Who is Rex Heuermann, suspect arrested in Gilgo Beach killings?

The Massapequa Park man arrested in connection with the Gilgo Beach killings owns a Manhattan architecture firm and lives in the same home where he was raised.

Rex A. Heuermann, 59, who neighbors and authorities said is married with children, was arrested Thursday night and charged with murdering three women whose bodies were discovered in Gilgo Beach in 2010.

Neighbors said they were stunned by the allegations against the Berner High School graduate. He'd walk from the single-story red house in Massapequa Park — which they said was poorly kept — to the Long Island Rail Road station in the mornings in a suit and tie with a briefcase.

Heuermann was friendly and conversational, said neighbor Margaret Curley, who added that she's known him his entire life.

"He would say hi and chitchat — about family stuff," Curley said. "He's just a regular neighbor."

Heuermann towered over officers walking him out of the Seventh Precinct in Shirley on Friday. He's 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, according to court documents.

A 1981 graduate of Berner High School in Massapequa, Heuermann was a classmate of actor Billy Baldwin, the brother of actor Alec Baldwin, according to a tweet by Billy Baldwin.

"Woke up this morning to learn that the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect was my high school classmate Rex Heuermann. Berner High School Massapequa New York Class of '81," Baldwin said in the tweet. "Married, two kids, architect. Average guy … quiet, family man. Mind-boggling. … Massapequa is in shock."

Heuermann was married in 1990 at a church in New Brunswick, New Jersey, according to a wedding announcement in the Central New Jersey Home News. The announcement said he graduated from the New York Institute of Technology with a degree in architectural technology, and he was employed as an intern architect at Greer Construction in Freeport.

Records show he was divorced in 1994.

Current public records show a different woman living with Heuermann in Massapequa Park. At court Friday, a woman who identified herself as his wife declined to comment.

Etienne de Villiers, a retired New York City firefighter who lives next door to Heuermann, said she grew up on the block with Heuermann's parents, who moved to the Carolinas.

"He's been a quiet guy," de Villiers said of the suspect. "We just say hello in the mornings and afternoon pleasantries … Nothing special. We never associated in any way."

Barry Auslander, who has lived in Massapequa Park for 12 years, said he would often see Heuermann walking to the nearby LIRR station heading to Manhattan.

While Auslander said Heuermann's home was often in shambles, both on the exterior and interior, the quiet architect never struck him as someone who seemed threatening.

"I never chatted [with] him, but he looked like a typical business owner," Auslander said. "If you met him in a park, you'd have no idea what kind [of] person he is. He certainly didn't seem dangerous."

In a YouTube video posted about a year ago, Heuermann described himself as an architectural "troubleshooter" who is an expert at gaining approvals for projects from city building departments and other city agencies.

Asked about his best quality, the owner of RH Consultants & Associates said, "Patience. I don't like to use the word tolerance, but sometimes you have to … And it's not just with the city, it's also with the client."

In the video, he told stories about the business he founded in 1994. He said he was born and raised on Long Island and has worked in Manhattan since 1987. He boasted of a flair for negotiating with the city on projects and made that a major part of his business. He kept books at home that contain old building codes and regulations, so he knows what historic buildings were required to do, he said.

Public records show that over the years, Heuermann and his home have numerous federal and state tax liens, including from the Internal Revenue Service. 

Reacting to Heuermann's arrest, Curley, his neighbor, said, "Shocking. It can't be anything else but shocking. It's really not about him, it's not about us. It's about the victims and how tragic and absolutely horrific" this is.

With John Asbury, Jim Baumbach and Howard Schnapp