Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann once “followed his colleague onto a cruise ship to demonstrate his hunting skills,” the former colleague claimed.
Muriel Henriquez told CBS’ Erin Moriarty in an upcoming 48 Hours special about her former boss: “Going shooting, hunting was what it was.” [his] Dedication.’
Heuermann, 59, is charged with first- and second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of the three victims, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
Authorities said he was also the “prime suspect” in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes and, as of last week, he was no longer under investigation in connection with the 1989 killing of sex worker Carmen Vargas.
Henriquez claims the alleged serial killer wanted to know where she was going on her 40th birthday cruise.
‘[I told him]”I’ll be in the middle of the ocean, and you won’t find me in the middle of the ocean.” And he said, “Oh yes, I can do that,” she claimed.
Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann once “followed his colleague onto a cruise ship to demonstrate his hunting skills,” the former colleague claimed
On the second day of her trip, she claims to have found a white envelope under her door with a note from her former boss.
“The note said, ‘I told you I could find you anywhere,'” she claims.
The revelation comes following the shocking discoveries of Costello, Waterman and Barthelemy, as well as the arrest of Heuermann in connection with the murders.
All three women were found wrapped in burlap in 2010 along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo State Park, just minutes from the 59-year-old father of two’s home.
In a separate teaser for the upcoming show, an expert said burlap was the calling card of a “hunter.”
Last week, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office confirmed that Heuermann is also being investigated for a 1989 murder.
Vargas’ family said there were “too many similarities” to the deaths of the other Gilgo Beach sex workers.
“I think he did. “I think he did it when he started killing,” Felicita Figueroa, Vargas’ niece, told the Sun on Wednesday.
Figueroa was just 12 years old when Vargas was last seen being picked up by a man outside the family apartment in East Harlem that night in 1989.
“She got into a dark car,” Figueroa told PIX11 News. “I could tell it was a white man with glasses.”
Vargas was later found dumped on the side of Meadowbrook Parkway, just seven miles from Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park. Her body was beaten and bound.
The suspect was believed to be Long Island serial killer Joel Rifkin, who denied this in 1993, although he admitted to 17 other murders.
“Joel Rifkin said, ‘That’s not me.’ This is not my job.’ “But we thought it was him, so we let it die,” Figueroa said.
She contacted an investigator from Murder Inc., which investigated the Gilgo Beach murders and published the findings under a pseudonym.
“For me, location is always the most important factor,” said the editor.
“It’s much more important than MO. A serial killer can change the way he does things.” There is no rule that serial killers have to do things the same way every time. You can change it.’
Heuermann is currently under investigation in connection with the 1989 murder of sex worker Carmen Vargas, whose body was found tied up near Heuermann’s home
After founding his architectural firm in 1994, Heuermann built a successful career in Manhattan before his dramatic arrest in July
The 59-year-old is said to have made mocking calls to the families of his victims from his architectural office on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue (pictured).
Heuermann’s dramatic arrest outside his office on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue on July 13 was the result of a decades-long hunt for notorious serial killer Gilgo Bach.
Heuermann counted Nike, American Airlines and Target among his clients during his three-decade career as an architect, while he also allegedly strangled three women and taunted their families with phone calls – often purportedly from his New York office.
The first remains were found along the coastal strip in December 2010, when the body of 24-year-old Barthelemy was discovered during a search for another missing woman, Shannan Gilbert, 23.
Two days later, cops realized they might be dealing with a maniacal serial killer when three more remains were discovered – those of Brainard-Barnes, Costello and Waterman.
The bodies were found along a half-mile stretch of Gilgo Beach, where several other bodies were also found – some of which police are still investigating to determine whether Heuermann had anything to do with them.
The three women he was accused of killing and the woman he is suspected of killing were all found wrapped in camouflaged burlap and working as escorts on Craigslist, officials said.
Heuermann’s arrest in July outside his Manhattan office came after a decade-long hunt for the Gilgo Beach serial killer. He first landed on investigators’ radar in March 2022
A map shows where the victims’ remains were located along the barren stretch of Ocean Beach Parkway in Gilgo Beach on Long Island’s south shore
After his dramatic arrest, Heuermann’s dilapidated home in Massapequa Park on Long Island was searched by forensic investigators
For days, emergency services searched the house, including the backyard, for further evidence. Heuermann’s family recently criticized police for tearing apart their property
Investigators alleged that after Barthelemy’s disappearance, taunting calls were made to her family in which a man described in grim detail how he had sexually abused and killed her.
