All language subtitles for The Gilgo Beach Killer House of Secrets - S01E02 - House of Secrets_Subtitles01.ENG

Translated By The_Proffs

Translated By The_Proffs

[***]

[DOG BARKING]

July 13th, 2023, um...

started out like a normal day.

ANNOUNCER [OVER PA]:
The next station
is Penn Station.

I was at my job,
working for my dad.

He was a very well-known
architect in Manhattan.

The last thing I said
to my father before I left was:

"I'll see you at home."

[TRAFFIC BUSTLING]

It was 11:00 at night, and I was
waiting for my husband,

but he didn't come home.

[SIRENS WAILING]
And then suddenly,

I see them
come on the front porch,

and I just hear banging.

"FBI open up!"

"Okay, Victoria.

This isn't happening.
This isn't happening."

ASA:
They push their way in,
and they asked me:

"Do you know why we're here?"

And I said,
"My husband's guns?"

VICTORIA:
I knew my dad
had stuff with the IRS,

Department of Labor, but FBI?

ASA:
And the woman
investigator says to me:

"Have you heard about
the murders on Gilgo Beach?"

And I said,
"I've heard of them,

but I don't know anything."

And she said, "Your husband,
he knows all about it."

VICTORIA:
And they said,
"We have evidence

your dad
murdered all these women.

And your home
is now a crime scene."

Never would have imagined
I'd be hearing that in my life.

They're telling me
that my husband

is alleged to be
some horrific serial killer.

VICTORIA:
They started asking
about if my dad

was ever sexually advancive
towards me, or touched me,

and I said, "No, no,

I cannot really recall
anytime he was like that."

ASA:
And then the investigator
says to me that my husband

will be charged in the morning
with murdering three women.

And I told her she's crazy.

No.

No.

[SCOFFING]
No!

No freaking way
is this man going out,

soliciting sex
from a sex worker,

killing them
and dumping them on Gilgo Beach.

[***]

On the morning
of July 14th, 2023,

I was in, I think,
the first row.

And I did notice
that a number of the families

came into the courtroom.

You could just feel
the tension in the air

and the anticipation waiting
for this guy to come out.

Rex, did you do it?

REPORTER:
Rex Heuermann, 59,

charged
with three murders today.

Melissa Barthelemy,
Amber Lynn Costello,

and Megan Waterman.

All sex workers,
all in their 20s.

HARRISON:
He's a demon, he's an animal.

He's somebody that should not
be around other human beings.

MURPHY:
I remember he wasn't reacting
to the charges against him.

It almost seemed like there was
a deadness in his eyes.

His form, his face,
his expression.

I remember thinking,
this man is six-foot-four,

and Melissa Barthelemy
was four-foot-nine.

That disparity in size.

The only word that really
came to mind was monstrous.

REPORTER:
He's behind bars without bail

due to the nature
of the accusations.

[***]

TOULON:
When he first
came into our custody,

and I went
and I introduced myself...

Rex had a very smug look
of importance.

One of the things I noticed
was there was no despair.

There was no show of emotions.

I've never seen someone
who's very stoic,

very quiet in their demeanor.

SASSE:
All of the family members
of these victims,

we never thought
we'd never see this day.

So I'm rejoicing,
I know they are too.

TOULON:
The one thing I can say
to all the families is,

first, that I apologize for
the Law Enforcement community

because it took so long for us
to identify a suspect

and bring him into custody.

It's bittersweet
because I don't necessarily

like having that closure,
but it is such a relief

that we do know who it was.

HARRISON:
Even with this arrest,
we're not done.

There's more work to do
in this investigation

regarding the other victims.

This case is not over,
it's only beginning.

We're continuing
to execute search warrants,

and we anticipate
getting more evidence.

MURPHY:
It was sort of
an adrenaline rush

after having covered this case
for nearly 13 years.

To finally realize, hey,

Massapequa
was significant all along.

Those first reports
about cell phone pings

coming near Penn Station.

It made sense because this guy,

he has an office
in midtown Manhattan.

Worked right near Penn Station,

and he took the train
every day back to Massapequa.

ANNOUNCER [OVER PA]:
The next station
is Massapequa Park.

So now we wanna find out
who knew him best.

We wanna find out from his
neighbors, what was he like?

We wanna find out
from his coworkers,

were there any clues?

[***]

McGARVEY:
In hindsight, is it possible
that no friends, no family

ever suspected that something
was off about this guy?

Did he fit the stereotype
of a serial killer?

Or was there this
other side of Heuermann?

REPORTER:
Nassau County police cars
and trucks lined the street

as investigators search
inside Rex Heuermann's home.

RYDER:
I received a phone call.

We moved our people
into position,

so we were the first ones
with Suffolk

as they executed
the search warrant

with their crime scene van,

and their command post,
and their detectives.

REPORTER:
There's been a steady stream
of investigators

removing evidence
from the house.

ASA:
The night of the raid,

they drove us over to the hotel
and they got us a room.

They have a cop
24 hours outside

keeping an eye on me.

I watched the news.

They were taking bags and bags
of stuff out of the house.

REPORTER:
One of the more
unsettling pieces of evidence

is a child-sized doll
kept inside a glass case.

