Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann may have murdered victims at his family’s home while his wife and kids were out of town — because it gave him “all the time in the world” and access to items such as tape and burlap bags, according to a law-enforcement source.
The women who Heuermann allegedly killed had disappeared during periods when his wife, Asa Ellerup, 59, and two adult children were traveling — possibly prompting him to lure the victims to their modest ramshackled house in Massapequa Park, Long Island, instead of a hotel, the source told The Post on Friday.
Slaying the women at his house would give Heuermann a controlled setting and “make it easier to remove the bodies” in the bag without being seen, the source noted.
“It was a theory from day one by some investigators that he committed some of the crimes in his home,” the source said.
“Investigators who think he committed it in his house say it would make sense because no one was home. He had all the time in the world, and it would be easier to remove the bodies in a burlap bag from his home, than a hotel where someone might see him.
“One problem proving this is that he choked the victims to death, so there was no blood. If he shot or stabbed them, they would probably find some from the victims,” the source said.
“They have not found any DNA from the victims in the home as of this time,” the source said of authorities.
“There is no proof at this time” that the suspect killed them there, the source added..
Investigators who did find tape and burlap bags at the crime scene are still combing his house for any evidence that may be linked to victims.
Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect with a Manhattan office, was charged last week in the slayings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, three of the “Gilgo Four” victims whose remains were found in Gilgo Beach in 2010.
He is the main suspect in the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who disappeared in 2007, authorities have said.
Multiple sources also told News 12 that investigators believe at least one of the Gilgo Beach murders took place at Heuermann’s home.
“It’s pretty common — a lot of people have killed their victims … in their homes because their homes provide them with familiar, security. It’s their comfort zone,” said NYPD detective and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Michael Alcazar, to the outlet.
Who were the Gilgo Beach victims?
Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann — a New York City architect and married dad of two — was arrested in connection with the long-unsolved Gilgo Beach murders. The arrest is tied to the so-called “Gilgo Four,” women found wrapped in burlap within days of each other in late 2010.
The years-long investigation that led to the arrest revolved around the discovery of more than 10 sets of human remains along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in Suffolk County between December 2010 and April 2011.
Most victims were petite female sex workers with green or hazel eyes. But there were also two exceptions: a 2-year-old girl and a young Asian man.
Melissa Barthelemy, 24
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25
Amber Lynn Costello, 27
Megan Waterman, 22
Jessica Taylor, 20
Valerie Mack, 24
Unidentified Asian man
‘Peaches’ and her daughter
Jane Doe No. 7
Shannan Gilbert, 23
Evidence could abound at the dwelling, he said.
“It could be something he performed ritualistically, like what he did with his victims,” Alcazar said. “It could be trophies, it could be his tools, his arsenal of weapons, maybe he recorded it.”
Family neighbor Betty Vrana added to the station, “You wonder, how could that happen?
“A lot of people are wondering, was his wife away a lot?”
Barthelemy, a 24-year-old sex worker living in the Bronx, was last seen July 12, 2009, while Waterman, a 22-year-old sex worker and mom from Maine, vanished June, 6, 2010.
Costello, a 27-year-old escort who struggled with heroin addiction, was last seen leaving her home September 2, 2010.
Cellphone records and surveillance camera footage show the women traveled to the area of Heuermann’s around the times they disappeared, police have said.
Ellerup was blindsided by her husband’s allegedly sadistic double life, according to police, and filed for divorce Wednesday, less than a week after his arrest in New York City.
Heuermann’ was “alone in the tri-state area” during the time of the killings, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said last week.
SOURCE: New york post
