A wealthy architect has been charged with murdering three women linked to the unsolved killings of 11 people, which was the subject of the Netflix film Lost Girls.
Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested as the prime suspect in the historical Gilgo Beach murders – in which human remains were found along a New York beach highway more than a decade ago.
He is charged with the murder of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27, whose remains were discovered during the search for another missing female in 2010.
He pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
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A man has been charged with murdering three women linked to the unsolved killings of 11 people.
It is believed 11 individuals fell victim to the murders, many young female sex workers. Their remains were discovered in 2010 and 2011.
The New York-based architect lives in Massapequa, a community in Long Island around 15 miles away from where the victim’s remains were found.
Detectives who tailed the suspect recovered DNA from a pizza crust he threw away, then matched it to a hair found on a restraint used in the killings, police said.
Another key part of what led to his arrest was his car – a Chevrolet Avalanche – which a witness said the killer was driving after the disappearance of Ms Costello, according to NBC.
Image: (L-R) Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello. Pic: Suffolk County Police
Heuermann was taken into custody late on Thursday after his house was raided by police. His “first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche” was also towed away from the scene, NBC reported.
“Ladies and gentlemen, Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us – a predator that ruined families,” Suffolk County police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said.
Police also believed that the suspect was from Long Island because of a mobile phone tower ping – which came from Ms Barthelemy’s phone after her death.
A man who said he was the killer used the phone to call and taunt Ms Barthelemy’s sister after she had disappeared in 2009.
Image: Selfies which appear to have been taken by Rex Heuermann. Pics: Suffolk County Court
The individual allegedly claimed to have killed Ms Barthelemy, related details of her murder and made sexually explicit comments down the phone.
It was previously reported that the same phone briefly pinged off a tower in the town of Massapequa – where Heuermann lives.
Image: Heuermann was seen on CCTV at a mobile phone shop in Manhattan on 19 May 2023. Pic: Suffolk County Court
The Gilgo Beach investigation began after police launched a search for 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert following her disappearance in the coastal community of Oak Beach in 2010.
The body of a different woman – Ms Barthelemy – was then discovered by a police dog and officer during the search. Within days, three other bodies were found, all within a short distance of one another.
The victims included Ms Waterman, Ms Costello and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
Several of the bodies were found in thickets along the sandy stretch of land.
By 2011, police had discovered four additional sets of human remains, those of Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, 24, a female toddler and an unidentified Asian man.
Ms Gilbert’s remains were finally discovered in December 2011, 5km (3 miles) east of the other discoveries.
Image: (L-R) Shannan Gilbert, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack. Pic: Suffolk County Police
Police were left puzzled as to how the victims were killed, and in 2020, the unsolved murders became the subject of the Netflix film “Lost Girls”.
Heuermann’s charges come after a task force, made up of the FBI, New York State Police and Suffolk County authorities was set up in February 2020 to “reinvigorate” the investigation.
In May 2022, police released 911 audio related to Ms Gilbert’s disappearance. She initially called police from inside the home of a client shortly before 5am.
“There is somebody after me,” she told the dispatcher multiple times. “Somebody’s after me – please,” she said.
On Friday morning, the district attorney said there had been a “significant development in the case” but declined to comment any further.
Neighbours of Heuermann told NBC that the family “kept to themselves” and were “like loners”.
Patrica Maressa, 64, said Heuermann lived in the home with his wife, a son and a daughter. He worked at a Manhattan architecture firm and was a member of an NYC-based networking group known as The Dream Team, NBC reported.
Buckingham Palace previously only said the visit would happen “when diaries allow”, but Mr Trump told reporters on Thursday: “I think they are setting a date for September.”
“I don’t know how it can be bigger than the last one,” he said.
“The last one was incredible, but they say the next one will be even more important.”
Image: Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump the invite earlier this year. Pic: PA
Mr Trump will become the only elected political leader in modern times to be invited to two state visits by a British monarch.
The president called the UK a “great country” in his comments at the White House on Thursday and said it was “an honour to be a friend of King Charles and the family, William”.
His first state visit was in 2019, when he was hosted by the late Queen.
Second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit usually get tea or lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle, as was the case for George W Bush and Barack Obama.
Image: The president was hosted by the Queen in June 2019. Pic: Reuters
But Mr Trump is set to get all the pomp and ceremony laid on again in his honour – with another state banquet likely at Buckingham Palace.
The Royal Family‘s soft power diplomacy is viewed as a way of currying favour with the president, who’s known for his love of the monarchy and links to the UK through his mother, who was born on the Isle of Lewis in Scotland.
