‘It’s an ideal place’: Secluded area near Rex Heuermann’s home may be harbouring more bodies, says cold case expert
A former NYPD cold case detective has suggested that a secluded stretch of woods situated blocks from the home of alleged Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann may be hiding more bodies. Joseph Giacalone, a retired sergeant from Long Island and author of ‘The Cold Case Handbook,’ has urged authorities to comb the area with cadaver dogs.
Rex Heuermann appears before Judge Timothy P. Mazzei in Suffolk County Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Riverhead, N.Y. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)(AP)
The Massapequa Preserve, a 430-acre expanse of trails that stretches six miles from Merrick Road to the Southern State Parkway, is very close to Rex’s home. It also connects to the two-lane Bethpage State Parkway to the north.
“There is this long, dark road that you can take and you could just pull off on the side of the road, do what you got to do, get back in the car and go,” said Joseph, according to New York Post. “No cameras, nothing like that. No traffic lights. It’s an ideal place.”
‘Serial killers have a cool-off period, but not 10 or 11 years’
The area is reportedly overgrown and secluded like Ocean Parkway, where bodies of three of Rex’s alleged victims were discovered in 2010. Through 2011, more than 10 sets of remains were discovered in the area.
“Usually serial killers have a cool-off period, but not 10 or 11 years,” said Joseph. “It would be kind of unheard of. So it would mean to me that the person would have to find a new place to dispose of his bodies.”
Rex has been arrested as a suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders. The 59-year-old married dad was caught by plainclothes cops as he strolled down a Midtown sidewalk on Thursday night, July 13. Rex hadworked in Midtown for several years at his own company, RH Architecture.
Rex’s arrest is tied to the ‘Gilgo Four,’ referring to the four women whose bodies were found within days of each other in 2010. The women in question were Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
