Classmates of the accused Long Island serial killer, including “Backdraft” actor, Billy Baldwin, say Rex Heuermann was loner and a “creepy” in high school, who never quite fit in with others.
According to The New York Times, accused murdered Rex Heuermann’s classmates discussed the alleged serial killer during a Berner High School 40th high school reunion last weekend in New York, following the news that Heuermann was arrested on July 13 for the deaths of three women.
“He was everybody’s punching bag,” former classmate John Parisi said, referring to Heuermann in middle school. “He got picked on a lot,. He would take it and take it and walk away. I seen him pushed to his limit.”
In sixth grade, according to Parisi, a group of students targeted Heuermann and tried to beat him up before a teacher intervened; they continued to verbally torment him afterward.
Then, in high school, Heuermann underwent a growth spurt and became more imposing, Parisi said, which reportedly scared others.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Heuermann was arrested for the deaths of three of the four women known collectively as the “Gilgo Four.” The bodies were found within days of each other on Gilgo Beach in December 2010. All four women were buried in burlap sacks.
Heuermann has been charged with six counts of murder in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27; and is the prime suspect in the death of 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Classmates said Heuermann was a loner with a “mean steak,” who had not only a challenging school life, but issues at home as well.
“I was really scared of him. He was the type of guy if he snapped he could really hurt you,” Parisi said. “He was disillusioned and he was misguided. You had to be very careful.”
Dan Musto, 55, who said he grew up Heuermann, described the accused serial killer as an outcast who volunteered as as stage hand for the school’s drama club. Following graduation, Heuermann declined to join alumni groups and reunions.
Still, some classmates, despite his reputation in high school, were shocked when they learned Heuermann had been arrested for a string of murders.
“It’s a shock. We knew him,” classmate Michael Sean Fagan said. “He was nerdy, smart.”
Actor Billy Baldwin, who attended school with Heuermann, told The New York Times in a phone interview that although Heuermann was “creepy,” he was surprised to learn about his alleged involvement in the killings.
“I also didn’t think he was so weird, so creepy or so unusual that it would lead to something like this. He was a bit shy, a bit insecure, a bit uncomfortable. I wouldn’t say he was an outcast but he struggled to fit in and to find his crowd.”
Musto added that Heuermann had issues that played out in school due to an ongoing battle with his father, who allegedly demanded his son to be a “go-getter.” Heuermann’s problems extended outside of the school when he was caught on a “shoplifting spree.”
“Why is he getting in trouble? He’s fighting with his dad,” Musto said. “It was common knowledge.”
Another classmate told the New York Post that Heuermann would tell people “things like, ‘I have to get home to my mother.’”
“I always got the impression he was close . . . to his mother. The mother seemed to be his all,” the classmate said.
The ties Heuermann has with his mother could have been why he bought his childhood home in Massapequa Park from her in 1994, shortly after his first marriage. Heuermann and his current wife (who recently filed for divorce) were still living in the home when police arrested him.
Criminologist Scott Bonn, who accurately profiled the accused Gilgo Beach killer in 2011, described Heuermann as a “psychopath” influenced by his mom’s “controlling and domineering” nature, the Post reports.
“He had a kind of an unusual, incestuous [relationship], in an emotional sense, with his mother, [which] could be a contributing factor to his pathology,” Bonn said.
“Who knows what was ticking beneath the surface. He may [have been] projecting the loving doting son, when in fact there may have been some deep-seated resentment toward Mom.”
Heuermann remains behind bars at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead, without bail. Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon said Heuremann is in an isolated cell alone and appears to be “comfortable.”
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[Feature Photo: Rex Heuermann High School Photo at Berner HS/Facebook]
