Gilgo Beach Killing Suspect 'Not On Radar': Victims' Families Lawyer

RIVERSIDE, NY — Rex Heuermann, the Massapequa Park man charged Friday in connection with the Gilgo Beach killings, was not on the victims' radar before his arrest, attorney John Ray, who was hired by victims' families, told reporters outside the Riverside courtroom where he was arraigned.

Heuermann was charged with six murder counts in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello.

"We do know that this man was not on the radar for many people," Ray said.

Ray learned of the Thursday night arrest of the 59-year-old Heuermann in New York City on Friday morning.

"This is just the beginning," he said. "This is just the very edge of a great bigger body of water, shall we say? "

He said he believes that Heuermann has killed others whose bodies have not been yet found, and credited police for taking a positive step in the investigation.

"There are other killers and we're hoping that the police will stay as active now that this has happened as we've asked for them to do in the past," he said. "So I'm happy after a great deal of work, and maybe partial justice will be finally accomplished here on earth."

Here are some of the finer points he touched on:

1. There was never any "inference" that there was an architect involved, but there was "a good deal of evidence that somebody connected with the Massapequa/Massapequa Park area was involved.

Ray said there was prostitution in the motels in the area, and at least one of the calls made from Barthelemy's phone to her sister by the killer pinged off of a tower in Massapequa.

"So, we kept investigating the South Shore and anybody connected with the South Shore in that area," he said.

2. Ray's office has amassed a vast database of evidence with one room devoted entirely to Shannan Gilbert, the product of over 30,000 hours of work.

3. The name "Rex" does turn up in his database, though his staffers do not know if it's the same person. "It's hard to say," he said.

4. The police caught one suspect, but Ray believes there are others out there, and rings could be involved.

There are sex rings that have operated in Buffalo, where Barthelemy was from, and they connect to California, he said.

"We think that there needs to be far more investigation and maybe the dam will have broken with this fellow," Ray said. "We don't know what his involvement is. Is there a ring?"

5. One of the connections in the case that Ray uncovered in his investigation is that a former co-worker of Barthelemy's, Amanda Wienchowski, was found dead in 2008. Wienchowski, a sex worker and a drug addict, was found naked and frozen upside in a garbage can with a tarp placed on her, but police labeled her death as accidental, he said.

Heuermann pleaded not guilty to murder charges in connection with the deaths of Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello, and will be held in detention pending the outcome of his case.

His attorney, Michael Brown of Central Islip, told Patch that his client told him that he was innocent.

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