Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect's family was 'disgusted'

Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann’s family were ‘disgusted and embarrassed’ when cops told them about his murder charges and FBI raided THEIR homes

• Rex Heuermann’s family likely did not know about his double life before he was arrested Thursday for the murders of three sex workers
• Authorities used cellphone data and DNA evidence to nail him to the murders of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy
• Police fear he may also be responsible for other unsolved crimes 

 The family of the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer likely did not know about his double life before he was arrested last week.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CNN’s Erin Burnett Monday night how Rex Heuermann’s family reacted to the news that he was arrested and charged in the murders of three sex workers whose bodies were found in burlap sacks at the beach and is the primary suspect in a fourth.

‘They were disgusted. They were embarrassed,’ Harrison said of Heuermann’s wife and two adult children. ‘So if you ask me, I don’t believe they knew about this double life that Heuermann was living.’

The 59-year-old architect was arrested Thursday after cops used cell phone data and DNA evidence to nail him to the murders of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy in 2010. He has pleaded not guilty.

He is also considered the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose body was bound and hidden in thick underbrush along a remote beach highway, authorities said. 

And because he roamed free for over a decade, police fear he may also be responsible for other, unsolved crimes. 

Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested Thursday night in the murders of three sex workers whose bodies were found in burlap sacks at the beach and is the primary suspect in a fourth

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said he does not believe Heuermann’s family was aware of his double life. His wife, Asa, and daughter, Victoria, are pictured

So far, Heuermann has been charged with murdering Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy. Police however say they are ‘confident’ they will soon charge him with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes 

Prosecutors have laid out how Heuermann was driving the same car was seen by a witness to one of the killings back in 2009.

Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges

Investigators were then able to link that car to Heuermann’s cellphone records, which tied him to locations related to the murders.

He allegedly conducted at least 200 searches for information about the investigation into the Gilgo Beach murders, and searched compulsively for the victims and their families. 

Eventually, cops were able to match his DNA from an uneaten piece of pizza to one of the bodies.

Cops say that Heuermann also used Melissa Barthelemy’s phone to make taunting phone calls to her family from the victim’s phone, calls that were made steps from his swanky Manhattan office.

Following the identification of Heuermann as the owner of the Chevrolet, cops issued over 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain further evidence.

On Thursday night, Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann walked carefree through the street in Midtown Manhattan before he was arrested

He was under 24-hour surveillance leading up to his arrest Thursday night outside his midtown Manhattan office

In an interview on Good Morning America on Tuesday, former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said the reason Heuermann was apprehended on the streets of Manhattan and not at his Long Island home was because he had so many weapons.

While he was legally registered to own 92 guns, police found over 200 firearms and other weapons in the small house. 

They were kept in a walled-off vault that could only be accessed through a metal door, according to sources cited by CNN.  

‘You can check databases to see if he owned guns which he did, so you don’t want to go into that house,’ Boyce said. ‘You’d rather take him off premise. It’s way safer for everybody.’ 

Cops are now testing Heuermann’s DNA against any samples found at other crime scenes, and are looking at whether he has any connection to the dozens of unsolved missing persons cases involving young women in the tri-state area.

‘I made some phone calls yesterday to see what they are doing,’ Boyce said. ‘They’re looking at missing persons who have never been found to what they are doing. 

‘They’re looking at old missing persons who have never been found to see if they can put those together. Not just in Suffolk, but in the tri-state area. There’s also the FBI looking at national issues as well. He was free for many years.

‘He lived that Manhattan to Massapequa – that was his whole life right there – but it doesn’t mean he didn’t step out of it. We have to look all the way around.’ 

New York State Troopers removed hundreds of guns from a ‘walled off vault’ inside Heuermann’s home over the weekend 

Among items of evidence seized from Heuermann’s home Monday was what appeared to be a grenade

In addition to his cluttered home, Heuermann kept two storage units in Amityville. They were searched yesterday and today 

Investigators were seen over the weekend searching Heuermann’s dilapidated Massapequa home looking for any ‘trophies’ he may have kept from his alleged victims.

They were also seen searching a storage unit he owned in nearby Amityville.

The property searches have even stretched into South Carolina, where the FBI and local authorities raided properties Heuermann and his relatives own — including four lots of land the suspect bought in Chester County two years ago, when he told locals he planned to retire to the secluded area.

His 57-year-old brother, Craig, lives down the street.

On Facebook, the Chester County Sheriff’s Office confirmed it helped ‘gather evidence’ in the case, and even got a search warrant for the Chevrolet Avalanche that first linked Heuermann to the murders.

It is unclear how long the pickup truck, which was seen parked outside Heuermann’s Long Island home following he murders, may have been in the wooded area of the Palmetto State.

The Sheriff’s Office said it will ‘continue to work closely’ with the FBI and the Gilgo Beach task force ‘during this very important and arduous investigation.’ 

Police are pictured gathering evidence from Heuermann’s Long Island house on Monday

A box for a gun barrel was removed from the home as cops scoured the property

Police also searched a storage unit belonging to Heuermann in nearby Amityville

Authorities may now have to review pieces of evidence with the victims’ family members and friends in order to determine if they are souvenirs from the killings.

‘This investigation is still in its infancy,’ Deputy Police Commissioner Anthony Carter said Monday on CNN Tonight.

‘We have a long way to go. We have a lot of evidence to process, a lot more witnesses to interview and tips are still coming in.’ 

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