Disturbing images found in the home of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann may have played a role in his attacks on women, according to one psychologist.
Authorities searching Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home have so far uncovered a substantial amount of so-called “torture porn” and have been seen removing a portrait of a woman with blackened eyes and a child-sized doll, according to Fox News.
Prosecutors also allege that Heuermann conducted “thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography.”
Dr. Katherine Kuhlman, a licensed psychologist with expertise in public safety, said Heuermann’s interest in depictions of sexual violence may have arisen prior to the slayings.
“People don’t snap. When you have someone who engages in this type of sadistic violence, there’s a process and there’s an escalation to that point,” Kuhlman told the New York Post.
“So over time, people typically become desensitized to things that you and I might find frightening or disturbing. And so, it may start with some BDSM [bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism] porn and then it escalates into something like what we see with [Heuermann]. And so it gets to the point where nothing else is as thrilling to him as those disturbing images . . . as those kills.”
Kuhlman also told Fox News that the images could “amp him up to do what he did” and serve as de facto trophies.
Serial killers typically hold onto the physical trophies of their victims, according to Kuhlman, but she wondered whether the images might help them relive the attacks, which may in turn eventually lead to a desire to kill again.
“The items could trigger the memories of what he did and essentially recreate that fantasy that he can relive over and over and over again,” Kuhlman told the Post.
Heuermann, 59, has pleaded not guilty to charges of first- and second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Costello, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman.
He is also the prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes and police across the country are examining potential connections to other unsolved cases.
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[Feature Photo: Rex Heuermann/Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office via AP]