ASA:
Are they testing
the doll for DNA?

My head, it's spinning.

There's no telling now
what else they'll recover.

Spinning.

Spinning.

RYDER:
We're gonna make sure

that we're not gonna turn this

into some kind of sideshow.

[***]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

REPORTER:
The family of the accused
Long Island serial killer

made an emotional return
to their home

after investigators spent days
there tearing apart the deck,

excavating the yard, doing
a deep search for any evidence.

After 13 days of cutting
their property to pieces,

the family just moves back in.

REPORTER 1:
We know that it's--

REPORTER 1:
Are you staying in the house?

REPORTER 2:
So we're not
blaming you for anything.

REPORTER 1:
We feel very bad,
and we wanted--

SHEEHAN:
It was bizarre.

It was like they
were in a fishbowl

and we were watching them.

REPORTER:
Rex Heuermann's wife

and the suspect's adult stepson

was seen crying
on the front porch.

A woman whose husband
is charged with being

one of the worst killers
in decades.

She really is
a mysterious figure.

We don't know
what role she's playing

or how much she knew or didn't.

We also didn't know
what kind of world

they'd built in that house.

OFFICIAL:
The house could be
categorized as cluttered.

There was a lot of boxes
and it was a very cluttered,

I would say, environment.

FITZGIBBON:
Nobody's gotten in that house.

There's like an army
of media outside.

But no one knows
what life is like

inside the Heuermann house.

WOMAN 1:
This is crazy.

WOMAN 2:
They aren't leaving, are they?

REPORTER:
Forensic teams in protective
suits and cadaver dogs

were brought in
during the 12-day search.

We were looking for
your tangible items of evidence,

as well as trace evidence,
including blood and DNA,

and, uh, hair fibers
and the like.

[CONTINUES OVER TV]
Now, it goes
from here to trace section

and then to, if appropriate,
the DNA section.

So that's a--
That's a process.

We haven't ruled in or ruled out
anything with regard to that.

VICTORIA:
When we got back home

after they raided it,

it was not recognizable.

No beds, no clothes.

Our bathroom sink was broken.

They should have actually
deemed our house uninhabitable.

ASA:
Oh, look at this.

It was as if they were trying
to leave us for dead.

They broke that.

They pulled this
out of the wall.

They pulled it out.
Yeah.

That's what that hole
in the wall was from.

ASA: What is in here?
CHRIS: Garbage. Nothing.

Well, something was in here
because it's not in here now.

ASA:
The kids, they were

crying themselves to sleep

before we actually
got into the house.

We were all doing it.

Fear, anxiety, uh, guilt.

All of those emotions
are all going

like a roller coaster.

Rolling.
Rolling and rolling and rolling.

But we needed to come home.

They have a lot of sentimental
stuff in the house.

And I still feel Rex is here.

BROWN:
They went through that house
with a fine-tooth comb.

They dug up the backyard.
They went into walls.

They went into pipes.

They went under
the cement foundation.

And they have yet
to show anyone

any evidence in that home.

[***]

CHRIS:
When I first came home,

I couldn't even get in
and out of that garage.

'Cause everything was all
stacked up high as your head.

They took a lot of stuff
from this garage.

He had his screwdrivers
against the wall over here.

We had a big--

Very heavy band saw right here.

The radial arm saw
was right here.

And then he had
a table saw underneath here.

I was always afraid
of the table saw

because it's very dangerous.

I hate this.
I know.

[SOBBING]
I know.

I know.

But I'm here.

And we can do this together,
okay?

All right?

All right. Come on.

[SNIFFLES]

SHEEHAN:
After the arrest, they hand out
this movie script indictment.

They wrote this thing
like a thriller

and put all the best parts
right up front.

Sadistic and twisted.

Pornographic, Google searches,
burner phones,

records of taunting victims'
family members.

It was upsetting,
but it was tabloid gold.

ALGAR:
You couldn't get your hands
on that document fast enough.

And as I read through it,
I-I was stunned on many levels.

One: on the level of detail,

and the thoroughness
of the investigation.

And what quickly
became apparent

was a very solid case
against him.

I was also, like many people,

sickened by some of
the searches that he had made.

The worst part
of the bail application

was seeing
the verbatim internet searches.

OFFICIAL:
There was a lot of torture porn

and what you would consider
depictions of women

being abused,
being raped and being killed.

He was looking for really
horrific types of pornography.

Child porn, torture of girls,

sobbing girls, rapes of girls.

There were searches
that pertained to children.

Children as young as 10.

My jaw is dropping.

How sadistic is this person?

[PHONE RINGING]

OPERATOR:
To accept this free call,
press one.

To refuse this free call,
press two.

[BEEPS]

[***]

How are you doing?

REPORTER 1:
The suspected serial killer,
Rex Heurmann,

remains in jail
on murder charges.

REPORTER 2:
He's been held at the Suffolk
County Jail in Riverhead

since he was arrested.

[***]

[PHONE RINGING]

ASA:
Hello.

How are you doing?

I'm doing great.

Now that I've got you
on the phone.

All right.
What did you have for dinner?

Oh, okay.

Uh-huh.

Yes, you are.

Okay.

Yes.

Bye.

