” said Ms Cann.
The body of Ms. Brainard-Barnes, who was twenty-five years old when she disappeared, was found in December 2010 when detectives were looking for Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker who had also vanished that year, near Ocean Parkway.
Between 2010 and 2011, a total of eleven sets of human remains, corresponding to nine women, one man, and a toddler, were discovered along the same stretch of Gilgo Beach. Four people are still unidentified: the male, her mother, and the toddler.
The Gilgo Four, the women Mr. Heuermann is accused of killing, were prostitutes who were last seen in July 2007 and September 2010.
In the most recent court documents that were made public on Tuesday, prosecutors presented fresh evidence. Among these was a credit card statement that demonstrated Mrs. Heuermann had checked into a hotel in fresh Jersey around the time of the alleged killings.
Prosecutors claimed that Mr. Heuermann had “unfettered time to execute his plans for each victim” while his family was away, “without any fear that his family would uncover or learn of his involvement in these crimes”.
CNN reports that shortly after his arrest, his 1996 marriage to his wife was called into question and she filed for divorce. He also has a stepson, according to reports from the Associated Press.
Early in 2022, Mr. Heuermann was named as a suspect by police based on information from witnesses, cell phone data, and other sources.
Along with hair on a piece of burlap that was used to wrap one of the victims, authorities were able to connect Mr. Heuermann’s hair to a pizza box sample that he threw away in January 2023.
Detectives encircled him outside RH Consultants and Associates, his Manhattan architecture firm, in July, leading to his arrest.
A few miles from the location of the remains, Mr. Heuermann’s Long Island home was investigated by police and detectives, who discovered 200–300 hidden weapons.
Additionally, it is said that Mr. Heuermann conducted more than 200 searches on subjects pertaining to serial killers and the Long Island inquiry using a burner phone.
His arrest surprised the neighbors of his Long Island Massapequa Park house.
According to neighbor Etienne DeVilliers, “the guy’s been quiet, never really bothers anybody,” CBS reported.
The other victims are still being looked into. Not all 11 of the deaths are linked to Mr. Heuermann.