Everything We Know About The Long Island Serial Killer
This riveting case is full of lurid twists and turns. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re going over everything we know about the Long Island Serial Killer. For this video, we'll discuss the victims, how it all began, and what will happen to the killer.
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00:00He liked to shock people. He was interested in power games.
00:05Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're going over everything we know about the Long Island serial killer.
00:10Still, she says she saw nothing alarming about the Rex Huerman she saw daily.
00:16While it's unclear exactly how long this serial killer has been active,
00:20the investigation essentially started on May 1st, 2010, when 24-year-old Shannon Gilbert called 911.
00:27There's somebody after me. Where are you? There's somebody after me.
00:32A sex worker with acting aspirations, Gilbert had just finished seeing a client when she called her driver Michael Pack,
00:39who escorted her to another client's home in Oak Beach.
00:42Hours later, the client, Joseph Brewer, asked Pack to remove Gilbert from the house.
00:47Gilbert appeared troubled, saying, quote,
00:49You guys are trying to kill me.
00:51Hiding behind Brewer's sofa, she made a 23-minute 911 call, again saying, quote,
00:57They are trying to kill me. These people are trying to kill me.
01:01Gilbert fled to the houses of two neighbors, Gus Colletti and Barbara Brennan, both of whom called the police.
01:07By the time the authorities arrived, Gilbert had vanished near Long Island's South Shore.
01:12Hello? Hello?
01:16Months passed without any developments in Gilbert's disappearance until December 11th, 2010.
01:21Searching for Gilbert since that summer,
01:24Officer John Malia and his German Shepherd Blue unearthed human remains in a burlap bag near Ocean Parkway, Long Island.
01:30But it wasn't Shannon.
01:32This wasn't Gilbert, but Melissa Bartholomew, who was last seen at her Bronx apartment on July 12th, 2009.
01:39Her sister Amanda subsequently received numerous vulgar calls from Melissa's phone.
01:44The man on the other line claimed Melissa was dead.
01:47Police believe that the killer may have made several phone calls to the sister of one of the victims
01:52from busy places around New York City.
01:55As the authorities continued to investigate the area where Melissa was uncovered,
01:59they found three other bodies within roughly 500 feet of one another.
02:03Maureen Brainerd Barnes was last heard from on July 9th, 2007.
02:07Megan Waterman disappeared on June 6th, 2010.
02:11And Amber Lynn Costello had been missing since September 2nd, 2010.
02:15Schaller says that when Amber left this house, she walked down this street and he never saw her again.
02:21Deemed the Gilgo Four, the victims were all sex workers in their 20s with similar physical appearances,
02:28some using Craigslist.
02:29The body count didn't end there.
02:31Between March and April 2011, six more victims were discovered,
02:36with their remains spread across Suffolk and Nassau counties.
02:39Only half have been identified, all three sex workers.
02:43Karen Vergata went missing in 1996.
02:46Valerie Mack was last seen by her family in 2000.
02:49And Jessica Taylor vanished in 2003.
02:52Among the unidentified victims were an Asian male,
02:55an African-American woman with a peach tattoo,
02:58and a little one.
02:59Although this investigation started with Shannon Gilbert,
03:02her body wouldn't be discovered on Gilgo Beach until December 13th, 2011,
03:07over a year after her disappearance.
03:10We believe at this time to belong to the missing Shannon Gilbert.
03:14Although Gilbert shared much in common with the Gilgo Four,
03:17the authorities theorized she died from an accidental drowning.
03:21Mary Gilbert, Shannon's mother, believed otherwise,
03:24leading to an independent autopsy suggesting strangulation may have been involved.
03:29Nevertheless, the police weren't convinced that Gilbert
03:32was directly connected to the Long Island serial killer.
03:35Tragedy befell the Gilbert family again in 2016,
03:39when Mary was stabbed to death by one of her other daughters, Sarah.
03:42Sarah Gilbert is charged with second-degree murder in her mother's death.
03:46Living with schizophrenia, Sarah received a 25-year prison sentence in 2017,
03:51while actress Amy Ryan portrayed Mary in the 2020 Netflix film Lost Girls.
03:56Whether or not Shannon Gilbert was a victim of the Long Island serial killer,
04:00the other bodies might not have been found had it not been for her.
04:04If we weren't always on the phone, they may not have ever searched at all.
04:10Like Shannon Gilbert, several other bodies have been discovered
04:13that may or may not be affiliated with the Long Island serial killer.
04:17Tina Elizabeth Foglia could be the serial killer's oldest potential victim,
04:21having disappeared in 1982 with her body found near Robert Moses Causeway,
04:26which leads to Gilgo and Oak Beach.
04:29Andre Jamal Isaac, Natasha Yugo, Tanya Rush, Jamie Diane Seymour,
04:33Jacqueline Ashley Smith, and Patricia Viola are just some of the other possible victims.
04:38Investigators seemingly made a break in the case in 2014
04:42when John Bitterolf was arrested for the murders of Rita Tangretti and Colleen McNamee.
04:47Both victims were sex workers found dead in Suffolk County during the early 90s.
04:51Strong DNA evidence led to Bitterolf's conviction in 2017.
