The suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer searched for images of his alleged victims’ families, including their children, according to officials.
Police have already linked Long Island architect Rex Heuermann to internet searches for vile and illegal pornography, making his trawling the internet for pictures of murdered people’s families all the more chilling.
“[Heuermann] was compulsively searching pictures of the victims. But not only pictures of the victims: pictures of their relatives, their sisters, their children,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said of suspect Rex Heuermann, 59, at a press conference.
More shockingly, Tierney added: “And he was trying to locate those individuals.”
Heuermann, of Massapequa Park, pleaded not guilty on Friday to three counts each of first and second degree murder in connection with the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Amber Lynn Costello, 22, and Megan Waterman, 27 last Friday. He is also the prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
At the time of her July 2007 disappearance, Brainard-Barnes was a single mother of two, according to her obituary.
Waterman, who vanished in June 2010, left behind a young daughter.
She was reported missing after family members in her home state of Maine became concerned she had not called to check on her girl, who was only three years old at the time.
All four Gilgo Beach victims had advertised themselves as sex workers.
In addition to eerie searches about the victims and their families, Heuermann looked up child porn, rape content, and even the Gilgo Beach murder investigation, officials said last week.
Mobile phone records also linked the South Shore native to burner phones, including one used to make seven disturbing phone calls to Barthelemy’s family after she disappeared in July 2009.
“Heuermann undoubtedly felt a sexual thrill when he made these calls, similar to the sexual thrill he felt looking at child pornography and pictures of women being sexually tortured,” forensic psychiatrist Dr. Carole Lieberman told Newsweek.
The architect was arrested by plain clothes officers at his Midtown office on Thursday night after his DNA from a discarded pizza crust was matched to genetic material on the burlap used to wrap Waterman’s remains.
Authorities chose to arrest him at his office because they knew he had a significant stockpile of weapons at the family home, which were removed following his arrest.
When he was being processed, the Berner High School grad reportedly asked police if his arrest was “on the news.”
He is now on suicide watch at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility.
Heuermann’s relatives are “disgusted” by the allegations against him, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said Monday.
The Suffolk County authorities spent most of the weekend combing Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home, which he shared with his two adult children and second wife, Asa Ellerup.
Police have also raided locations in South Carolina that are tied to the suspect’s shell-shocked family members.
The Chester County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it has helped “gather evidence” in the case — including obtaining a search warrant for the Chevrolet Avalanche that first linked Heuermann to the killings.
A total of 11 bodies, mostly women, were found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo State Park starting in late 2010.
Officials emphasized the task force on the unsolved cases remains active, which could lead to further charges being filed.
As of Tuesday, Heuermann has not been linked to the additional bodies, including that of Shannan Gilbert, the Jersey City woman whose May 2010 disappearance from Gilgo Beach sparked the initial search.
“I’m just happy it happened sooner rather than later. The suspect (Rex) deserves to rot in prison for the rest of his life,” Gilbert’s sister, Sherre, told NBC News in an email shortly after news of Heuermann’s arrest broke last week.
“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!”