ASA:
I'm talking to him
all the time.

But he only has
a certain amount of time

to be able to make calls,

so I can't get too comfortable

talking to him about things
that are gonna hurt him.

[SIGHS]

Um...

Telling him that I love him.

That will hurt him.

[***]

The two of us were married
for 27 years.

We were a hundred percent
part of each other's lives.

Does everybody really believe

everything they hear?

HARRISON:
Rex Heuermann is a demon.

REPORTER:
Charged as a serial killer.

Do you really believe
everything that's being said?

REPORTER 1:
This man is a sexual sadist.

REPORTER 2:
He enjoyed
torturing his victims.

Well, we didn't buy it.

REPORTER [OVER TV]:
Rex Heuermann
has pled not guilty,

and insists through his lawyer
that he's innocent.

The only thing I can tell you
that he did say

as he was in tears, was,
"I didn't do this."

REPORTER [OVER TV]:
He is an unlikely suspect.

A husband, father of two,

an architect
working in Manhattan

dealing with arcane
building codes.

How you doing?
Good to see you.

REPORTER:
In February 2022,
he was interviewed

about his job
for a YouTube show.

I'm Rex Heuermann.
I'm an architect.

I'm an architectural consultant.
I'm a troubleshooter.

Born and raised on Long Island.
INTERVIEWER: Okay.

I met Rex
when I was 18 years old.

We went
to different high schools.

I went to Farmingdale.

He went to Massapequa.

I've been working in Manhattan
since 1987.

VICTORIA:
Bonjour TV
did an interview with him.

I was primarily a receptionist
in my dad's office,

and I was there listening
to his whole story.

INTERVIEWER:

REX:
That's an interesting question.

I have one tool

that's pretty much used
in almost every job,

and it's actually
a cabinetmaker's hammer.

It is persuasive enough...
[LAUGHING]

...when I need
to persuade something.

Sometimes I have to be
the heavy framing hammer.

Other times,
I'm the lightweight hammer

just to nudge things along.
[LAUGHING]

[TRAFFIC BUSTLING]

VICTORIA:
Starting when
I was in college...

he got some really big jobs.

Then he was very busy
for a couple of years.

And actually, I was honestly

really inspired by my dad.

I looked up to him.

One. Two. Three.

Can you smile?
That is.

[LAUGHING]

I felt like, damn, I have
some really big shoes to fill.

[CHUCKLES]
Yeah.

ALGAR:
When you think that
he committed these acts

while he was still
seeing clients

at his architecture firm,

made it even more chilling

because he
compartmentalized things

to such a degree
that he was able

to outwardly conduct his life

as normal
in an otherwise routine way.

But his job was very demanding.

And when it started
to be visible

that the stress was weighing
on his mental health.

[DOOR CLOSES]

Sometimes he would
come home frustrated.

He needed to wind down.

But he never...

no, he never hit any of us.

...were injuries to her face,
torso, breasts.

VICTORIA:
The worst he would do...

OFFICIAL:
The women were bound
at the head,

the chest, and later,
at the legs.

VICTORIA:
...was he would throw a plate
into the sink.

REPORTER:
The remains
of three sex workers

were discovered bound
and concealed in burlap sacks.

[***]

That-- That's the worst.

Listen, like,
my dad was an open book,

and a lot of people
who knew my dad,

long term clients, people
he worked with for years.

It was no secret he hunted.
It was no secret he had guns.

He was an open book.

JIMENEZ:
I've known Rex Heuermann
for 17 years.

I met Rex at
the building department in 2006.

Big old Rex comes in,
and he says, "Hi, I'm Rex."

Really friendly, really nice.

Because we're both architects,

we have a lot of things
in common.

Certain political views,

the scotch, the cigars,
the guns, all the macho stuff.

He was easy to be friends with.

We would go to the range
and shoot rifles...

[GUNSHOTS]

...pistols...

all kinds of guns.

The first time
I went to Rex's house,

I pull up
and I look at the house.

It's pretty unimpressive.

It looks a little bit rundown.

It doesn't look like
it's been redone.

And being an architect,
I sort of said:

"Oh, why is...
no, I'm not gonna judge him."

Yeah, I knew he grew up there.

When he got the house
from his mother,

I think he wanted to keep it
the way it was.

It has to do with
arrested development.

That's what drove him
not renovating it.

He did have a little office,

and I think his little office
was above the gun room,

if I think of it
architecturally.

And that was behind the garage.

The garage was a woodshop,
and he had a great woodshop.

He was a great woodworker.

VICTORIA:
He was really good
with his hands.

My dad did build me
that dollhouse,

and it was one of the best
things he ever built.

I love that dollhouse.

One of the most
pressing questions on the case

after his arrest was,
"Where did he do this?"

So the revelation
that it was likely

that he did indeed
commit these crimes,

or some of them in his own home,

his own family home,
in the basement.

In this sort of
sinister looking,

beaten down building
was shocking.

REPORTER 1:
A total of 279 firearms
were removed from the basement

as part of the investigation.

REPORTER 2:
Investigators say
most of the guns

were stashed
inside a basement vault,

sealed behind
a solid iron door.

[***]

VICTORIA:
A lot of media, they're calling
the vault the "kill room."

