An interior designer who once networked with suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuerman has released voicemail messages he left her — and said he once asked her if she knew about the infamous murder.
Dominic Vidal told ABC7 he was at a networking event with the 59-year-old architect in February and soon after she started leaving him voicemails that made him feel ‘uncomfortable’.
In one of those messages, Vidal said, ‘He asked me if I knew about the Gilgo Beach murders.’
Heuerman is now behind bars on Long Island, charged with first- and second-degree murder in the deaths of three Gilgo Beach victims — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. He is also the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Those who worked with her say she was fastidious, impressing some of her clients and annoying others with her attention to detail.
Dominique Vidal, an interior designer who was in a networking company with Rex Human, said he once asked her if she knew about the Gilgo Beach murders.
Toys and stuffed animals have been added to a car where authorities are keeping evidence. Police, FBI and crime lab officials are seen going in and out of Rex Heuerman’s home in Massapequa Park, New York on Sunday afternoon, July 16, 2023.
Those who knew Heuerman have given different descriptions, some seeing him as a successful but troubled Manhattan architect and others as a fearsome loner.
Vidal said he felt ‘uncomfortable’ in Heuermann’s presence – even before learning of his alleged crimes.
When he started leaving her voicemails at the end of February, she said, ‘I assumed he wanted to work something out, but he always made me a little uncomfortable.’
At one point, he recounted, Heuerman seemingly casually brought up the Gilgo Beach massacre.
‘Then I’d say, “Oh, you know he’s just from that area, maybe you know, he’s speaking a local.” [it] And I would find it interesting.
‘But now I see it as a serial killer trying to put it in someone’s mouth.’
In a TikTok video, Vidal revealed a voicemail Heuermann left at the end of February – after she left the networking group – and said it felt ‘weird’ that he was calling her.
‘I found it strange that he was calling me, because he had no work for me, I had no work for him, no ongoing relationship, we were just two people who were in the same networking group.’
‘There’s nothing incredibly scary about the voicemail, the fact that he’s the Gilgo Beach killer, but yeah, enjoy the idea, I guess.’
Heuerman’s voice can then be heard in the clip of Vidal as he shares his voicemail screen.
‘Hey, this is Rex from BNI Group. I actually heard you are no longer part of the group, I still want to talk to you, I had a question for you.
‘Um… and wanted to touch base. So if you get a chance you can always find me in the office, or feel free to use my cell [number retracted].
‘Hope you are well, talk to you soon. Thank you.’
In another clip, Vidal said he told Heuerman that he liked true crime and wanted to know if he had a ‘favorite case’. When he brought up the Gilgo Beach murders and she mentioned that he lived in the area, she laughed as he told her: ‘Anyone can be a serial killer’.
‘I can’t stop playing that conversation over and over in my head, and I’m really annoyed,’ she said.
‘I’m still processing it all, thinking over and over how I shook her hand and how her hand felt. And I’m listening to voicemails from him on my phone, and I’m looking at his emails and photos of us all at Christmas parties and photos of him at our networking meetings, and I just see a monster hiding in plain sight.
‘It all makes a lot of sense. He was too full of himself.’
Law enforcement sources told Newstimesuk.com Heuerman, an accomplished architect and father of two, has been on their radar since last year.
Prosecutors allege he used Burner’s phone and multiple email accounts to search sites depicting sexual violence, reach out to sex workers and continue the murder investigation.
He also used fake email accounts and phone names to ‘conduct thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography.’
Many of the search terms, prosecutors alleged, focused on violent sexual activity involving minors.
Authorities say Barthelemy’s Berner phone was also used to make ‘tanning phone calls’ to family members in the days after her disappearance, in which a male voice confessed to killing and sexually abusing her.
Investigators gathered at Human’s Long Island home Sunday to collect box upon box of evidence loaded into large vehicles.
Personnel from multiple agencies appeared to be on the scene at the suspected serial killer’s residence. Some wore masks, hairnets, gloves and plastic coats as they handled the sensitive materials.
Police, FBI and crime lab officials were seen going in and out of Rex Heuerman’s home Sunday afternoon.
An aerial shot of Rex Heuerman in suburban New York
Investigators visited the scene at Rex Human’s Long Island home on Sunday
Children’s toys and stuffed animals were loaded into a car where law enforcement authorities were storing evidence Sunday afternoon
Authorities from various branches of law enforcement appeared to be on the scene Sunday afternoon to collect boxes and boxes of evidence at Human’s Long Island home.
