The moment plain-clothed NYPD officers arrested serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann on a crowded street in midtown Manhattan was caught on camera.
Heuermann, 59, was taken into custody and later charged in the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello over a decade ago.
He is also considered a prime suspect in the death of another woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
The arrest was made near his architectural office, just steps from where, according to investigators, he made the phone calls he used to arrange sex with the victims, and also called and taunted the families of the deceased women.
Meanwhile, neighbors from the middle-class community where Heuermann has lived his entire life in Massapequa Park, near where the victim’s remains were found, have described him as a menacing figure whose home was avoided by the Halloween kids , from which he was once evicted from a Whole Foods for orange theft and thousands of back taxes.
“We would cross the street.” “He was someone not to be approached,” neighbor Nicholas Ferchaw, 24, told the New York Times.
Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann casually strolled down the street in Midtown Manhattan on Thursday evening
He is quickly confronted by plainclothes police officers who follow his movements
Eventually, the 59-year-old architect was surrounded by officers and taken into custody
The recently released video showing Heuermann’s arrest shows him walking down a busy street with a bag slung over his back at dusk during rush hour. He doesn’t seem to know he’s being followed by cops.
Eventually, a group of officers in suits stop and surround Heuermann. The arrest took place around 8:30 p.m. A little over 12 hours later, he was arraigned in a Long Island courtroom on three counts of first-degree murder.
A longtime colleague of Heuermann’s told the Times he spoke to the suspect Thursday night and found he was joking. “It must be right before he left the office and they arrested him,” Steve Kramberg told the Times.
The suspect’s neighbors have long been afraid of the mysterious architect. One, Mike Schmidt, said he often drinks beer with another neighbor, pointing to Heuermann’s house and noting, “He probably has bodies there,” according to the Times.
Schmidt said that last Halloween he finally decided to break with years of tradition by taking his children trick-or-treating at Heuermann’s house, where he lived with his wife, daughter and stepson. The house where the suspect lived as a child.
He said the hulking architect opened the door for the kids and gave them each a plastic pumpkin full of candy. Schmidt added that when he told his wife where the candy came from, she made him throw it away.
Neighbors previously described the suspect’s home as “creepy” and “dungeon-like” in interviews with .
Some portrayed Heuermann as an arrogant character in his professional life. Paul Teitelbaum, who worked with Heuermann on a project for a Brooklyn Heights building, remarked that he had an “ostentation” about him.
“I’m the expert, you’re lucky you have me,” was Heuermann’s attitude, according to Teitelbaum.
Heuermann is charged with three murders attributed to the Gilgo Beach serial killer and is the prime suspect in the murder of a fourth victim
In 2022, Heuermann was involved in a bizarre incident in which he was accused of stealing children’s clementines from a bowl at a Whole Foods supermarket.
“He took three and put them in his pocket, then he took more.” I said, “Sir, this is for the kids,” store clerk Tara Alonzo told the Times. Alonzo said Heuermann got so angry that a manager had to escort him out.
Alonzo said the next time she heard from Heuermann was when she saw his face on TV after his arrest. “My colleague said, ‘That’s the orange guy.'”
Over the past decade, Heuermann has been involved in a series of court cases in which he has taken people to court, accusing them of hitting him with their cars and causing him “serious and permanent injuries,” reports CNN.
The network’s report says the cases have been “settled or discontinued,” with one current case pending.
During a testimony about one of these suits, Heuermann said he only operated “competition rifle” as a sport.
CNN also revealed that Heuermann was having trouble with the IRS and at one point owed more than $425,000 in back taxes from 2005. In October 2022, he repaid $215,078.
He and his wife also owe the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance over $81,000.
He is also considered the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose body was tied up and hidden in thick undergrowth along a remote beach road
Also among the victims were Shannan Gilbert (left) and an unidentified Asian man who police believe is a transgender sex worker. Heuermann is suspected in both deaths but has not been charged
Heuermann was first identified as a suspect in March 2022 when investigators linked him to a pickup truck that a witness saw when one of the victims disappeared in 2010.
In March, investigators secured Heuermann’s DNA from a pizza crust he threw away and compared it to evidence found on one of the victims, authorities said.
“They have never stopped working and will continue to work tirelessly until we bring justice to all the families involved,” said Rodney Harrison, Suffolk County Police Commissioner.
Heuermann was jailed without bail after his attorney entered a non-guilty plea on his behalf during an indictment in Riverhead state court on Friday. Judge Richard Ambro refused bail, citing “the extreme depravity” of Heuermann’s alleged conduct.
Heuermann’s attorney, Michael Brown, said his client told him, “I didn’t do that.”
Investigators continued to search Heuermann’s home, about a 25-minute drive via a causeway across South Oyster Bay to sandy Gilgo Beach, where the remains were found in 2010 and 2011.
Most of the victims were young women who were sex workers. Her death long baffled investigators, and the mystery garnered huge public attention, leading to a 2020 Netflix film, Lost Girls.
The pizza box from a garbage can in front of Heuermann’s downtown office
“We will continue to work, investigate and try to achieve some level of lockdown for all families of the victims,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Friday.
That evening, investigators were still working on Heuermann’s house and searching his garden for evidence and clues.
A number of tarps and white-clad workers were scattered around his spooky property, which was evidently derelict.
A family-sized refrigerator was also among the items seized, and officers said they are still searching for 92 firearms registered with Heuermann but are currently missing.
At least one expert suspected that Heuermann could be behind an even larger number of murders.
Katherine Ramsland, an expert in forensic psychology, said the alleged killer’s death trail could go far beyond what he was charged with.
She told NewsNation that people “don’t know” if he ever stopped killing, adding, “All we know is what he’s currently suspected of.”
When asked why he may not have already been linked to other remains found in the area, Ramsland said it was possible another serial killer was on the loose.
“The others (murders) don’t seem to have been handled in the same way,” she said. “Serial killers don’t always do the same thing.”
“There’s a lot of disparity in the way some of these victims were treated and then left behind.” So I’m not sure he’s attached to them. I haven’t been able to rule it out, but it doesn’t look like the same things we’re seeing with the four victims we’re talking about.”
Investigators found a number of red flags in Heuermann’s behavior that eventually led them to his Long Island home, about a 25-minute drive from Gilgo Beach.
This included blatant Google searches asking why police couldn’t trace calls from the serial killer, who was known to mock his victim’s families.