That's where he stored
all his guns.

As a kid, he showed them to me.

And he did teach me
how to use a gun

when I was old enough.

But the vault
was always locked.

The only times I was in there
was if he was in there.

I know plenty of people
who own firearms.

I don't know anybody
that has a gun safe

that can be considered
a "vault." "A walk-in vault."

ASA:
This is the steel door.

It had a combination lock.

It's this lever here.

It's a very easy way to get out,

so no one
can get locked in here.

Now, this is the room

where he displayed
his firearms collection.

So the famous gun room
when I sat there,

I recall vividly that he said:

"In 30 years,
you're the fourth person

to ever be in this room."

And I was like, "wow."

And that's when
he showed me his collection.

So, he started
collecting rifles

and all kinds of guns
early on when he was 18.

And it was
an amazing collection.

There's nothing in this case

that suggests that those guns

were utilized
in the commission of any crime.

A walk-in gun vault,
that's one thing,

but a secret room...

I was like, "Oh, my God."

[CREAKS, CLOSES HEAVILY]

GRACE:
According to a colleague
of Rex Heuermann's,

he had a room specifically built
in his basement

that even his wife
was not allowed to enter.

VICTORIA:
That's the secret room
everybody talks about.

It's kind of
a walk-in closet...

[SHUTTER CLICKING]

...in the gun room

that is actually
right under the stairs.

He didn't want anybody
to have access to it,

the secret room,
so nobody would know.

Not because
he was hiding anything,

but because he wanted
to secure a safe in there.

I actually didn't see
what the inside of it

actually looked like
until after all this happened.

I couldn't get in there myself.

For me,
I was asking myself:

is this some kind
of House of Horrors?

Does he have a dungeon
in there?

Is he killing people like
Silence of the Lambsstyle?

FITZGIBBON:
The obvious question was:

"What's going on
inside that secret room?"

The answer is, "We won't fully
know until the trial happens."

Then, we'll learn
what investigators found.

[SIRENS WAILING]

The Heuermann home
has become a symbol

of Rex's descent and decay.

Outwardly,
it's a ramshackle building.

There's a possibility now
that there were some

unspeakable horrors
that took place in its basement,

and its dungeon.

It's become Long Island's
new Amityville Horror house,

to some degree.

The stain
a serial killer leaves

on the psyche of a community.

Anything to say at all?

ALGAR:
It remains for decades.

Our nice, quiet neighborhood
of Massapequa Park

will now be known
for the home of a serial killer.

And then there's the family
who lived there.

If it turns out that
he was this prolific killer,

was Rex's wife, Asa,

willfully ignorant
of what was going on?

How could she not know?

[***]

[***]

REPORTER 1:
Accused Gilgo Beach
serial killer Rex Heuermann

is facing more turmoil.

His wife of 27 years
filed for divorce on Wednesday.

REPORTER 2:
Online filings list the divorce
as uncontested.

FITZGIBBON:
The initial
public impression of Asa

was that she wanted
to distance herself.

She filed for divorce.

The question is
did she know about any of this?

It's hard to read this family,

as far as how good was he
at living this double life.

Did she actively not want
to realize what was going on?

REPORTER:
Heuermann
has also filed the papers

to turn the marital home
solely over to her.

He bought it from his own
parents two decades ago.

I understand why
she divorced my dad.

They did the divorce
to protect the assets.

It's now legally her house.
She was married to him.

She gets the asset
from the divorce.

If we lost the house,
we'd be homeless.

It's our house.

But that doesn't mean
that we're not a family anymore.

LINKLETTER:
We know nothing
about their marriage.

We know nothing about
the dynamic between them.

And we know nothing about why
Rex Heuermann zeroed in on Asa

as the person
he wanted to marry.

This could have been something

he thought through
very carefully.

[***]

Could it be that
when he was finding a partner,

he handpicked somebody who he
could possibly manipulate,

possibly control?

I think we have
to really open our minds,

as far as how Asa ended up
in this situation.

We don't know yet.

ASA:
I moved here in with Rex
in November of 1995.

That's my favorite.

I met Rex
when I was 18 years old.

He was going to college.
I was working at 7-Eleven.

I was born in Iceland.

My younger brother was adopted
to an Icelandic family,

and I was adopted to America.

But because of that,

I traveled a lot
to Iceland with my family.

And Rex, he traveled a lot.

He went on archeological digs.

He's the kind of guy
you turn your head

and you go take a look at,
you know.

He was tall, handsome...

debonairing young man.

I love tall, dark and handsome.
That's me.

And at that time, I was
madly in love with the man.

There's no doubt about that.

But then,
I met my first husband,

and got married.

But things
did not go well at all.

After my son
Christopher was born,

my ex-husband became
somebody completely different.

I was in the process
of getting a divorce.

Christopher's father,
he wasn't very nice about it.

He said to me,

there's no way in the world
he was gonna be okay

with me being happy
with somebody else.

Rex was the kind of person
that you could call

even if you just
wanted to talk.

And that's it.

We were friends.

Everybody needs a friend.

So Rex came with me, one time,

to go pick up my son.

Rex was standing there

and he heard what he said.

