Gilgo Beach murders: Investigators vet 15 'credible' reports of escort encounters with alleged serial killer
LONG ISLAND - Suffolk County officials tell FOX 5 NY that jail investigators have obtained 15 reports from sex workers who may have encountered the alleged serial killer Rex Heuermann.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. says they've interviewed nearly 300 escorts since Heuermann's arrest in July 2023.
The New York architect was most recently charged with killing two women who were long suspected of being the victims of men preying on sex workers.
The "Gilgo Four" clockwise from top left: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. The background shows a wooden cross in the marsh next to Gilgo Beach, N.Y., where their remains were found in the brush just yar
He was previously accused of killing four other women, one of whom was headed to Manhattan for sex work, and never came back.
Most of the Gilgo Beach murder victims were young female escorts.
The details of the encounters are still unknown at this time and the investigation remains ongoing.
Heuermann is due back in court on July 30.
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Who were the Gilgo Beach murder victims?
Most of the victims were young women who had been sex workers. Several of the bodies were found near the town of Gilgo Beach.
The 'Gilgo Four'
The bodies of the "Gilgo Four" were located within a quarter-mile of one another near Gilgo Beach in December 2010.
In 2022, Suffolk County Police released new information on victims Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello, including personal information and their latest known whereabouts.
Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old sex worker, vanished on May 1, 2010. A police officer and his cadaver dog were looking for her body in the thicket along nearby Ocean Parkway when they happened upon the remains of a different woman. Within days, three other bodies were found, all within a short walk of one another.
Gilbert's disappearance and search is what ultimately led to the discovery of several remains in the area.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, was working as a sex worker before she went missing.
Melissa Barthelemy, 24, last seen at her home in the Bronx, was a sex worker.
Megan Waterman, 22, was also a sex worker last seen by her family boarding a New York-bound Concord Trailways bus in Maine, possibly with her pimp.
Amber Lynn Costello, 27, was a sex worker who advertised on Craigslist and Backpage to support her and her roommates’ heroin addiction.