Two victims of the New York Gilgo Seashore serial killer — a Black mom and her 2-year-old baby — stand out as the one African-People linked to the case that was blown extensive open with the arrest of a New York architect this month, and now police in South Carolina are investigating whether or not there are hyperlinks between the suspect and a lacking Black teenager.
An unidentified lady solely generally known as “Peaches” or “The Lady with the Peach Tattoo” was present in Lakeview, New York, close to Hempstead Lake State Park in June 1997. Peaches was decapitated, and solely her torso was discovered. The stays of her 2-year-old daughter have been present in 2011 together with extra of Peach’s stays. They’re believed to be victims of the Gilgo Seashore killer.
The our bodies of three extra girls, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, have been present in December of 2010 on Lengthy Island alongside Ocean Parkway, however the killer was not caught on the time.
The Suffolk County Police lastly arrested a suspect, 59-year-old New York Metropolis architect Rex Heuermann, on July 13. He was charged in reference to the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello on July 21 after two of the victims’ cellphones have been utilized by Heuermann, police say.
The three victims reportedly have been intercourse staff, and following Barthelemy’s demise, Heuermann taunted her household with cellphone calls in 2009 on a number of events and admitted to killing and raping her, police declare. He’s additionally a suspect within the demise of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who disappeared in 2007. There have been ten our bodies present in complete close to Gilgo Seashore.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison referred to as Heuermann “a demon,” in keeping with ABC Information.
“Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks amongst us,” mentioned Harrison. “A predator that ruined households.”
Heuermann grew to become the prime suspect after a male hair discovered within the burlap Waterman’s physique was wrapped in was matched to the DNA lifted from a pizza crust thrown away by Heuermann final January. He allegedly performed hundreds of searches for “intercourse staff, sadistic, torture-related pornography and baby pornography” on his burner telephones. He grew to become a suspect after a Chevrolet Avalanche was seen close to the place Costello disappeared and tracked to Heuermann in 2022.
“Peaches” was given the title attributable to a tattoo on her breast of a peach with a chew taken out of it. The tattoo was utilized in an try and determine her. Her torso was present in a plastic bin close to Hempstead Lake State Park on June 28, 1997. Extra skeletal stays and that of her 2-year-old daughter have been present in 2011 close to Ocean Parkway and Jones Seashore State Park.
The police division in Cellular, Alabama, shared Peaches’ tattoo on Fb final yr and famous they have been in search of family and friends members of the late Elijah “Lige” Howell or Howard. Elijah lived in Prichard, Alabama, along with his spouse Carrie and handed away in 1963, in keeping with the Lengthy Island Press. It’s unclear why the police are in search of individuals who knew Elijah, but it surely’s potential he was associated to the sufferer and will assist determine Peaches.
“His relations might be able to help within the case of a girl and baby present in one other state,” wrote the investigators. “Does this tattoo look acquainted?”
Investigators have been capable of decide from DNA that the 2-year-old was Peaches’ baby, and the Gilgo Seashore killer is also known as the Lengthy Island Serial Killer. Retired Nassau County Police Det. Lt. William Brosnan the lead Murder Squad investigator on the case mentioned on the time, “Any individual’s lacking a baby and a grandchild.”
Peaches is believed to have been between 20 and 30 years of age.
Police are additionally investigating Heuermann’s potential connection to the disappearance of 18-year-old Aaliyah Bell. Bell disappeared from Rock Hill, South Carolina, in November 2018. Heuermann reportedly owned vacant tons 20 miles from the place Bell was final seen two days earlier than Thanksgiving, in keeping with WSCO-TV9.
Rock Hill Lt. Michael Chavis confirmed the investigation to ABC Information and famous there was nothing to determine Heuermann as a suspect but.
“Our investigators have been reviewing any data to see if there’s a correlation between the disappearance of Aaliyah Bell and Rex Heuermann,” wrote Chavis. “To this point there is no such thing as a indication that leads us to determine Heuermann as a suspect on this case. We’ll proceed to analyze Bell’s disappearance and observe up on all ideas and leads.”
Investigators have been looking Heuermann’s Massapequa Park house on New York’s Lengthy Island for a number of days, and police in Las Vegas are additionally investigating whether or not he might be concerned in any of their unsolved instances.
His spouse filed for divorce on July 19, six days after his arrest, on the Suffolk County Supreme Courtroom.
