A South Carolina sheriff’s office is looking into claims that a missing woman was last seen with a man who looked like Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann.
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office said that Julia Ann Bean, 36, was last seen in May 2017, WPIX reported, and her daughter reportedly said that Heuermann, 59, was the last person she saw with her mom before she disappeared.
Heuermann has been charged with three of the four Gilgo Beach murders — four sex workers found dead on the beach in late 2010, all buried and wrapped in burlap, as CrimeOnline reported. He is the prime suspect in the death of the fourth.
Investigators in Las Vegas, where the Manhattan architect owned a time share, are looking into missing persons cases and unsolved murders there to see if there is any link. Heuermann also owns property in Chester County, South Carolina, about 100 miles north of Sumter County.
“We’ll be looking into it on our end,” Sumter County Investigator Scott Bonner told WPIX, confirming that they had been given information about Bean’s disappearance.
Heidi Kovas, a friend of Bean, shared with investigators texts from Bean’s daughter saying that she had recognized Heuermann.
“She knew him right away,” Kovas said. “She recognized him right away. She said that was the last person she ever saw with her mom.”
The daughter told Kovas that Heuermann drove her mother to a nail salon in Sumter County and that he used a different name, telling the then-teen that he had lake houses and boats she could use for parties. He also told her he wanted to marry her mom, who struggled with drug addiction.
“Her daughter had mentioned multiple, different men giving her mom money,” Kovas said. “I mean there’s no doubt that she was more than likely escorting. She was a beautiful girl, she IS a beautiful girl.”
Kovas said Bean resembles the other victims attributed to Heuermann and left behind her purse and drugs the day she disappeared.
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[Featured image: Rex Heuermann/Suffolk County Police Department via AP and Julia Ann Bean/Sumter County Sheriff’s Office]
