Rex Heuermann in tears, 'I didn't do this,' says in Long Island serial murders

Rex Heuermann, the alleged serial killer behind the Gilgo Beach murders, was crying and denying his involvement in the killings after his arrest on Thursday, his lawyer said Friday.

“I did not do this.”

But he showed no signs of emotion or remorse on Friday as he was arraigned on three counts of murder in connection with the deaths of three women whose bodies were found on Long Island in 2010.

Heuermann, who was arrested at his office in New York City on Thursday, wore a gray polo shirt, white pants, and shaggy hair as he appeared in court at the Cromartie Court Complex in Suffolk County, New York.

He remained silent and expressionless as prosecutors presented a slew of evidence linking him to the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello.

The evidence included cell phone records, burner phones, Google searches, and Heuermann’s DNA from a half-eaten pizza that matched a hair found on a piece of burlap that wrapped Waterman’s body.

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Heuermann only spoke to confirm his name at the start of the crowded hearing. He entered a not-guilty plea to the charges before Judge Richard Ambro cited the “extreme depravity” of the crimes in ordering him held without bail.

He is charged with both first and second-degree murder for each of the victims.

His defense attorney, Michael Brown, reserved the right to file a bail application, citing the time needed to gather evidence.

“In terms of speaking to my client, the only thing I can tell you that he did say as he was in tears was, ‘I didn’t do this,'” Brown told reporters after the hearing.

The NYC-based architect is a married father of two who lives with his second wife Asa Ellerup, 59, in Massapequa Park. Neighbors told The Post Friday they have a daughter and a son.

A bail application released to the public shows Heuermann was charged in connection with only three of the eight women who have been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killer, but notes he is the “prime suspect” in at least one more.

They claim Heuermann is also being investigated in the case of the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose body was found on the same beach years earlier.

The bodies of each of the three women Heuermann is charged with killing were found along the same stretch of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach between June and September 2010.

The case captured the nation’s attention as it was revealed the bodies of eight women had been found in the same general area in the past few years.

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It re-emerged in January 2022 with the creation of a team of investigators specifically focused on investigating the alleged serial killer.

Although Law enforcement authorities have not revealed what initially led them to Heuermann, they discovered in March 2022 that he owned a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche, which matched the description of the vehicle driven by Costello’s killer given by witnesses.

The discovery led to more than 300 subpoenas and search warrants executed over the following months.

They hit the jackpot on Jan. 26, 2023, when surveillance teams retrieved Heuermann’s leftover pizza crust from a trash can along Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, prosecutors said.

DNA extracted from the pizza crust matched a hair found on a piece of burlap that wrapped Waterman’s body, the document states.

Other hair found with three of the victims was later found to have DNA belonging to Heuermann’s wife.

Investigators said Heuermann’s wife and children were out of town around the same time three of the women disappeared. In Waterman’s case, she was in Maryland, the application states.

She was in New Jersey when Costello vanished and Iceland when Barthelemy was last seen.

And he made extensive searches on the Gilgo murders and family members of victims, including over 200 in a single four-month period, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said.

One search allegedly asked: “Why hasn’t Long Island serial killer been caught”

Investigators also found cell phone records connecting him to “the disposable cellphones used to set up meetings with three of the four victims,” as well as to make “harassing calls to a relative of Ms. Barthelemy,” and a “call made by a detective to Ms. Barthelemy’s cellphone while investigating her disappearance” as well as “calls checking voicemail on Ms. Brainard-Barnes” cellphone after her disappearance.

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Heuermann frequently used disposable phones and was seen on surveillance footage paying for more use of the typically untraceable device.

Records also show Heuermann was familiar with using fake email addresses, such as one registered to the alias Thomas Hawk.

The bogus email address was used “to conduct thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography, and child pornography,” prosecutors said.

Both the email address and the disposable phone were also allegedly used to take selfies to send to solicit sex and prostitutes.

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