04:56Through this defendant's DNA, he is the killer.
05:00Given Bitterolf's M.O., some suspected he may be the Long Island serial killer.
05:04At least one lawman is saying there's a chance.
05:08There wasn't enough evidence to support this theory, however.
05:11Few other suspects caught the authorities' attention until 2022,
05:15when Rex Andrew Heuermann entered the picture.
05:18Rex Heuermann is a mystery man.
05:21Growing up in Massapequa Park, Long Island, Heuermann wasn't the most popular child.
05:25He was a loner, not many friends.
05:29Despite his difficult upbringing, he became a successful New York architect,
05:33founding RH Consultants and Associates in 1994.
05:37In 1996, he married Asa Ellerup.
05:40Together, they had a daughter named Victoria,
05:43while Heuermann became stepfather to Ellerup's son Christopher.
05:46Heuermann enjoyed hunting, and while some of his acquaintances found him to be a little off,
05:51nobody suspected he was capable of being a serial killer.
05:55This included Heuermann's former high school classmate Billy Baldwin.
05:58Another classmate of Heuermann's, actor Billy Baldwin,
06:02took to social media when the news broke, tweeting,
06:06It was mind-boggling.
06:08Heuermann became the prime suspect after the police connected him to a Chevrolet Avalanche,
06:13the same type of vehicle likely driven by Amber Costello's killer.
06:16He described one of them as looking like an ogre
06:20and having a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche.
06:24Investigating further, the police found that Heuermann had possessed multiple burner phones,
06:29contacting three of the known victims.
06:31And they knew that Maureen, Melissa, and Megan
06:34had all been in contact with burner numbers right before they disappeared.
06:39It's also believed that he was the one who harassed Melissa Bartholomew's sister over the phone.
06:44In addition to the phone records and witness accounts,
06:47the case against Heuermann was strengthened by his internet history.
06:51Not only did Heuermann look up subjects like torture,
06:54he also conducted searches concerning the case, the victims, and their families.
06:58Conducting searches on the task force and the Gilgo victims.
07:03What's more, Heuermann seemingly created a word document or blueprint in 2000,
07:08detailing how to get rid of a body without leaving behind DNA evidence.
07:13A smoking gun came in the form of Little Caesar's pizza crust,
07:16matching Heuermann's DNA to a hair found on the victim.
07:19It was DNA collected from a pizza slice he tossed in a Manhattan trash can
07:25that came back as a match.
07:27In July 2023, the 59-year-old Heuermann was arrested for the murders of Melissa Bartholomew,
07:33Amber Costello, and Megan Waterman.
07:35Plainclothes officers arrested him around the corner from his office.
07:40Heuermann was also a suspect in Maureen Brainerd Barnes's death,
07:43although he wasn't charged with her murder until January 2024.
07:47The district attorney announced that he was being formally
07:50indicted for the murder of a fourth victim.
07:53Through various searches of Heuermann's home,
07:55the authority seized more than 350 electronic devices and over 280 guns,
08:02some of which were unregistered.
08:04Along with the Gilgo 4, Heuermann was charged with two more murders in June 2024,
08:10Jessica Taylor and Sandra Castilla.
08:12Allegedly linked by cutting-edge new DNA testing.
08:15Before Heuermann entered the equation,
08:17the police suspected John Bitterolf might have murdered Castilla,
08:20whose body was found in 1993.
08:23Hair possibly belonging to Asa Ellerup was also taken from crime scenes.
08:27However, the authorities don't believe Ellerup aided Heuermann,
08:31as she was out of town with her children when three of the four murders occurred.
08:35Although prosecutors have evidence that Asa was out of town when those murders occurred,
08:41they will have to explain how those hairs got on the victims.
08:44Just as Heuermann has pleaded not guilty,
08:47Ellerup claims that her husband is quote,
08:49not capable of the crimes he is accused of.
08:52I will listen to all of the evidence and withhold judgment until the end of trial.
08:56Following his arrest though,
08:58Ellerup filed for divorce after more than 20 years together.
09:01Ellerup is currently living with skin and breast cancer,
09:04her health insurance being jeopardized in the wake of Heuermann's arrest.
09:08Moore set up a GoFundMe page for Asa, which raised over $50,000.
09:14Victoria Heuermann, who worked with her father, is now unemployed along with Christopher.
09:19Amid the most recent charges brought against Heuermann,
09:22Ellerup released a statement asking for privacy.
09:44Heuermann is being held at Suffolk County's Riverhead Correctional Facility.
09:51While Heuermann has appeared in court, a trial date is not yet set.
09:55Currently, he faces three counts of first-degree murder and six counts of second-degree murder.
10:00Only time will tell if more charges are brought against Heuermann,
10:04as several other victims could be potentially linked to the case.
10:07Even if Heuermann is proven to be responsible,
10:10some questions may never be answered, including the identities of a few victims
10:15and whether there could be other bodies hidden away.
10:18For the first time in over a decade, though,
10:20this long-drawn-out case might have reached its most crucial turning point.
10:30Have you been following the Long Island serial killer case?
10:33Share your thoughts in the comments.