Rex Heuermann, a native of Long Island, is accused of killing three of the four women whose remains were discovered in 2010.
He entered a not guilty plea to the accusations on Friday.
According to police, Mr. Heuermann, 59, was detained on Thursday night at his residence. In the investigation of the Gilgo Beach killings, eleven victims have been discovered.
On Friday, Rodney Harrison, the chief of police for Suffolk County, referred to Mr. Heuermann as a “demon that walks among us” and a “predator that has destroyed families.”
According to court records, Mr. Heuermann is accused of killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello on three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder.
Mr. Heuermann allegedly sobbed in court when his plea was accepted, saying his attorney, “I didn’t do this.”
The bodies of all three women were discovered in 2010 close to Maureen Brainard-Barnes, the fourth victim. The Gilgo Beach Four is the name given to the women. According to the prosecution, all four of them were sex workers.
US District Attorney Ray Tierney said at a news conference on Friday that “each of the four victims was found similarly positioned, bound in a similar manner by either belts or tape, with three of the victims found wrapped in a burlap-type material.”
According to Mr. Tierney, the case against Mr. Heuermann was built around mobile phone records connecting him to the victims and a pick-up truck that was spotted close to one of the victims’ residences. He allegedly used “burner” phones to speak with the victims, which he then threw away. Investigators were also able to learn from mobile phone records that Mr. Heuermann’s wife and kids were out of town when the fatalities occurred.
Hair from a pizza box that Mr. Heuermann threw out in a garbage can in Manhattan in January 2023 was found on a piece of burlap used to wrap one of the victims, and it was connected to him.
In 2009, Ms. Barthelemy was kidnapped. Both Ms. Waterman and Ms. Costello vanished in 2010.
Ms. Brainard-Barnes was kidnapped in 2007, and Mr. Heuermann is a leading suspect in her homicide, though he hasn’t been prosecuted yet.
Police discovered the bodies of four additional women in 2010 while looking for one missing person.
A new task team was established in February 2022 to look into the murders, but the inquiry was still ongoing. Within a month, Mr. Tierney claimed, Mr. Heuermann was the center of the investigation. Investigators on the investigation executed more than 300 subpoenas and warrants for searches.
Mr. Heuermann is accused of conducting more than 200 searches on a burner phone regarding subjects relevant to serial killers and the Long Island inquiry since the task force was established.
According to court records, this included looking into “why the Long Island serial killer hasn’t been caught” and “mapping the Long Island murder victims.”
Mr. Tierney stated that Mr. Heuermann’s computer had “torture porn” and “depictions of women being abused and being killed”.
The inquiry into the additional victims is still ongoing.
The owner of RH Consultants and Associates, which bills itself as “New York City’s premier architectural firm,” is Mr. Heuermann.
He described himself as a “trouble shooter” in a YouTube interview for a real estate-focused channel last year, saying he had been working in the center of New York City since 1987.
Residents of Massapequa Park on Long Island who resided close to his home expressed surprise at his detention.
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