Rex then says,
"Okay, I'm not worried.

Let's get a lawyer.
Let's take him to court."

And then he paid for the lawyer
to take him to court.

So fast forward,
I got my divorce.

There was no reason
to hold back.

You know what I mean?

So Rex said to me,
"I've got a nice house.

I mean, it's not big,
not elaborate.

How about you come and see
if you'd like to stay there?"

I'm like,
"Yes, I would love to."

And then I found out
I was pregnant with Rex's baby.

And he said to me, "Well, how do
you feel about marrying me?"

And I said...

yes.

There's a picture of me,

and I'm looking up, going,
"I finally got him."

He's mine.

[BELL RINGING]

REPORTER 1:
Rex Heuermann,
the man charged

with three
of the Gilgo Beach murders,

returned to court
on Long Island today.

REPORTER 1:
Rex Heuermann
appeared in court today

for a conference
rather than a hearing.

His lawyer Mike Brown

is seeking 75 pages
of discovery materials.

[CONTINUES OVER TV]
He is petitioning
for lab documentation

from the Suffolk County
Crime Lab.

The 59-year-old architect
is also the prime suspect

in the disappearance and
killing of the fourth woman,

but he hasn't been charged yet
in that case.

ASA:
This is gonna be the first time

that I'm gonna go to court
and see Rex.

Of course, I'm anxious.

Everybody's going
to be staring at me.

OFFICIAL:
The only thing his wife
knows about the charges

is what's been relayed
by the press.

She's having a very
difficult time processing

that the man that she was
married to for 27 years

was capable of these crimes.

It's been
a difficult journey for her.

That should do it.

ASA:
All of these girls
that were found on Gilgo Beach,

they were girls.

They were somebody's daughter.

They were somebody's sister.

Nobody deserves what they got.

[***]

But Rex was not
seeing prostitutes.

He's a family man.

He didn't do this.

McGARVEY:
Police have all of these pieces

of, like, really damning
evidence against Rex Heuermann.

It makes you wonder
if this evidence

will finally make Asa
believe Rex is the killer.

I would need to hear it
from Rex, face-to-face,

that he killed these girls,

for me to believe it.

My husband never kept me
out of anything.

That's why I'm going
to the courthouse.

That's why I wanna see it
for myself.

It's important for me
to know what he's going through.

And I want
to be a part of it.

REPORTER 1:
Suspected Gilgo Beach
serial killer Rex Heuermann

is expected in court
this morning.

And a new twist,
so is his estranged wife.

REPORTER 2:
This marks
the first time Asa, his wife,

has chosen to appear
in court on his behalf.

I think we have
some video of her arriving.

There was a huge press scrum

of people trying
to get images of her.

Let's go!

Don't put your hands on me
again, you fucking asshole!

We've never seen her
appear before at court

to either support her husband
or just to look on.

But at least today,
we did see her arrive

for this very brief hearing.

REPORTER:
The man accused
of the Gilgo Beach murders

made his first court appearance
since September.

But it was
his estranged wife Asa

who drew the most attention...

Off to the side.

...showing up to one
of Rex Heuermann's hearings

for the very first time.

RAY:
She lived with this man

in a 1343 square-foot home
for 27 years.

And you want me to believe

that she's not involved
in his activities?

MAN:
She should be
considered a suspect

and not just a bystander.

[***]

[***]

REPORTER 1:
Surrounded by state
court officers, Asa Ellerup,

the estranged wife of accused
Gilgo Beach serial killer

Rex Heuermann,
attends his court appearance,

a first since his summer arrest
and arraignment.

REPORTER 2:
During the court proceedings,
she exchanged glances with Rex.

Numerous sources reported on
Asa's smiling at her husband.

REPORTER 3:
Heuermann has been charged
with three murders.

REPORTER 4:
He's a prime suspect
for a fourth possible murder.

Where are you guys with that?

So the grand jury is continuing,

and we anticipate it, um,
concluding shortly.

[PHONE RINGING]

MACEDONIO:
I just got back to the office
from doing arraignment.

That was a huge, huge, huge win.

Nice job on that, though, today.

The whole thing, even Rex, okay?

[PHONE BEEPS]

That was Mike Brown.

So at one point, he got
to make eye contact with you.

[SIGHS]
I liked seeing him.

I really liked seeing him.

It was comforting.
Nobody can be in your position.

A serial murderer.

You're married to him
for 27 years.

ASA:
I just don't see him that way.

No, that's not the Rex I know.

[PHONE RINGING]

So if they're gonna sit there
and they tell me

that he only did this

during these
particular time periods

that I was away on vacation,
I'd have to question that.

If the man
is that much of a genius,

that he's capable of doing that,
okay, I don't believe it.

[***]

The whole speculation is

he's butchering these people
in his own basement.

VICTORIA:
The task force is alleging

that these murders happened
when we were on vacation.

Melissa Barthelemy disappeared
in July 2009.

She was last seen

sitting outside
her apartment in the Bronx.

All right.

So here's my bathroom.

After everything that
they went through in my house,

nothing is private.

The door.

They took it.

Brand new.

They're alleging that
he killed one of these girls

when he remodeled the bathroom
when I was in Iceland.