It comes as the government seeks an economic deal with the US, in the hope of potentially lessening the impact of the president’s tariffs.
Four people are in hospital as police deal with an active shooter on a university campus in Florida.
Videos showed people running through traffic, fleeing the scene, around the time of the shooting at the student union at Florida State University’s campus in Tallahassee.
Local police were “on the scene or on the way”, according to an alert sent out by the school and students have been told to “shelter in place”.
The FBI is also said to be responding to the incident.
Image: Florida State University students wait for news amid an active shooter incident at the school.
Pic: AP/Kate Payne
In a statement, Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare said it was “actively receiving and caring for patients” from the incident.
“At this time, details are still unfolding, and we do not yet have specific information to share. However, we want to assure the community that our teams are fully mobilised and prepared to provide the highest level of care and support to all those affected,” it added.
President Donald Trump said he was fully briefed on the incident and described it as “a shame”.
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He added: “It’s a horrible thing. Horrible that things like this take place.”
Florida governor Ron DeSantis, in a statement posted on X, said: “Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding.”
Ambulances, fire trucks and police vehicles raced to the campus around midday local time (5pm UK time) on Thursday.
As students streamed away from the area of the student union in their hundreds, some were visibly emotional and others were glued to their phones.
Dozens later gathered near the university’s music school, waiting for news.
Florida State University student Daniella Streety told NBC News of the chaos that unfolded at the scene.
She remained on lockdown in a campus building and said: “I did see them carry out one student in what looked like on a stretcher and kept them in the road until an ambulance was able to pick them up.”
Joshua Sirmans, 20, was in the university’s main library when he said alarms began going off warning of an active shooter.
Police escorted him and other students out of the library with their hands over their heads, he said.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
A US federal judge has warned that he could hold the Trump administration in contempt for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.
US District Judge James E. Boasberg said he had found “probable cause” to hold the administration in criminal contempt and warned he could refer the matter for prosecution if it does not “purge” its contempt.
If the government doesn’t purge the contempt, charges could be brought forward by the Justice Department, NBC News reported.
And if the executive-led Justice Department refused to prosecute the matter, Judge Boasberg said he would appoint another attorney to prosecute the contempt.
Mr Boasberg said the administration could “purge contempt by returning those who were sent to El Salvador prison, in violation of his order, to the US.
This, he said, “might avail themselves of their right to challenge their removability”.
“The Constitution does not tolerate wilful disobedience of judicial orders – especially by officials of a coordinate branch who have sworn an oath to uphold it,” the judge wrote.
Executive vs judicial
This marks a notable escalation in the ongoing tensions between the judicial and executive branches of the US government during Donald Trump’s second term.
Parts of the US president’s legislative programme have been halted by judges, as the administration strains against the restraints of the separation of powers.
Mr Trump previously called for Judge Boasberg to be impeached while the Justice Department claimed he overstepped his authority – both reflecting the administration’s attempts to overcome perceived obstacles to the implementation of its agenda.
Mr Trump’s administration has also argued it did not violate any orders.
It claimed the judge didn’t include a turnaround directive in his written order and said the planes had already left the US by the time the order came down.
‘Administrative error’
At the heart of the legal wrangling is Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was sent to El Salvador by the Trump administration in March despite an immigration court order preventing his deportation.
Washington acknowledged that Mr Garcia was deported due to an “administrative error”.
The US Supreme Court has called on the administration to facilitate his return, upholding a court order by Judge Paula Xinis, but Trump officials have claimed that Mr Garcia has ties to the MS-13 gang.
Image: Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Pic: CASA/AP
Mr Garcia’s lawyers have argued there is no evidence of this.
This all comes after El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele visited the White House earlier this week.
During his time with Mr Trump, Mr Bukele said that he would not return Mr Garcia, likening it to smuggling “a terrorist into the United States.”
Image: The US and El Salvador presidents in the Oval Office.
Pic: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
Along with Mr Garcia, the Trump administration has deported hundreds of people, mostly Venezuelans, whom it claims are gang members without presenting evidence and without a trial.
Democrat senator travels to El Salvador
Meanwhile, Democratic senator Chris Van Hollen arrived in El Salvador on Wednesday, saying he would seek a meeting with the country’s officials to secure Mr Garcia’s release.
“I just arrived in San Salvador a little while ago and look forward to meeting with the US embassy team to discuss Mr. Abrego Garcia’s release,” Mr Van Hollen said on social media.
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