LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in relation to the Gilgo Beach murders. He is charged with the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, whose bodies were discovered wrapped in burlap near Gilgo Beach on Long Island's South Shore in December 2010. Their remains were found within close proximity to one another, approximately within a quarter-mile radius. Additionally, the death of a fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, is believed to be linked to the same case.
Heuermann was arrested in his Manhattan office, but his presence had evoked mixed reactions among his neighbors in Massapequa Park. Some saw him as an ordinary commuter in a suit, while others viewed him as a menacing figure. Heuermann was observed glowering at neighbors while swinging an ax in the front yard of a dilapidated house, causing parents to caution their children to avoid the property on Halloween. Furthermore, he was once reportedly kicked out of a Whole Foods store.
Why was Rex Heuermann kicked out of Whole Foods?
A neighbor, Tara Alonso, shared a disturbing encounter she had with Heuermann at the Whole Foods store where she works in Long Island. Speaking to Daily Mail, she said Heuermann stole oranges from the store's kids' club, where parents leave their children while they shop. "He took three and put them in his pocket, then he took more," said Alonso. After a few more rounds, she called him out. "I said, ‘Sir, those are for the kids,'" she recalled.
Alonso claims he retorted, "If I was wearing a suit like I wear most days, you wouldn't be talking to me like this." She stated that Heuermann started yelling and became so agitated that the manager had to escort him out of the store, holding five or six oranges in his hands. After that incident, she did not encounter him again until she saw his face on TV during his arrest on Friday, July 14. "My co-worker said, 'That’s the orange guy!,'" she revealed.
'He was somebody you don’t want to approach'
Other neighbors also had unpleasant encounters with Heuermann. "We would cross the street," neigbor Nicholas Ferchaw told the NY Times. "He was somebody you don’t want to approach." He continued, "I wasn’t surprised at all — because of all the creepiness." One time, when he greeted Heuermann as he was cutting wood, he received a silent, intimidating glare in response. Another neighbor, Mike Schmidt, had jokingly speculated, "He probably has bodies there" when he looked at Heuermann's rundown house.