Dominic Vidal told ABC7 he was at a networking event with the 59-year-old architect in February and soon after she started leaving him voicemails that made him feel ‘uncomfortable’.
The suspect’s home sits directly north of Gilgo Beach across South Oyster Bay
The calls were later traced to a location near Human’s Manhattan office.
In that office, Heuermann built a reputation redeveloping the New York City skyline, and Heuermann himself says he worked for Catholic Charities, the NYC Department of Environmental Protection Sewage Treatment, American Airlines, and other major tenants of John F. Kennedy. International Airport.
‘For more than 20 years, RH has been adding beauty and structure with concept-driven design at multiple scales, from educational facilities, residential work as well as mixed-use and office design, public works and master planning,’ reads the firm’s website.
‘RH actively supports historic landmark preservation as well as sustainability,’ the site adds, noting that it has over 30 years of service with the New York City Building Code, the New York City Department of Buildings and all major city agencies.’
Among the firm’s recent projects is the new Target store in Manhattan’s upscale SoHo Cast Iron District.
For that project, Heuerman’s firm collaborated with Target’s design team to integrate the store’s aesthetic into the affluent neighborhood.
It added elevators and escalators to the historic landmark-designated property, built in 1884, renovated multiple floors of the building and provided new ADA-compliant entrances for the store.
RH also collaborated with Burlington Coat Factory to build its latest store in Brooklyn, and worked closely with a homeowner on a full-scale renovation of a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment overlooking Central Park West.
‘(He’s) a gem to deal with, very knowledgeable,’ said Steve Kramberg, a property manager in Brooklyn who worked with Human for 30 years.
She described him as a ‘big goofy guy’ who was ‘a bit on the nerdy side’, revealed as a dedicated worker who was detailed in his work.
But not all of Human’s projects proved popular.
Heuermann’s recent projects include the new Target store in Manhattan’s upscale SoHo Cast Iron District and a Burlington Coat Factory store in Brooklyn.
He worked closely with a homeowner on a full-scale renovation of a two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartment overlooking Central Park West (pictured).
In 2007, more than two dozen families were booted from their dilapidated apartment building in Harlem after Heuerman falsely marked it as vacant.
According to the New York Daily News, Heuerman was hired to renovate the seven-story building, which had more than 700 open housing code violations.
Paul Tietelbaun, a former president of the board of a building that hired Heuerman to renovate, also said he displayed an attitude: ‘I’m the expert, you’re lucky to have me.’
He added, ‘(He) was a really cold and distant person, kind of creepy.’
Another board member, Kelly Parisi, echoed this when she recalled how the building’s managers eventually fired Heuerman because he was ‘too rude’ and ‘antagonistic with everyone’.
Drone footage of Heuerman’s home shows police outside the one-story building
Investigators were seen removing various items outside Human’s Massapequa home on Saturday as they tried to see if any ‘trophies’ were left behind from his alleged victims.
New York state police removed a large cache of weapons from Heuerman’s Long Island home to search the property to determine if he had left behind any ‘trophies’ from his three victims.
Some neighbors at Heuerman’s dungeon-like home in suburban Massapequa Park also said they found him creepy.
Mike Schmidt, who has lived in the neighborhood for a decade, said he often visits his friend whose property is returned to Humane.
He said that when they drank beer in the backyard, they would look at the house and comment: ‘There’s probably his body over there.’
Schmidt recalls that while children often avoid haunted houses on Halloween, last year she and her friend took their children to the house — purely to satisfy their curiosity and look inside.
She said they were greeted at the door by Heuerman, who surprised the kids with a full candy pumpkin.
However, Schmidt told the Times that his wife was horrified to find out where the candy came from, forcing him to throw it away.
Another resident, Tara Alonzo, recounts a disturbing run-in she had with Heuerman at the Whole Foods where she works in Long Island.
She told Newstimesuk.com that she stole the oranges from the store’s kids club, where parents leave their children while they shop. When he confronted the staff, he said, he replied: ‘If I was wearing a suit like I wear most days, you wouldn’t be talking to me like that.’
He said he then walked out of the store with five or six oranges in hand, leaving staff confused by the ‘strange’ customer.
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