I remember, July 10th, 2009...

I planned a trip
to go to Iceland

for five weeks
to visit my family.

I asked Rex:

"Are you okay
with me taking the kids

to spend time with my family?"

And he said yes.

Rex was always working,

working, working, working,
to bring home a paycheck.

The reason why my husband
didn't go with us on vacation

is construction building
is highest in New York City

during the summertime.

And he would also try
to take advantage of times

that we were not in the house

to do some reconstructing
in the house.

When I was in Iceland,
I remember that conversation,

when he called me
the night before he left.

He said to me,
"I made a big mess.

And I have a big surprise
for you when you get home."

He told me he had ripped apart
the whole bathroom,

and he threw everything out.

He had gone to the Home Depot

to pick up some supplies.

There are receipts
from when it was retiled,

and he had put in a toilet

and a sink downstairs
in the basement,

and he had redone the plumbing.

The bathroom
had been completely gutted

from top to bottom.

That was Rex.

He's a problem solver.

He got on a flight

to Iceland the next day.

They ripped up the bathtub

looking for trace evidence
of blood.

They've ripped into everything.

It takes approximately
four weeks

to do a bathroom like this.

I was in Iceland
for five weeks.

If she went missing July 10th,

then I guess they're assuming

that she was held hostage
here in this house.

And then he killed her
and dumped her body

the night before
he left for Iceland.

McGARVEY:
Remember, within a week
from when Melissa went missing,

her little sister
begins receiving a string

of sick and twisted phone calls
from the alleged killer.

MURPHY:
Once Rex Heuermann
left the area of New York

and flew to Iceland
to join his family on vacation,

the taunting calls
to Melissa's sister stopped.

McGARVEY:
Megan Waterman was last seen
in June 2010

outside a Holiday Inn
in Hauppauge, New York,

which is in Long Island,

just six months prior

to her remains being found
on Gilgo Beach.

When Megan Waterman
went missing on June 6th, 2010,

two days before that,

my mom, my brother, and I
went to Six Flags in Maryland.

ASA:
Rex doesn't do roller coasters,

and he doesn't do water slides

because he suffers
from severe motion sickness.

So I had bought season tickets
to go to Six Flags

for my children.

VICTORIA:
I was, like, a roller coaster
junkie when I was a kid.

It was a lot of fun,
and they're great memories.

PERTEL [CRYING]:
She loved her daughter so much.

She was just very kindhearted,
you know?

She made mistakes. Who doesn't?

She didn't deserve this.
Nobody deserves this.

Megan never thought
she would end up in sex work,

but she was coerced
by somebody she was dating.

VICTORIA:
The task force is alleging

that two days
after we went on vacation,

my dad murdered Megan...

and discarded her
while we were away.

I don't-- Um...

I'm not sure that it...

I don't know whether it did
or didn't happen.

At the time,
I was 13 years old.

The portrait that was emerging
of Rex was paradoxical,

because you had this narrative

of a man
simply living his family life

and going to work every day.

ANNOUNCER [OVER PA]:
The next station
is Penn Station.

ALGAR:
On the other hand,

he is living
this incomprehensibly evil life.

He does not look capable
of what he did.

I was honestly very shocked.

ALGAR:
Taking a sex worker captive.

Killing her, disposing of her,

with his family apparently
unaware and on vacation.

I'm convinced that the person
they're looking for

is not a family man.

You prey on small,
innocent girls.

The routineness of it added
a sinister layer to the case.

He didn't do this.

It's somebody who doesn't take
their kids on vacation

because they don't have
any kids.

SASSE:
Just looks like a cold monster.

None of these girls
stood a chance.

ALGAR:
And then we hear
there's more evidence coming.

There's more twists coming,
there's more turns.

There's no reason to think that
this case is going to become

any less confounding
and astonishing

than it already has been.

REPORTER:
Prosecutors
long suspected Heuermann

had a hand
in Brainard-Barnes's killing,

one of the Gilgo Four.

Now they say
they've got the proof

to support that claim.

[***]

[***]

REPORTER:
Rex Heuermann, the accused
Long Island serial killer,

appeared in court again today

as he's now charged
in the death of a fourth woman.

In January of 2024,

Rex Heuermann is indicted

on the fourth murder
in the Gilgo Four,

for Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

[PEOPLE CHATTERING INDISTINCTLY]

We're here to discuss
the superseding indictment.

TIERNEY:
Well, the biggest change
is the DNA evidence.

We now have nuclear DNA results
for all five of the hairs.

This nuclear DNA evidence
is really overwhelming.

One hair is tied
to Rex Heuermann,

three hairs
are tied to his wife Asa,

and one hair is tied
to his daughter Victoria.

FITZGIBBON:
The significance

of the Maureen
Brainard-Barnes charge

is that it's the first time
in the case

that there was nuclear DNA.

Nuclear DNA
is what the cops want.

That's, like, ties right
to an individual, a suspect,

and identifies him.

LINKLETTER:
It's very hard to dispute
nuclear DNA evidence,

'cause it is, like,
somebody's fingerprint.

FITZGIBBON:
The initial three victims
he was charged with

were mitochondrial matches,

which more eliminates
other suspects

rather than pinpoint him.

