Gilgo Beach killings: Jail investigators turn over 15 'credible' reports of sex workers' possible encounters with Rex Heuermann

Investigators have forwarded 15 "credible" reports from sex workers who may have had encounters with suspected serial killer Rex A. Heuermann to the Gilgo Beach task force after speaking with nearly 300 Long Island women living behind bars.

Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. told Newsday on Monday his investigators spoke to 298 sex workers in Suffolk and Nassau correctional facilities since Heuermann was arrested in July 2023. The investigators are planning to interview sex workers at New York City’s Rikers Island about Heuermann later this month, he added.

“My staff has been deemed as subject matter experts,” Toulon said. “That is why Nassau and New York City want them to come in and speak to these sex workers.”

Task force investigators will ultimately decide what evidence is relevant and could be used against Heuermann, who has been charged in the deaths of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney has said Heuermann is also a suspect in the slaying of Valerie Mack.

Interviewing incarcerated sex workers could pay dividends, Toulon said, even if they do not have firsthand knowledge about Heuermann, 60, who has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in the deaths of the six women. The incarcerated women might lead investigators to other sex workers who have information about the accused architect from Massapequa Park, who was arrested on July 13 last year.

Toulon said “there is a strong possibility” that some of the reports forwarded to the task force by the Human Trafficking Unit include relevant information but declined to comment further, saying he was reluctant to discuss the ongoing investigation.

The Human Trafficking Unit at the Suffolk jail deemed 15 reports gleaned from those interviews as credible, Toulon said, and passed them along to the Gilgo Beach Task Force, which includes investigators from Suffolk County Police Department, the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office, New York State Police and the FBI, as well as the sheriff’s office.

“There are four other law-enforcement partners involved and we don’t know what all of them have, so bringing all of these pieces of the puzzle together is really, really important,” Toulon said.

Heuermann’s attorney, Michael Brown, did not return a request for comment. Heuermann is scheduled to return to Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on July 30.

Attorney Vess Mitev, who represents the two Heuermann children, said he had no comment on Toulon's comments except to say, "I wish Sheriff Toulon the best in his investigation."

Heuermann was charged in the 2003 dismemberment death of Taylor and the November 1993 slaying of Costilla last month. Suffolk police and task force investigators returned to Heuermann's Massapequa Park home for six days in late April and May to search for more evidence. Investigators are analyzing tape recovered from the basement of the home, a location where they believe he may have killed his victims.

Investigators searched for human remains in the woods surrounding Manorville, a weeklong hunt  Tierney called "a necessary investigative step" in late April and early May.

Toulon said he created the Human Trafficking Unit in 2018 after officials realized that many of the women incarcerated in Suffolk’s jails in Riverhead and Yaphank were victims of trafficking, even if they were not initially arrested on prostitution charges. The unit links the women to substance abuse treatment and other services intended to help them break away from traffickers.

Human trafficking investigators began asking incarcerated sex workers about the Gilgo Beach killings soon after the unit’s creation — years before Heuermann’s arrest, Toulon said.

“In late 2018, early 2019, we tried to formulate questions that we think possibly could be linked to this Gilgo Beach killer without any knowledge, based on things we heard from other law-enforcement agencies and news stories,” the sheriff said.

Toulon called Heuermann, incarcerated in Suffolk’s Riverhead jail, “the most unique” individual he has seen during his 42 years in corrections.

Heuermann, originally charged with the slayings of Barthelemy, Costello and Waterman last year, displayed little emotion after he was charged in the deaths of Brainard-Barnes, Taylor and Costilla.

“He is so stoic,” Toulon said. “He has not changed his demeanor — no matter what is reported against him or what occurs in court.”

Added Toulon: “Usually, a person will start to see the four walls of their cell closing in on holidays, birthday anniversaries. Now he has six charges and still, the walls are not closing in — at least not outwardly or in his demeanor.“

 Heuermann is segregated from the jail’s general population because authorities fear an inmate may attack him to boost street cred or avenge a sex worker’s death. He does not socialize with other inmates and largely keeps to himself.

“Mr. Heuermann has been very compliant,” Toulon said. “When he first came into our custody, I personally spoke to him. He said we would not have a problem with him and, almost a year later, he has held true to his word.”

The alleged serial murderer keeps his 60-square-foot cell, which includes a bed, toilet and sink, tidy and clutter-free. He spends much of his time reviewing discovery and reading fiction. Heuermann’s regular visitors include his attorney, his  estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, and a third person that Toulon declined to identify.

Toulon said he’s never seen Heuermann laugh or smile.

“I’ve been in this business for 42 years,” he said. “I’ve seen a lot of high-profile people. Heuermann is the most unique that I’ve ever come across.”