Here’s How Alleged Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Rex Heuermann Was Finally Caught

The painstaking 13-year hunt for Long Island's Gilgo Beach serial killer climaxed last month when DNA evidence allegedly linked Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann directly to one of the slayings, prosecutors revealed Friday.

Heuermann's DNA was obtained from a crust of pizza that a surveillance team retrieved after he tossed it into a sidewalk trash can near Manhattan's Bryant Park on Jan. 26, according to court papers.

Testing allegedly showed the genetic material matched a male hair recovered from the burlap used to wrap the naked body of Megan Waterman, whose body was found dumped near Long Island's Gilgo Beach in December 2010 and was among 10 found during searches of the area.

DNA testing on 11 bottles taken from a trash container outside Heuermann's house in suburban Massapequa Park last year also tied his wife to female hairs found on Waterman and two other victims, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Amber Costello, according to the 32-page filing.

The three women and a fourth — Melissa Barthelemy — were all sex workers who were slain while Heuermann's wife and children were traveling out of state more than a decade ago, according to prosecutors.

Heuermann allegedly used Barthelemy's cellphone to make a series of ghoulish, taunting calls to her relatives in the weeks after she disappeared in July 2007.

Heuermann, 59 was arrested Thursday night and indicted Friday on charges of first- and second-degree murders in the killings of Barthelemy, Costello and Waterman.

He's also the "prime suspect" in the slaying of Brainard-Barnes, and that case is "expected to be resolved soon," prosecutors wrote.

Heuermann pleaded not guilty through his defense lawyer in Suffolk County Supreme Court and was ordered held without bail.

Other chilling details in the prosecution's filing include allegations that Heuermann used a burner cellphone and a Gmail account to "conduct thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography."

The same account was allegedly used for more than 200 searches between March 2022 and last month "related to active and known serial killers," as well as the disappearances of the so-called Gilgo Four victims "and the investigation into their murders," prosecutors wrote.

It was also allegedly used to "repeatedly" view hundreds of images of the slain women and their family members.

"Significantly, Defendant Heuermann also searched for and viewed articles concerning the very Task Force that was investigating him," stated the court papers.

Other evidence that allegedly ties Heuermann to the slayings includes a witness who said Costello's client looked like an "ogre."

The client was also said to be a white man in his mid-forties, between 6 feet, 4 inches and 6 feet, 6 inches tall, with "dark bushy hair" and "big oval 1970s type eyeglasses" — a description that prosecutors said "mirrors the physical attributes" of Heuermann, who was 46 at the time.

Heuermann, whose middle name is Andrew, allegedly used the name "Andy" to set up an account on the Tinder hookup website and used a pair of burner cellphones "extensively between 2021 and 2023 for prostitution-related contacts (either with sex workers or massage parlors," prosecutors wrote.

A search warrant on an AOL email account also turned up "selfies" of Heuermann that prosecutors said were "sent to other persons to solicit and arrange for sexual activity."

In May, he was allegedly recorded on video while buying additional minutes for a burner phone in a cellphone store in Midtown Manhattan.

During an afternoon news conference, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, who took over last year, said he convened the first meeting of a new task force to step up efforts in the search for the Gilgo Beach killer on Feb. 1, 2022.

Heuermann's name surfaced six weeks later, Tierney said.

"A New York State investigator was able to identify him in a database," Tierney said.

"And from that point on, we used the power of the grand jury — over 300 subpoenas and search warrants — looking into this individual's background to bring us to this day."