ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – The arrest of suspected Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann has prompted investigators across the country to re-examine similar cold case murders, including in a nearby oceanfront enclave where four sex workers were found lined up dead in a sewage ditch in 2006.
Two women walking in a marsh behind a row of motels just west of Atlantic City stumbled across a gruesome scene about 50 yards behind the since-demolished motel Nov. 21, 2006.
They found the remains of Kim Raffo, 35, and police arrived to discover three more women in the same pit — Tracy Ann Roberts, 23, Barbara Breidor, 42, and Molly Dilts, 19.
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From left: Barbara Breidor, Tracy Ann Roberts, Molly Dilts and Kim Raffo, the four women identified as the murder victims discovered behind the since-demolished Golden Key Motel in Egg Harbor, New Jersey, in November 2006. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital, Insets: Atlantic City Police)
Like Heuermann’s suspected prey, the victims of New Jersey’s “Eastbound Strangler” were all believed to be sex workers. They were all posed in the same direction, placed face down in filthy water and barefoot.
Farther behind the hotel is the Atlantic City Expressway, which, similarly to Ocean Parkway in New York, cuts through marsh grass.
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Rex Heuermann was charged with murdering three women in New York. (Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office via AP)
Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect from Long Island who worked in New York City, was arrested earlier this month on a half-dozen murder charges in the deaths of three women who vanished between 2007 and 2010: Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27.
He is also the prime suspect in the slaying of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who, like the others, was found in the brush along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach.
Counter-clockwise from left: Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Megan Waterman, 22, and Melissa Barthelemy, 24, disappeared after meeting with a client on Craigslist. The remains of the women were found in December 2010 at Gilgo Beach on Long Island. (Suffolk County Police Department)
The suburban father of two turned suspected serial killer also had a timeshare in Las Vegas and property in South Carolina, where police seized an old Chevrolet Avalanche pickup believed to be the suspect vehicle in Costello’s disappearance. And Heuermann also appears to have ties to Atlantic City.
The Golden Key Motel in Egg Harbor Township, just west of Atlantic City, N.J., is shown Nov. 21, 2006. Police found four bodies behind the motel in a sewage drainage ditch. The motel was later demolished amid public concern it attracted shady activity to the neighborhood. (AP Photo/Mary Godleski)
“Shame on us if we don’t look into Las Vegas, South Carolina, even Atlantic City. We’ve got to make sure if anyone has any information,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison, who helped launch the task force last year that led to Heuermann’s arrest, told ABC 7 last week.
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All that remains of the former Golden Key Motel in Egg Harbor, New Jersey, is the parking lot and ground level. The motel, just outside Atlantic City, was demolished after the remains of four prostitutes were discovered in a sewage ditch in the marsh behind it. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
A dancer at Stiletto, a boardwalk strip club, told Fox News Digital she believes she may have seen Heuermann three times — twice before the coronavirus pandemic and once more in 2021.
All three times, he paid for a private room but declined a lap dance, she alleged.
“He just wanted me to sit and talk with him and then would keep persuading me to meet him outside of the club, and I never went,” she said. “I’ve met people outside of the club before, so I’m not stranger to it, but this guy made me feel uncomfortable.”
A sign outside the Stiletto strip club in Atlantic City, New Jersey, pictured Monday, July 24, 2023. A woman claiming to be a dancer at the club says she believes she may have seen Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann at least three times prior to his arrest on cold case murder charges. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
She said she believes he left her alone after the third visit because she’d gained weight following the birth of her second child. All of Heuermann’s suspected victims have been described as petite, with three of them under 5 feet tall.
While she said she couldn’t be fully sure the man was Heuermann, she described him as a large New Yorker with a similar face.
Rex Heuermann is led into Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Complex in Riverhead for his arraignment July 14, 2023. (Matt Agudo/Splash News for Fox News Digital )
Dave Schaller, the sole witness to Gilgo Beach victim Costello’s disappearance, described the suspect to police as an “ogre,” standing more than 6 feet tall and around 250 pounds, according to The Associated Press.
