#What we know about Rex Heuermann, identified as the Gilgo Beach murders suspect
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The suspect in custody on July 14 in connection with a string of long-unsolved slayings of women on Long Island, New York, lived in a cozy South Shore suburb not far from the beach highway where human remains were first found more than a decade ago.
Four senior law enforcement officials briefed on the case identified the suspect as Rex Heuermann, 59, of Massapequa Park, a village in Nassau County.
During a news conference Friday, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison did not name the suspect, but said he was arrested in midtown Manhattan on Thursday night and transported to Suffolk County.
It was not immediately clear if Heuermann had an attorney. The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said there was a “significant development in the case,” but declined to comment further until after a court proceeding later Friday.
The case dogged investigators for years after the discovery of human remains in 2010 near Gilgo Beach led to as many as 16 victims being found, many of them known sex workers. Police believe some of those deaths are linked to a serial killer.
Who is Rex Heuermann?
Authorities blocked off Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home on Friday as police trucks lined the quiet street of two-story houses. Residents of the neighborhood filmed the scene amid a large media presence.
Heuermann’s home is also listed in connection with his business, RH Consultants & Associates. He received his architecture license in 1996, and New York state records show he does not have any enforcement actions listed.
Among his clients have been Catholic Charities, New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, American Airlines and other major tenants at John F. Kennedy International Airport, according to an online biography.
In an interview from his midtown Manhattan office posted on YouTube by Bonjour Realty in early 2022, Heuermann said he was an architectural consultant and “troubleshooter,” born and raised on Long Island and working in Manhattan since 1987. He spoke about the nuts and bolts of his profession and how he educated city entities about local architectural codes.
When asked about what qualities someone in his job would need, he said, “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, because most clients, they don’t understand what I have to do, why I have to do it, and what it takes to get done.”
Heuermann also spoke about learning to construct furniture from his father, whom he described as an aerospace engineer who built satellites.
“I build furniture at home and I still build it in the same exact workshop,” he said. “I have one tool that’s pretty much used in almost every job, and it’s actually a cabinet maker’s hammer. It is persuasive enough when I need to persuade something.”
“Not someone?” the interviewer asked.
“Something,” Heuermann said, “and it always yields excellent results.”
At least one person who knows Heuermann said his arrest is at odds with the man she has come to know through weekly networking meetings.
“I knew him as a friend and a colleague. And I am completely surprised,” the woman said, adding that she last spoke with him Tuesday via Zoom.
“He was very organized. He was very friendly,” she said. “I did not see this coming.”
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com.
Brandy Zadrozny contributed.
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