Neighbors and residents in the Long Island community where accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann lived say they are shocked by the allegations.
“It is very crazy to have just all these years of thinking about what went on all those years ago, and of course right here in your own neighborhood. … It’s very frightening,” resident Linda Montana told CBS News .
Authorities arrested the 59-year-old architect Thursday in Midtown Manhattan near his architectural office and began searching his home in Massapequa Park early Friday morning.
Heuermann is facing three counts of first-degree and second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of three women whose bodies were found buried in burlap sacks on Gilgo Beach in Suffolk and Nassau counties. He is also the prime suspect in the presumed death of a fourth woman who remains missing.
On Friday, Heuermann appeared in court and a judge remanded him without bail.
As police descended on Heuermann’s home Friday, neighbors and residents stood beyond the barricades and watched the scene unfold.
“It’s crazy. It’s mind-blowing. It’s quiet, Massapequa park,” Margaret Curley told CBS News.
Etienne DeVilliers, who lives next door to Heuermann, said he usually kept to himself.
“We’ve been here for about 30 years, and the guy’s been quiet, never really bothers anybody,” DeVilliers told CBS News. “We were kind of shocked, to tell you the truth.”
She added that Heuermann is married and has two children.
“He grew up here, with his parents and his brother,” DeVilliers told CBS News. “The guy pretty much keeps to himself. We just say hello to each other, and that’s about it.”
Meanwhile, actor Billy Baldwin revealed on social media that he went to high school with Heuermann.
“Woke up this morning to learn the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect was my high school classmate Rex Heuermann,” Baldwin posted on Twitter. “Mind-boggling . . . Massapequa is in shock.”
At a press conference Friday, Michael J. Brown, Heuermann’s lawyer, said his client has denied any role in the killings.
“The only thing he did say, as he was in tears, was ‘I didn’t do this,'” Brown said, according to NBC News. “He’s distraught. He’s clearly distraught about the charges here.”
But court documents show investigators have developed a mountain of evidence against the accused serial killer that includes DNA, phone data, internet search history and witness descriptions, Fox 5 reports.
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[Featured image: Crime lab workers arrive at Rex Heuermann’s Long Island home. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez) Inset: Rex Heuermann/Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office via AP]
