LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: According to a veteran Federal Bureau of Investigation profiler, Rex Heuermann, a suspected serial killer from Long Island, allegedly called one of the victim's family to hear their fearful voice. Heuermann, 59, was taken into custody on Thursday, July 13, and is now facing six murder charges for three of the 11 unsolved slayings dubbed the Gilgo Beach murders. He pleaded not guilty to each allegation in a Friday afternoon court session.
Heuerman is also the prime suspect in the murder of Brainard-Barnes, 25, and has been charged with first- and second-degree murder for the death of the other three out of the 'Gilgo Four': Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. According to Suffolk County district attorney Raymond Tierney in a court document, Barthelemy's sister allegedly got "taunting calls" from the victim's cell after she disappeared in July 2009.
'He wanted to hear the fear'
According to a bail application made public by the prosecution, Heuermann allegedly called Barthelemy's family on July 17, July 23, August 5, August 19, and August 26, 2009, using Barthelemy's cell phone, as reported by Fox News. Heuermann allegedly told the 24-year-old woman's relatives that he had killed and sexually assaulted her. The New York Post reported at the time that Barthelemy's sister, Amanda Barthelemy, received at least one call. On the phone call, a man questioned, "Is this Melissa’s little sister?" The sister, who was 16 at the time, answered, "Yes." The man asked, "Do you know what your sister is doing? She’s a w***e."
According to Mary Ellen O'Toole, a retired FBI profiler, Heuermann probably made the call because "he wanted to hear the fear and the horror in the sister's voice." O'Toole continued, "I think he found that to be sexually arousing. Part of what we're seeing here is someone that wasn't trying to ease her pain, not trying to apologize, not trying to explain away his behavior, he wanted to hear the fear, the anxiety, the horror, the heartache in her voice."
The district attorney claimed in his motion for the suspect to be incarcerated without bail that Heuerman also checked the voicemails of Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Barthelemy's phones after they disappeared.
Melissa Barthelemy was last seen in July 2009
Barthelemy, a native of Western New York from the Buffalo region, was 24 years old when she disappeared in New York City on July 10, 2009. She was known to advertise online under the aliases 'Chloe' and 'VerySexyChloe' on websites like Adult Friend Finder. On July 12, 2009, Barthelemy told a friend she would meet a man and be back the next morning but she never returned.
On December 11, 2010, Barthelemy's body was found close to Gilgo Beach on the north side of Ocean Parkway. Much like the other victims, she is thought to have died from strangulation. Despite being the first to be discovered, investigators believed she was actually the second of the 'Gilgo Four' to be murdered. In December 2010, the bodies of Waterman, Costello, and Brainard-Barnes were also discovered near the shore.
