A spooky party atmosphere has erupted outside the home of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuerman – with one woman even bringing her pet pig to join the spooky festivities.
Shocked neighbors of the suspected killer said they felt like they were living in ‘a true crime documentary’ as huge crowds thronged the sleepy street.
Mackenzie Richards, 29, from Boston, said she and her pig Stella were visiting her mother in New York when she heard about the killer, and she immediately ran to her house to ‘look, look, look.
‘Next thing you know, we’re here,’ he said, as dozens of beer-swigging true crime fans partied in the street around him.
The eerie sightings came the day after Heuerman, 59, was arrested in midtown Manhattan for the gruesome slaying, about an hour’s drive from his home in Massapequa Park, New York.
Mackenzie Richards (left) brings her pet pig Stella to join the party atmosphere with her mother Monica Richards (center) and her boyfriend James Sweeney (right)
Crowds flock to Heuerman’s home in Massapequa Park to catch a glimpse of the suspected serial killer’s lair.
Manhattan architect Rex Heuerman, 59, is charged with three murders attributed to the Gilgo Beach serial killer, and is the prime suspect in the killing of a fourth victim.
Neighbors in the area described the suspected serial killer as a quiet family man who was often seen tinkering in his garage.
Many also said the house he shared with his wife and daughter was ‘spooky’, with one local feeling the derelict property resembled a ‘dungeon’.
Tara and Tom Stafford, who have lived in the Massapequa Park neighborhood for 45 years, told Newstimesuk.com that they ‘always thought (her house) was creepy’.
‘We are shocked this happened,’ they added, expressing concern that the gruesome killings could give the healthy neighborhood a deadly reputation.
While many were distressed by the gruesome murder, the modern fascination with true crime led local residents Tara Alonso to describe the scene as ‘very cool’.
‘I have an adrenaline rush just seeing all this happening, never seen anything like this before,’ he said.
Alonso, who works at Whole Foods in Massapequa, revealed that he had a freak run-in with the killer a few months ago.
He claims he stole oranges from the store’s kids club, where parents leave their children while they shop. When he was confronted by staff, he says he replied: ‘If I was wearing a suit like I wear most days, you wouldn’t be talking to me like that.’
Bonnie Petrone (left) described the suspected serial killer’s home as a ‘dungeon’. He is pictured with his daughter Alia (centre) and a friend
Michelle Lombardi and Angelina Flattery say the alleged killer seems like a ‘normal dad’
Thanks to the suspected serial killer’s huge 6ft 6in frame, many in the local area saw him around, although most said he was lonely and gave off a ‘creepy’ feeling to others.
Michele Lombardi, a real estate broker who sells homes in the neighborhood, said it was ‘disturbing’ to know the killer could have lived in the area for decades.
‘It’s a great community where everyone comes together for each other, it’s really unfortunate,’ he said.
His daughter Angela Flaherty, 22, said he ‘seemed like a normal dad’ and would see him at school football matches as her daughter was a few grades ahead of him in high school.
However, he added that his house looked ‘terrible’, and that he often wondered who the infamous Gilgo Beach killer was because the murders were so close to home.
He continued: ‘It’s really scary. As locals many of us used to drive on Ocean Parkway for fun and we always wondered if the Gilgo Beach serial killer was there.
‘I also wondered where he lived. Gilgo Beach has lots of little houses and I always wondered if one of those little houses in the marsh was a serial killer.’
The suspect’s home is directly north of Gilgo Beach across South Oyster Bay, about 25 minutes from where the remains were found.
Forensic teams are working at Human’s home on Friday. A freezer was also among the items seized
Neighbors said the killer was a quiet family man who lived with his wife and daughter in an abandoned house resembling a ‘dungeon’.
Bonnie Petrone, 57, a New York City schoolteacher, said the situation was “chilling,” because Heuermann graduated high school with her sister.
“I never expected something like this to happen in our small town,” he said. Petrone also commented that his dilapidated house left a lot to be desired, adding: ‘He was an architect, but his house looks like a dungeon.’
His daughter Aaliyah, 24, said she was obsessed with the Gilgo Beach murders when she was growing up, as they happened when she was about 11 years old.
‘It’s like I’m watching a true crime documentary and I’m in it,’ she said.
Neighbor Patricia de Villiers said: ‘Who wakes up on a Friday morning and finds out their next door neighbor is a serial killer?’
He echoed many as he described them as ‘quiet’, and said the family would keep to themselves and never throw parties.
Shocked locals flock to Massapequa Park to catch a glimpse of the ‘spooky’ house
A large police presence formed a cordon around the house, which is about 25 minutes away from where the remains of the victims were found.
Neighbors expressed concern that the brutal killings could tarnish the reputation of their sleepy community
Bob Vernon, 58, said he drove from his home in nearby Wantagh to catch a glimpse of the suspect’s house because he was ‘curious’.
‘He’s an architect but they say his house looks like rubbish,’ she said, adding that her brother-in-law went to school with Human and described him as a ‘weird guy’.
Rex Heuerman is featured in his Tinder profile picture. Police tracked down the fictitious email account used in his profile and his burner phone number in the case
Heuerman’s truck was towed from the home Friday afternoon
Investigators revealed Friday that they had moved to arrest Heuerman amid fears the suspected killer could strike again.
Police had been keeping Heuerman under surveillance since last year, and had planned to pursue him as they built their case, but decided to swoop in and make an arrest ‘in the interest of public safety,’ Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told reporters.
Tierney cited a number of red flags, saying that Heuermann ‘continues to patronize sex workers’, uses false IDs and burner phones, and has a staggering 92 firearms permits.
‘That certainly made us very nervous,’ said Tierney, who has led a secret investigative task force focused on Heuerman since spring 2022.
Flanked by family members of the victims as he addressed reporters, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison offered a grim assessment of the suspect, saying: ‘Rex Heurman is a monster that roams among us, a predator that destroys families.’
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Heuerman had been under surveillance since last year and police moved to arrest him because of fears he would strike again.
For more than a decade, questions have been raised as to why it took so long for investigators to finally nab the alleged killer.
He has been named as the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Breiner-Barnes and is also being investigated for the murders of six other women found dead near the beach in 2011.
Ahead of his appearance, prosecutors released their bombshell evidence against him which included;
Three of the victims had his wife’s DNA found on one of the bodies One had his own hair found on one of his bodies His Tinder profile with pictures of him in his office after his sister died was linked to Burner’s phone His Chevrolet pick-up truck was seen by a victim’s disappearance witness he was an ‘ogre’ ‘ matched the description of a man previously seen before he disappeared. Heurman conducted a graphic search for child porn and images of sexually abused women. He also searched Google for updates on the case, searching ‘why law enforcement is looking for the Long Island serial killer. Cannot trace calls made’
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