Suffolk County, N.Y., prosecutors have listed violent porn and meticulous planning as factors for the court to weigh in a recent bail hearing in the Gilgo Beach serial murder case. Rex Heuermann is accused of a three-decade-long killing spree that took the lives of six women. Heuermann was arrested in July 2023.
Heuermann, the alleged killer, will be back in court later this July as evidence continues to be sorted and revealed. Suffolk County prosecutor Nicholas Santomartino has now made the defense’s job harder by presenting evidence that, if tied to the defendant in court, would show clear premeditation.
“One murder is obviously horrific, and it’s a difficult thing to defend,” defense attorney Michael Brown said. “And now we’re at six.”
The earliest killing dates back to 1993. Hair samples near discovered remains exclude about 99.96% of the population. While it is circumstantial, Heuermann is in the .0.04% that is not excluded.
The latest bombshell came out in a 32-page filing at a June bail hearing. “Defendant Heuermann is the individual who murdered, stripped, restrained, and transported the remains of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla, as well as the Gilgo Four, until they were each discovered in 1993, 2003, 2010, and 2011.” Investigators have not ruled out the possibility of additional victims.
In addition to increasing the number of victims as details emerge, investigators have discovered a laptop. Beginning in 2000, the suspect compiled a text document with a horror story list of details. Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said, “This was a planning document used by Heuermann to methodically blueprint and plan out his kills with excruciating detail. His intent was specifically to locate these victims, hunt them down to bring them under his control and to kill them.”
The court filing states:
The ...Planning Document continues to further expound on preparatory measures such as specific “RECON” steps taken (see “RECON REPORTS” and “TAKEDOWN/PICKUP” sections embedded below), “packaging [a body] for transport” (see “BODY PREP” section embedded below), and steps to inhibit victim identification and avoid leaving behind DNA evidence (see “BODY PREP” and “DISPOSE OF THE FOLLOWING” sections...
The document even states in all capital letters, “DISTROY [sic] BOOKS AND COMPUTER FILES.” Even though the computer files were deleted, police were able to retrieve them.
One chilling entry, which would rule out anything but premeditation if Heuermann is linked to the computer and victims in court states, “HIT HARDER TOO MANY HIT TO TAKE DOWN. CONSIDER A HIT TO THE FACE OR NECK NEXT TIME FOR TAKE DOWN. ” Prosecutors outlined “NEXT” in red in the court filing to bolster their claims of past actions and future planning.
This document was not the end of the discoveries. Investigators found violent porn on the computer.
An analysis of these devices has revealed Heuermann’s significant collection of violent, bondage, and torture pornography, currently dating back to 1994. The pornographic images accessed by Heuermann include, but are not limited to, breast mutilation, vaginal torture, sex substitution (i.e., penetration with an object), the sexualization of decapitated women, bondage, and whipping, which notably and largely coincide with how the remains of Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor, and Valerie Mack were discovered.
Related: Long Island Serial Killer Suspect Nabbed After 13-Year-Long Investigation
New York State has mostly discarded anti-pornography laws, as have most other states. So this pornography may or may not have been illegal. Pornography on the web and in social media has gone mainstream. Canadian attorney, investor, and ordained rabbi Solomon Friedman, one of the owners of the largest porn websites in the world, even claims that his website can be used as a force for good.
Suffolk County prosecutors will clearly be making a counter-argument in this case. They believe that pornography supercharged someone from being a secret pervert to a premeditated serial killer.