“When they told me she was dead, he was the first person who jumped in my head,” he told the outlet. “I’ve been picturing his face for 13 years.”
Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann was captured on Google street view images months before his arrest in midtown Manhattan. (Google Maps/Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office)
Although he stopped going to the club, Heuermann’s distinctive features rattled the Atlantic City dancer one more time, she said.
“I do know I did see him on Tinder too,” she said. “When they (Suffolk County prosecutors) released the photos he used on Tinder, my jaw dropped.”
The dancer said she’d been afraid for years due to the unsolved slayings in Gilgo Beach and Atlantic City and noted her club is close to the road leading out of town to the former Golden Key Motel.
Stiletto was closed Monday.
Asa Ellerup and her daughter Victoria Heuermann pictured crossing a road July 17, 2023, shortly before the former filed for divorce from her husband, accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann. (Dario Alequin for Fox News Digital )
A parking attendant next door said he recognized Heuermann as an infrequent visitor to the club. So did the clerks at several stores on the boardwalk nearby. And Heuermann’s wife and adult children have a connection to Atlantic City.
Heuermann is reported to be a heavy drinker, but bartenders in the area said they weren’t sure if they recognized him from TV coverage or in person, if they recognized him at all.
Atlantic City also has a lot in common with one of Heuermann’s other preferred destinations — Las Vegas.
A general view of Gilgo Beach, New York, July 19, 2023. The bike path had not yet been installed when Suffolk County Police found the Gilgo Four victims’ remains in the brush on the north side of Ocean Parkway about 45 miles east of New York City in December 2010. (Mega for Fox News Digital )
“When I heard that Rex had a timeshare in Las Vegas, obviously my ears perked up. … Is he a gambler or is he going to an area that has a very robust victim pool, i.e., sex workers?” said Josh Zeman, a documentarian who interviewed Schaller in 2016 for A&E’s “The Killing Season.”
The docuseries touched on several predictions that turned out to be true years later with Heuermann’s arrest – including that the suspect would be a Big Apple commuter from Massapequa who may be into duck hunting.
“Atlantic City also has a fairly robust sex trade,” he added.
The boardwalk at Atlantic City extending up the ocean coast. (iStock)
On the other hand, while Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds says investigators there are pursuing all leads in the unsolved Golden Keys case, which he refers to as the 2006 Black Horse Pike homicides, an official link to Heuermann as a person of interest has not materialized.
“Since this remains an open investigation, we cannot comment due to its potential to compromise the investigation,” Reynolds told Fox News Digital.
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Reynolds’ predecessor, James McClain, told Fox News Digital in 2015 that the Golden Key murders fit the “FBI definition of a serial killer” and that investigators had more than one person of interest. Reynolds declined to say whether Heuermann was one of them.
Experts also say there are some key differences between those murders and the Gilgo Four.
A cross standing in the marsh at Gilgo Beach near Long Island, New York, Wednesday, July 19, 2023. The remains of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy were found in the brush in December 2010. (Mega for Fox News Digital )
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The surrounding area is more developed, for one. While similarly situated along marshland, the neighborhood is nowhere near as remote as Gilgo Beach. And the Atlantic City killer may have done more to try and cover his tracks.
The Atlantic City victims may have been placed face down in the water in an effort to wash away DNA, said Joseph Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and former cold case investigator who is now an adjunct professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
A sign directing drivers to Gilgo Beach off Ocean Parkway, about 45 miles east of New York City. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News)
“I believe the difference between the person involved in Jersey, he took steps to get rid of DNA evidence,” he told Fox News Digital. “The guy on Long Island didn’t care because he knew nobody was gonna find them, and by the time they did find them, everything would be gone.”
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Heuermann is due back in court Aug. 1.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Fox News’ Audrey Conklin and Cristina Corbin contributed to this report.
