How the authorities track down the Long Island serial killer – the pizza that betrayed him

Crimes for which more than ten years have gone unpunished.

After the remains of four women were found near the shore of Long Island, New York, more than a decade ago, investigators say DNA evidence and cell phone data now point to a murder suspect — a local architect, whose online presence history has repeatedly shown. Find case status and victims details.

Rex Hermann was arrested in New York on Thursday, more than a year after a police task force investigated his possible connection to the unsolved case known as the “Gilgo Four,” named after the beach where the remains were found.

Heuermann, 59, was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree murder in each of the three murders — Melissa Barthelemy in 2009 and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello in 2010, according to the indictment. He pleaded not guilty on Friday in his first appearance in a Long Island court and ordered to be held without bail.

“devil among us”

The defendant, who told his attorney he did not commit the murders, is also the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance and death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brannard Barnes.

“Rex Herrmann is a demon who walks among us. A predator who has devastated families,” Suffolk County Sheriff Rodney Harrison said during a press conference on Friday and offered his condolences to the families of the victims if it had not been for the members of this task force.

To the family members of Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy, and Megan Waterman. I can only imagine what you must have endured over the past decade knowing that the killer was still at large.

The authorities were left with little information after a search for a missing woman in 2010 led to the discovery of multiple sets of human remains on Gilju beach. By the time the remains of the missing woman, Shannan Gilbert, were found the following year, at least 10 groups of human remains had been discovered in two counties on Long Island.

While searching for a suspect in the Gilgo Four case, detectives combed through phone records from both Midtown Manhattan and the Massapequa Park area of ​​Long Island.

How did the authorities track him down?

An important factor in the case that helped investigators lead Heuermann as a suspect was DNA evidence, made possible by the latest scientific innovations in the field.

After identifying Hermann as a suspect in March 2022, authorities have him and his family placed under surveillance and will take DNA samples from the discarded items. A team later collected a sample of Heuermann’s DNA from the crust left on a pizza box they had thrown in the trash, according to CNN.

During the initial examination of one of the victims’ remains and materials discovered in the grave, the Suffolk County Forensic Laboratory found a male hair from a piece of cloth the killer used to wrap her body, according to prosecutors. Analysis of the DNA on the victim and on the pizza showed that the samples matched.