The sister of one of the Gilgo Beach victims has revealed how the killer tormented the family by using her mobile phone to call them to narrate how he raped and killed her.
The body of Melissa Barthelemy, who grew up in Buffalo, New York, was found on December 11, 2010, more than a year after she went missing.
Two days later, the bodies of three other young women were found nearby along remote stretches of coastline on New York’s Long Island.
Manhattan architect, Rex Heuermann, 59, has been charged with three murders including Barthelemy’s after being arrested at his Long Island home on July 14.
The ordeal was terrifying for Barthelemy’s family as the suspect used Barthelemy’s own cellphone to taunt her relatives in 2009 with multiple calls soon after her disappearance – including one in which he admitted he’d killed her.
‘He killed her; he raped her. Maybe one day he’d tell me where she was,’ Amanda F, Barthelemy’s sister, told PIX11, after she started receiving phone calls when she was 15.
Amanda also revealed the man had been keeping tabs on her in the aftermath of her sister’s murder: ‘He knew my name. He knew what I looked like.’
‘He had a strong accent, New York, Long Island. He was very monotone when he talked, like a middle-aged white guy.’
Police later traced the calls and found pings from her dead sister’s phone had been detected at Penn Station in Manhattan, close to where Heuermann’s office is located, according to the court documents, and also in Massapequa, where he lives.
Recalling the terrifying phone calls in 2020, Amanda said that the killer had called her to call her sister insulting names, referring to her sex work.
‘He killed Melissa after having sex with her,’ Amanda F. retold. ‘In the final call, he said he’d killed her.’
A total of seven calls were made to the family with the final one being placed on August 26, 2009.
The dates of the calls were revealed during Heuermann’s criminal arraignment on Friday.
Barthelemy, a petite blonde woman, was the first of the serial killer’s victims to be found on Ocean Parkway in December 2010.
Barthelemy was an escort who had disappeared from the Bronx the year before.
The killer provided clues including strands of hair, the burlap used to wrap the bodies, and a belt embossed with possible initials.
Heuermann was charged with first- and second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. Authorities said he is also the ‘prime suspect’ in another killing.
A cousin of Barthelemy’s, Amy Brotz, said the arrest rekindled anger and grief – but also brought the prospect of closure.
‘I can’t wrap my head around this,’ Brotz said, just hours after being startled by the unexpected news of an arrest.
‘God has brought peace to the families,’ she said. ‘Maybe we can start the healing.’
While closure could be near for Brotz and her family, the ordeal is not yet over.
She worries that prosecutors won’t be able to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt, and she is wary of the emotional toll and relived trauma that is still to come should the case go to trial.
‘The fact that my family is going to have to sit and listen to all this, to every specific, tiny little detail is making me sick,’ Brotz said.
The toddler and three other victims have yet to be identified. All 10 adult victims, including the toddler’s mother, were sex workers, police said.
But investigators say the suspect, Heuermann, might not be responsible for all of the deaths.
In addition to the Barthelemy case, he has so far only been accused of killing two others, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, who were reported missing in 2010.
He is also the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman who disappeared three years earlier, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Heuermann says he is innocent, according to his lawyer.
If convicted on all charges, Heuermann would face multiple life sentences without the possibility of parole.
