A serial killer expert who once taught the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students has weighed in on the suspect charged in some of the Gilgo Beach murders.
Rex Heuermann, 59, is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. He is also considered the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Michael Brown, Heuermann's lawyer, has told Newsweek that his client "insisted he did not commit these crimes."
Brown described Heuermann as a "hardworking" licensed architect with his own firm in New York and no prior criminal history. "He is a loving husband to his wife of over 25 years and an involved and dedicated father to his daughter and stepson... there is nothing about Mr. Heuermann that would suggest that he is involved in these incidents."
But Katherine Ramsland, a forensic psychologist who taught Bryan Kohberger at DeSales University, said she wasn't shocked by the suspect being a family man with a respectable job.
"I'm not surprised at the kind of person that we're looking at," Ramsland said during an appearance on NewsNation.
"More and more, we're seeing people who are accomplished or holding jobs who have families and they still are doing this kind of thing."
Speaking about serial killers, a subject she has studied for decades, Ramsland said they often learn how to mask their true nature.
"They have to keep it secret because they know they won't be able to continue to do it in society," she said.
"So they learn, they practice and they learn how to pass as a normal person while they're also doing things like rape or murder." Newsweek has contacted Ramsland for further comment via email.
In court documents, prosecutors said investigators determined that Heuermann's wife was out of state when Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello disappeared.
The remains of the women and Brainard-Barnes—known as the "Gilgo Beach Four"—were unearthed near Long Island's Gilgo Beach in December 2010. Months later, another six sets of human remains had been found in the area—four women, one man and one toddler. The remains of Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance sparked the initial search, were found in December 2011, about 3 miles east of where the other 10 sets of remains were discovered.
Prosecutors said a task force looking into the case honed in on Heuermann—who has lived for decades across a bay from where the remains were found—as a suspect within six weeks of their first meeting early last year. They connected him to a Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when one of the victims disappeared and learned he lived in Massapequa Park, an area linked to some victims' cellphone activity.
After a grand jury authorized more than 300 subpoenas and search warrants, the task force began digging into Heuermann's life.
They linked him to other evidence, including burner cellphones that were used to arrange meetings with the women and taunting calls that a person claiming to be the killer made to Barthelemy's relatives using her cellphone.
In January, a team surveilling Heuermann grabbed partially eaten pizza crusts that he tossed in a garbage can in Manhattan. They matched DNA from the crusts to a male hair found on burlap wrapped around Waterman.
They also combed through his online search history, and uncovered email addresses under fictitious names that were linked to searches for violent and child pornography.
According to prosecutors, Heuermann searched for information about the investigation into the killings while trying to hide his identity.
In court documents, they allege he also made "taunting" phone calls to Barthelemy's family. In some of those calls, a male caller told Barthelemy's relative that he had sexually assaulted and killed her.
