A man who lived next door to Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann has revealed his neighbour’s alleged “creep” behaviour.
Mr Heuermann, 59, is charged with the murders of Amber Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy, all sex workers in their 20s who vanished between 2007 and 2010 and whose bodies were found along a stretch of a remote highway in Gilgo Beach. He is also the prime suspect in Maureen Brainard- Barnes’s killing.
The alleged murderer lived in Massapequa Park, near the sites where some of the victims were last seen, with his wife and two adult children. He also worked as the president of his architecture consulting firm located in Midtown Manhattan.
Etienne Devilliers, a longtime neighbour of Mr Heuermann, has since revealed that he had “bizarre and strange” interactions with Mr Heuermann. The one that jumps out to him the most, Mr Devilliers recalled on Fox & Friends, was the time nearly three decades ago when he confronted the disgraced architect for allegedly leering over the fence as his wife sunbathed.
“My wife would sunbathe in the backyard occasionally ... but he would stand over the fence because he was a tall guy. … He would constantly say he was 6’4’’, 250 pounds, and he would try to start conversations with her,” Mr Devilliers recounted. “My wife finally told me a few times that she was getting creeped out a bit by him.”
Mr Devilliers said that he had a heated conversation with the accused serial killer, but the latter ultimately stopped trying to make conversation with his wife.
Mr Heuermann had made a similar impression on other neighbours, Mr Devilliers claimed on Fox & Friends.
This booking image provided by Suffolk County Sheriffâs Office, shows Rex Heuermann, a Long Island architect who was charged Friday, July 14, 2023, with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders.— (AP)
“People would stay away from his house. I mean, they would literally cross the street because the house was such a mess,” he said. “He tried to buddy up because he wanted some friends. Nobody in the neighbourhood ever talked to the guy.
“The house was a mess, but he stayed to himself, pretty much. So, he asked me to play cards and tried to buddy up a couple of times, but I kind of stayed away from him.”
But despite his “strange” interactions with Mr Heuermann, Mr Devilliers said he wasn’t expecting his neighbour to be linked to crimes of such a violent nature. Even during that confrontation so many years ago, Mr Devilliers said, Mr Heuermann did not come off as aggressive.
“When I had that altercation with him, I basically threatened him to stop leering at my wife. He backed off,” Mr Devilliers said. “The violence thing I didn’t see coming because he didn’t come off violent. I mean, he was strange to look at, enormous. But he never became more violent to me or to anybody that I could tell.”
Mr Devilliers said he felt very sorry for Mr Heuermann’s family, describing the suspect’s daughter as a “nice young girl” and his stepson as a “sweet kid.”
He also claims he was interviewed by detectives, who confided in him that Mr Heuermann had kept a metal safe in his basement in which he stored his guns.
Mr Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all the murder charges against him. The Independent has reached out to his attorneys with the allegations made by Mr Devilliers.
Over the weekend, a trove of 200 to 300 firearms were seized from the suspect’s home – a home he has lived in his whole life and which is located just a 20-minute drive from Gilgo Beach where the killer dumped the bodies of his victims. He had legal permits for 92 guns, police previously said.
Authorities search the home of suspect Rex Heuermann, Tuesday, July 18, 2023, in Massapequa Park, N.Y— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Authorities search the home of suspect Rex Heuermann, Tuesday, July 18, 2023, in Massapequa Park, N.Y— (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Police are investigating whether Mr Heuermann is behind the murders of seven other victims whose bodies were found along the shores of Gilgo Beach.
An NYPD official told ABC News the 59-year-old is being looked at in connection to missing persons cases and murders across all five boroughs of New York City.
Investigators further afield are also exploring potential links between the serial killer suspect and other unsolved murders out of state, after it emerged that Mr Heuermann has ties to South Carolina and Las Vegas.
The married father-of-two’s DNA has been entered into a statewide database and his alleged MO is being compared to other cases – including those during the period he was allegedly active in Gilgo Beach.
