LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: Rex Heuermann, the suspected serial killer behind the gruesome Gilgo Beach murders of the three women, may have learned his tactics to stay away from the investigation radar by watching the 'CSI' TV show. According to Richard Dormer, the police commissioner for Suffolk County, "Anyone who watches these shows on TV, they are very familiar with police investigative techniques."
The remains of one male transvestite, one little girl, and eight women right from 1996 were discovered along a strip of Ocean Parkway situated near Gilgo Beach. The murderer who attempted to remove an identifying tattoo from one of the victims wrapped the dismembered body parts of the adults in plastic or burlap and scattered the pieces around the area, according to Radar Online.
How did Rex Heuermann evade capture?
Speaking of the killer's attempt to leave the remains in a way they could not be identified, former New York City detective Vernon Geberth said, "The two bodies they found inland, they were beheaded and their hands were removed and dumped separately — that was so the victims couldn't be identified."
"We have remains from the same body found near Gilgo Beach and over 40 miles away in Manorville. We have remains found off Ocean Parkway connected to two legs found nearly 20 miles away at David Park on Fire Island," said Geberth who wrote the textbook Sex-Related Homicide And Death Investigation.
"And there was a toddler connected to the remain of a female found miles away. We believe they were mother and daughter. The Asian male was a small-type person wearing women's clothes. Our theory is that he may have been involved in the sex trade," he added.
Heuermann, who is suspected in the serial killings, evaded capture for more than a decade with his planned attempt to mislead investigators by scattering the evidence. Five of the women have been identified as Jessica Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
'He could just be watching CSI'
Heuermann's calls to his victims did not last more than three minutes. He used his victim Barthelemy's cell phone to call her sister Amanda, 16. He tried keeping her on the line for several calls by pretending her sister was alive.
Criminal profiler Louis Schlesinger previously told the outlet Heuermann "was careful enough so that the calls couldn't be traced by the police techs," and added that "The person could be a cop, or someone familiar with the procedure, or he could just be watching CSI."
All the adult victims were reportedly sex workers whose contacts were available through the Craigslist Internet site. The women were contacted using throw-away phones so the killer was not traced by investigators. "On a CSI show, we talk about things that we do to solve crimes. We talk about the things we do to keep crime scenes from being contaminated," said former cop Larry Mitchell, an adviser for the CSI series.
On Thursday, July 13, Heuermann was taken into custody in connection to the death of Costello, Waterman, and Barthelemy. The other three victims were found in December 2010 in Gilgo Beach. He pleaded not guilty to charges of three counts of murder in the first degree and three counts of murder in the second degree. If convicted of the charges, Heuermann will face life in prison without parole.
