A former Long Island escort who used to date accused Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann said he “got out” when he spoke about his victims.
In an interview with the New York Daily News about a decade ago, Nicole Brass, 34, said when she was “dating” Heuermann, he would make small talk about the then relatively new and unsolved murders.
“He asked me if I was a real crime fiction fan… We talked briefly about other serial killers, then he said, ‘Have you heard about the Gilgo Beach murders? That’s when he got really weird.”
Heuermann then tried to lure the companion, who was suffering from an opioid addiction at the time, back into a private affair.
Heuermann was arrested last week and charged with the murders of three of 11 victims found on a deserted patch of land near Gilgo Beach, Long Island.
Suffolk County prosecutors expect to charge him in connection with at least one of the other murders. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Former escort Nicole Brass, 34, discussed her date with accused Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann, who recalled excitedly telling her details about the mysterious 2015 murders
Heuermann, 59, is accused of killing three of the 11 Gilgo Beach victims. He is currently being held without bail in the Suffolk County Jail
She said she met Heuermann through a site like BackPage – a site for escorts. He wanted to meet her in a hotel room near Massapequa Park.
“At the time I was in my early 20s, addicted and not really thinking about safety. I’ve been thinking about getting money. So I dated wealthy men and let them pay me for my time.’
Brass said she wouldn’t sit well with just the two of them, so she asked to go to dinner instead.
“He said he would get a room. “I wasn’t comfortable with not meeting in public or somewhere I didn’t know, so I talked him into meeting me in Port Jeff,” she said.
They met at the Steamroom, a seafood restaurant in Port Jefferson, where they made small talk around the table.
“In the beginning he seemed completely normal. “He talked about his job and just seemed normal — until he brought up the Gilgo Beach murders,” she said.
‘He brought [the Gilgo Beach murders] get up on your own.’
She said the accused killer spoke more vividly about the mysterious murders, addressing several details that Brass, who had been following the cases, had not heard about.
“I was following the case and he mentioned one of the girls I hadn’t heard of. It seemed like he was talking about it from experience, not a point of view,” she said.
Suffolk County Police and police recruits search a stretch of beach near where human remains were found more than a decade ago
A general view of Gilgo Beach on July 18, 2023 in Babylon, New York
An aerial view of Heuermann’s Massapequa home, where suitcase trucks and investigators have been parked for the past few days to collect evidence
Brass spoke about being incredibly disturbed by the conversation she had with Heuermann in 2015. “It didn’t strike me as someone who felt bad about talking about the victims.” “It seemed like someone who really wanted to brag about what they did but couldn’t,” she said
She added that the Manhattan architect apparently lacked empathy for the dead women and was positively elated by their deaths.
“It didn’t come across as someone feeling bad talking about the victims. “It seemed like someone who really wanted to brag about what they did but couldn’t,” Brass said.
“As he spoke, his body language changed, his gaze changed, and it seemed like he enjoyed talking about the victims.”
“As he talked about it, it was almost like he was imagining it in his head and coming to what he was saying.”
The former companion said that overall she found the experience extremely unsettling and decided to finish the dinner as soon as possible.
“The way he talked about it was really weird and it gave me a bad gut feeling.” I was so scared by the end. “I didn’t try to keep going through dinner after that,” she recalls.
After the meal, Heuermann tried to convince Brass to leave her car in the parking lot and join him in the room he had booked. She said he was upset when she refused.
“He was like: Leave your car; cum in mine He was very insistent that I leave my car. “Looking back, he didn’t want to kill someone and get rid of their car,” she said.
An entrance to Gilgo Beach, taken July 18, 2023. Nearby, Rex Heuermann is said to have buried nearly a dozen victims over the years
Crime scene investigators continue to work almost around the clock at Heuermann’s Long Island home
New York State Police officers stand guard as police search the home of Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann in Massapequa Park, New York, July 18, 2023
A few years later, Brass told a friend of her fiancé about the repulsive encounter.
The friend, Francis Donoghue, confirmed Brass’s story to the News and said Heuermann’s arrest last week was “quite shocking”.
“It’s actually quite an amazing thing for it to be verified in this way.”
Brass said she never contacted authorities about her suspicions about Heuermann, as she was paroled for a drug-related offense at the time.
“I’m a felon and I had a history and didn’t want to get involved with the police.” I think he targeted girls who were addicts or had a criminal record, or anyone who was less likely to have them talked to the police.
“When I saw he was arrested I was almost relieved but I also thought – holy shit I was right.” “Maybe I should have spoken to the police but I knew they wouldn’t listen to me,” she said.