The sickening phone calls were used by police after he was first released as a suspect in March 2022.
According to documents filed in court, investigators were investigating Costello’s murder this month, where a witness spotted a Chevrolet Avalanche at the time of the murder.
After Heuermann was identified as the owner of a vehicle that matched the one seen at the scene, police issued over 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal actions to obtain additional evidence – including his cellphone records.
Through Heuermann’s American Express records, police were able to link him to a Tinder account in which he used a pseudonym, his middle name, Andy. This account was linked to one of his many burner phones.
He was known to use a number of burner cell phones, and as recently as this year he was said to have used one of these phones “extensively for prostitution-related contacts,” including to sex workers and massage parlors.
In January, police under surveillance discovered a pizza box he had thrown into a trash can in Manhattan.
They were able to match the DNA from the leftover cake to a sample taken from the burlap sack in which the killer hid Waterman’s body.
Police say Brenner’s cellphones and the victim’s phones placed Heuermann in the area where the victims were found at the time of their disappearance and near his office in midtown Manhattan when phone calls were made, including the taunting one Call from Barthelemy.
In January, while under police surveillance, police recovered a pizza box that Heurmann had thrown into a trash can in Manhattan and used it to obtain his DNA
Heuermann’s distraught family has returned to their Long Island home and criticized police for tearing it apart in their search for evidence
New York State Police removed a massive shipment of weapons from Heuermann’s Long Island home during their investigation in July
One of the burners allegedly used by Heuermann showed extremely sexually graphic internet research on sexual assault and torture.
While using an email address used by Heuermann, he regularly googled to look for updates on the Long Island serial killer case, including podcasts and documentaries.
The case has attracted widespread public attention. The mystery made national headlines for many years and the unsolved murders were the subject of the 2020 Netflix film “Lost Girls.”
Determining who killed her and why has angered a number of veteran homicide detectives amid several changes in police leadership.
Last year, a multi-agency task force was formed with investigators from the FBI and state and local law enforcement agencies to solve the case.
The investigator tasked with tracking down the killer for years, former police chief James Burke, was convicted in recent months for his handling of the case.
After his arrest, forensic investigators searched Heuermann’s home and recovered a number of items, including a freezer and a huge shipment of firearms.
Heuermann’s soon-to-be ex-wife Asa Ellerup found their Massapequa Park home in complete disarray when investigators launched an extensive search following his arrest.
She and her two adult children left the house immediately on police orders, leaving them no time to find their pets in the chaos.
In the end, they had to sleep in a rental car for days until they were allowed to go home – and have been living in a “wake horror show” ever since.
Asa Ellerup and her two adult children. They left the house immediately on police orders, meaning they had no time to find their pets amid the chaos
The family spends more and more time on their front yard because investigators have left the house “uninhabitable.”
The interior of their home is said to be covered in debris from the search, said lawyer Vess Mitev
Melissa Moore, the daughter of serial killer Keith Jesperson, met with Ellerup to offer her support – and told the Sun US that police had sent the family’s cats to a kill shelter.
Rex’s son Christopher, who has learning difficulties, was able to locate his service dog Stewie before they were shunned from the property – but they were unable to find their two cats.
Moore said: “They assumed the police would look after the animals because they left the house without notice.”
“The authorities immediately caught the cats and sent them to a killing center.”
Thanks to her lawyers, Ellerup and her children were finally able to find their cats and bring them home.
Moore added, “Attorneys representing Asa learned that her animals were in a shelter and arranged for them to be removed before they could be euthanized.”
Etienne de Villiers, 68, who lives next door to the family, said the family had spent more and more time on the front lawn of their home since the man’s arrest because investigators had declared the house “uninhabitable.”
The interior is said to be covered with debris from the search, said lawyer Vess Mitev.
Villiers told the NYTimes: “They’re having barbecues on the front lawn – they’ve never done anything like this before. ‘Suddenly they’re out there all the time.’