Attorney Calls For Larger Investigation Into Suspected Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Rex Heuermann
An attorney who has represented several victims’ families has called for an expansion in the investigation of suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, claiming that Heuermann may have victims outside of New York.
“It is clear that the [Gilgo Beach] Task Force is not big enough, strong enough, organized enough to handle all these cases that are multi-state,” Miller Place-based attorney John Ray said at a symposium he held at St. John’s University. “We have to get a much bigger look from the federal end. We need the FBI and the United States Attorney’s Office to step in, which is why I asked why I started this case back in 2011.”
Other Murders Heuermann Has Been Associated With
Heuermann has been associated, either by law enforcement or by news media, with several murders outside of New York.
In September, various news outlets surmised that Rex Heuermann could be connected to the disappearance of Julia Ann Bean, a South Carolina woman from Sumter County who went missing in 2017.
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that it would be investigating a possible connection, although no updates have been given in this case.
Bean’s daughter, Cameron Bean, claimed to have seen her mother get into a “dark truck,” and also claimed to have recognized Heuermann when his arrest was made public. Heuermann officially became a suspect in the Gilgo murders after police linked him to a dark green Chevrolet Avalanche which a witness had seen.
According to public records, Heuermann also owns a timeshare at Club De Soleil in Las Vegas.
Since his arrest, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, investigators have looked at Heuermann in connection to the death of Jodi Brewer, whose torso was found in the Mojave Desert in 2007.
News 12 also reported in August that Las Vegas police would use Heuermann’s DNA in a “direct comparison” with murder victim Victoria Camara, who was found dead near Boulder City, Nevada.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has been asked about out-of-state murders possibly associated with Heuermann during press conferences, but has refused to comment as they are not his jurisdiction.
John Ray’s Symposium
Ray’s symposium lasted about four hours. He spent much of it arguing that Shannan Gilbert, whose family he represents, was murdered, and criticized the Suffolk County Police Department’s handling of her disappearance. Gilbert went missing on Oak Beach in 2010, and was found dead in 2011 – her official cause of death is disputed, with the official autopsy being ruled “inconclusive,” while an autopsy by Dr. Michael Baden concluded that Gilbert may have been murdered.
Several witnesses also spoke, including one woman who did not give her name but revealed herself as the witness who gave Ray an affidavit linking Rex Heuermann to Fire Island Jane Doe Karen Vergata.
