Convicted Murderer Of Sex Workers Was In Rex Heuermann's Google Sights: Court Docs

MASSAPEQUA PARK, NY — Of the more than 200 Google searches Rex Heuermann conducted, one stood out, pointedly naming a Manorville man convicted in the cold case murders of two sex workers and later thought to be connected to the Gilgo Beach slayings himself.

Before his arrest Thursday, Heuermann obsessively searched for information on the Gilgo case, authorities said.

The 59-year-old architect with a penchant for furniture-making posed questions, asking the search engine why the killer hasn't been caught and why law enforcement could not trace the calls made by the "long island serial killer."

His searches between March 2022 and June 2023 were “related to active and known serial killers, the specific disappearances and murders of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, and the investigation into their murders,” Chief Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Allen Bode wrote in his request for remanding him without bail.

Heuermann not only typed in the names of Waterman, Barthelemy, and Brainard-Barnes, he searched for the family members of Barthelemy and Waterman.

One name stood out on the list of searches: The partially-misspelled name of convicted murderer John Bittrolff, as John Bitroff [sic].

Bittrolff, a 57-year-old former carpenter, was convicted six years ago of two counts of second-degree murder in the killings of Rita Tangredi, 31, of East Patchogue, and Colleen McNamee, 20, of Holbrook. Bittrolff is serving a 50-year to life prison sentence, upstate at Clinton Correctional Facility, according to the state’s Department of Correctional Services.

Tangredi’s body was found in 1993 in a wooded area off of Esplanade Drive in East Patchogue, and McNamee’s the following year in 1994, in a wooded area south of the Long Island Expressway in Shirley, prosecutors said.

Both of the naked and mutilated women were strangled and suffered blunt-force trauma to their heads, according to prosecutors.

After the verdict came in, then Suffolk District Attorney Thomas Spota said: "The families of these women have been through an agonizing, long wait for justice, and during the trial they had to endure graphic testimony about the death of their loved one."

"We hope the verdict today gives them some semblance of peace," he said.

Bittrolff would have been around 27 at the time of the murders. He was tracked down by DNA evidence linked to his brother, who got a traffic ticket.

After Bittrolff’s sentencing, Assistant District Attorney Robert Biancavilla told reporters that he might be connected to the death of at least one of the 10 people found buried at Gilgo Beach, CBS news reported.

Biancavilla said that the remains of some of the victims"may be attributed to the handiwork of Mr. Bittrolff" and that the investigation was ongoing, according to the outlet.

Patch has reached out for comment to attorney Jonathan Manley, who represented Bittrolff in his trial.

In response to Biancavilla’s comment, Manley said that prosecutors never mentioned any connection between Bittrolff and Gilgo Beach throughout the trial, Fox News reported.

"This was never mentioned before," Manley told the outlet. "This is a serious accusation with absolutely no factual basis. Mr. Bittrolff maintains his innocence in the deaths of Ms. Tangredi and Ms. McNamee and any insinuation that he had anything to do with the Gilgo killings is laughable and meant simply to attract headlines."

Biancavilla will "significantly impede the prosecution by immediately creating reasonable doubt," whenever the killer, or killers, are apprehended, Manley told the outlet.

The searches of Heuermann, who told an interviewer last year that he practices in his father’s workshop, included phrases like, "Long Island killer," and touched on the phone call made, updates, and used phrases like, "FBI active serial killers," "Serial Killers by State 2023," "Map of all known serial killers," and "unsolved serial killer cases."

He also queried: "America’s 5 most notorious old cases," "11 Currently Active Serial Killers," and "8 Terrifying Active Serial Killers (We Can’t Find)."

He also searched news articles, like "Cops launch Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force," "Mapping the Long Island Murder Victims," and "Inside the Long Island Serial Killer and Gilgo Beach."

Other articles included, "The Gilgo Beach Killer | Criminal Minds" and "In Long Island serial killer investigation, new phone technology may be key to break in case."

His other Google searches centered on sadomasochistic and fetish pornography that involved the beating and rape of young girls and women.

Heuermann was charged with three counts each of first-and second-degree murder in the deaths of Waterman, Barthelemy, and Costello.

Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said Friday that he remains a prime suspect in the death of Brainard-Barnes.

In his request for no bail, Bode said it was "based on the serious, heinous nature of these serial murders" and the only way to "ensure" his "return to court."

Heuermann, who is on suicide watch, remains in the custody of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s office, spokeswoman said.

She declined to say where for security reasons.

Lisa Finn contributed additional reporting to this story.