So this was
a massive development.

REPORTER:
Five hairs discovered
on multiple victims

have now been matched
through nuclear DNA

to the Heuermann family.
MURPHY: We're wondering,

will this change
Asa and Victoria's opinion?

I mean, where do you find three
members of the same household

tied to crime scene murders?

REPORTER:
Investigators say

they linked 25 year-old
Maureen Brainard-Barnes' murder

to Rex Heuermann
via DNA from a female hair

found on a belt used to bind
her ankles, feet and legs.

ASA:
In July of 2007,

I was on vacation trying to do
something fun with my kids.

There were credit card receipts
of us being in Atlantic City

at this particular time period.

They're alleging
that my husband

managed to go to work...

solicit sex
from a sex worker...

[PHONE RINGS]
[DOOR CHIMES]

...sit on a train...

and then come home, make plans,

pick 'em up,

kill 'em, dump 'em...

turn around,

and go to Atlantic City
to come see us.

I'm sorry, it's bullshit.

I'm sorry for my language.

REPORTER:
Hairs found
on Megan Waterman's body,

and the burlap bindings
match Rex Heuermann

and his wife's
advanced DNA profile.

And a hair found
on Amber Costello's body

matches Heuermann's daughter,
Victoria.

LINKLETTER:
Victoria decided to join Asa
in court that day,

where this evidence
involving her is made public.

FITZGIBBON:
So the first time
that Victoria goes to court

for her father's case
happens to be the same day

that her DNA is linked

to a hair found
on one of the victims.

I mean, she's not a suspect.

Her father did this
when she was on vacation.

But how does that feel like?

I mean, what's going through
her mind at that point?

The general public
is just curious about Asa

and her and Rex's children.

REPORTER:
For the daughter to show up,

this is the first time
we've seen her.

Is there still a basis of hope
that their father

is not who the prosecutors
believe him to be?

I don't know if people are so
obsessed with Asa and Victoria,

out of curiosity, or anger,

or what it is that's drawing
so many eyes to them.

But people really can't seem
to get enough

of learning about them,
and staring at them,

and studying their every move.

VICTORIA:
All these people
swarming around me...

I kind of felt humiliated.

VICTORIA:
It was like the walk of shame.

Excuse me.

MACEDONIO:
This is Victoria on the train.

When is that picture?

That was on May 25th
of this year.

There's an undercover agent
that was part of the task force

that was trailing Victoria.

To find out today that
she was followed on the train,

and her DNA was taken.

You know, that was extremely
emotional for her as well.

MURPHY:
The bombshell that came out
with the indictment

for the Maureen Brainard-Barnes
murder

was that hair that was found on
another victim, Amber Costello,

was tied to
Rex Heuerrmann's daughter.

And what the investigators
had done

was follow her home
one day from work

on the Long Island Railroad.

And she was drinking
from a can, an energy drink.

When she got off the train
in Massapequa,

she threw the can in the trash,

and the investigators
retrieved it,

had it tested
in a forensic lab,

and there was
a pretty strong match

to a hair that was found
on Amber Costello's body.

You drink that Monster Java?
Is that what you drink?

I've drank it before.
Yeah.

How does that
make you feel

seeing that you had
someone surveilling you?

VICTORIA:
I went from being
a normal person,

contributing
to society every day,

to this laughingstock all over
the internet, and TV, and news.

Victoria.

[SHUTTERS CLICKING]

When I was in the middle
of the media frenzy, I'll admit,

I probably felt like,
humiliated.

I know I don't have anything
to be shameful about,

but that's what it felt like,
just the bombarding,

people's disappointed faces.

I didn't really feel
like a person.

They ask questions,
why didn't I see anything?

How did I not know?

I was 10, 12, and 13 years old
when these girls were murdered.

I was in school,
which, you know,

which takes up
a good chunk of the day.

And then I was home,

or doing
after school activities.

And that's exactly how
I wouldn't know anything.

And now that I actually
look back on my childhood,

I do find it
very hard to believe

my dad actually
really did all this.

VICTORIA:
Like I said, I saw him

at regular times every day,
morning, night,

and the vacations
that he did join us on.

But, like, like I said,
at the same time,

there was a lot of hours
out of the day

that I also was not home,

including vacations
that he did not join us on.

And that's exactly
what I mean by on the fence.

There's, like...

Well, you know, like he was
definitely very much around,

you know,
90 percent of the time.

But then there's that other 10
percent of the time he was not.

I feel like I can't know
whether or not he did or didn't

because I was not around for it.

I was too young to understand.

LINKLETTER:
Rex Heuermann ruined more than
just the lives of the victims

and their families
whose lives he stole.

He ruined
his own family's lives.

Is it right that they're under
the microscope in this way that

everybody's talking about them?

Is it fair? No, it's not fair.

But they're caught in this web.

They're caught
in Rex Heuermann's wake.

When you look
at all this stuff together,

the DNA, the hairs,
the cell phone records,

the searches,

it's like
an avalanche of evidence.

And we were about
to learn that.

After Rex Heuermann's arrest,

law enforcement seized
more than 400 devices,

phones, hard drives, laptops

from his home,
and from his office.

And it was absolutely insane
to read about what they found

on his electronic devices.

TIERNEY:
We recovered
numerous electronic devices

from the defendant, including
laptops, smartphones, tablets.

REPORTER:
No doubt there are
digital forensic investigators

scrutinizing
Heuermann's e-mails,

computers, and burner phones.

MURPHY:
After Rex Heuermann's arrest,

law enforcement seized more
than 400 electronic devices,

phones, hard drives, laptops

from his home,
and from his office.

Investigators discovered videos
and stills dating back to 1994.

FITZGIBBON:
There's just, like,
reams and reams

of, like,
really sick pornography

that are on Rex's,
you know, devices.

This is really over the top,
grotesque porn.

MURPHY:
They're seeing vile,
torture pornography,

child pornography,
breast mutilation,

vaginal mutilation.

Sexualization
of decapitated women.

It was insane.

It's just stomach-turning
to think about it.

But it wasn't just what
they found that was alarming.

It's what they couldn't find.

Heuermann
had searches for wiping

and erasing data
from his computers.

MURPHY:
Investigators
discovered evidence

that he's actually buying
specific software

that can shred the files
in his computer.

So they're going to have
to find a way

to look into stuff
that's been deleted.

And they need
professional forensic extractors

to get to that.

Eight months after the arrest,

investigators were able
to forensically extract

this Microsoft Word
planning document

that essentially changed
the course

of this entire investigation.

It was called HK 2002 to 2004.

The prosecutors believe "HK"
stands for "Hunt Kill,"

and it's basically a blueprint
for a serial killer.

REPORTER 1:
Just a short time ago,
Police on Long Island announced

new developments in the
serial killer investigation.

REPORTER 2:
Police are now out searching
the woods around Manorville.

MURPHY:
The document
starts with the preparation,

and that involves making sure

that your tires
are in good order,

and that you've surveilled
the areas

where you will be traveling
to pick up your victim.

REPORTER:
Search is taking place
roughly 45 miles

from the notorious
Gilgo Beach site.

And to dispose of your victim,

to make sure there
aren't too many

surveillance cameras around.

REPORTER:
Same location where the remains
of two murder victims

were found
more than 20 years ago.

Make sure you decapitate
the victim.

Makes it harder
to identify them.

REPORTER:
The search has widened
to the hamlet of North Sea

where 28 year-old Sandra
Costilla's body was discovered

back in November of 1993.

If they have tattoos, you have
to try to scrape them off.

REPORTER:
Could police be zeroing in
on new evidence in her murder?

MURPHY:
He's talking about
potential problems.

Bloodstains. Hair left behind.

We are following
some breaking news

out of Long Island, New York
this morning.

Right now, police are searching
the home of Rex Heuermann.

And how does he counteract that?

Well, he has to prepare
and get supplies.

REPORTER:
Police are back
at the Heuermann bungalow.

Authorities have not commented
on why they have returned

after nearly a year
since Rex's arrest.

FITZGIBBON:
We find out that there's
a second search going on

at Rex Heuermann's house,
on the heels

of police searching
in Manorville and Southampton.

You don't get a second
search warrant just on a whim.

So something led them
back to the house,

and that's significant.

MURPHY:
So he's getting drop cloths.

He's getting booties
for his shoes.

He's getting hair nets

so that his hair
won't get on the victim,

or so he hopes.

What more could
they be looking for?

Could it have something to do
with evidence

that was found in Manorville?

MURPHY:
So this is elaborate
preparation that's going on.

This person, this killer,

is trying to think
of every potential thing

that could go wrong,
that would help identify him.

And then the news breaks.

Now, to breaking news

in the Gilgo Beach
murders investigation.

Tonight, Rex Heuermann
is facing new murder charges.

Rex Heuermann has been charged

with the murders
of two more women.

FITZGIBBON:
Now, we're linking Rex
Heuermann to Sandra Costilla

who disappeared in 1993.

She was 28 years old.

Like the other victims,
she was a sex worker.

And he's also charged
with the murder

of Jessica Taylor,
also a sex worker.

She was 20. She made
a phone call to her mother,

and they chatted
for several minutes,

and she made plans
to go visit her mother

in upstate New York
in Poughkeepsie,

on her birthday,
several days later.

Rex Heuermann worked
in the very same vicinity

where Jessica Taylor
was known to street walk.

ALGAR:
Heuermann's murders
of Costilla and Jessica Taylor

completely disrupted
the profile

that many of us
were operating with

in terms of both methodology,
and timeline.

FITZGIBBON:
Now we know
that Rex Heuermann has been

allegedly
killing these women

for nearly 30 years.

Much, much earlier than
we ever thought he was doing.

Secondly, Jessica Taylor's body
was dismembered.

She was decapitated.
Her arms were removed.

Remember, the Gilgo Four,
their bodies were found intact.

McGARVEY:
Suddenly,
everything we thought we knew

up until this point
completely changed.

REPORTER:
As the crime scene expands,
so does the mystery.

So all of a sudden,
anything is possible.

It means that
he could be responsible

for dozens and dozens
of murders.

Our investigation
now has broadened.

Now, the entire case mushroomed.

[***]

[***]

Translated By The_Proffs

Translated By The_Proffs