12 and
a half
years ago, the bodies of four people
were found over several days
buried near a remote
beach on New York's Long Island.
All four women were women
murdered, wrapped in burlap
They were eventually identified
as Melissa Barthelemy,
Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard, Barnes
and Sambolin Costello.
And they were not the only ones
in the year
that followed
investigators will uncover
seven more sets of human remains
across two Long Island counties,
bringing the total to 11.
But there were few clues.
The case went cold.
No arrests. Were made until now.
Tonight, the remarkable story
of how authorities came first to suspect
and then build a six
count murder case against a 59 year
old married architect
with two children of his own
in a home in a quiet
Long Island neighborhood.
Miguel Marquez joins us
now from outside the suspect's home.
Miguel,
Anderson, I want to show you
some of what's been happening
outside his home.
This case,
these unsolved murders have just gripped
Long Island
and so many people for so long
police have been out here all day
going through his home,
bringing out tons of evidence.
And even though
they've only brought charges
regarding three of those deaths,
near Kilgore Beach, it has been received
with enormous relief
to help here.
I'm standing here with my law enforcement
partners in the Gilbert Task Force
to announce
the indictment of defendant Rex Andrew.
Sex workers found tied up
their bodies wrapped in camouflage
burlap dumped near Guillot
Beach on New York's Long Island.
When I took office in January of 20,
22, I made Gil go a priority.
The kill go
beach murders
traumatized and captivated Long Island,
just east of New York.
City, for more than a decade.
Now, the suspect as unthinkable
as the murders themselves.
This is a shock to many lives here.
I mean, I've seen some things,
but this is worth it.
Rex Schuerman
59, charged with three murders today.
The investigation continuing.
He faces a possible fourth murder charge.
Investigators say they identified
human using DNA
from the bodies of the victims
and from witness
descriptions of him
and the car
he drove Investigators obtained
hundreds of search warrants and subpoenas
linking human
to temporary burner phones
and fake email accounts.
Investigators allege
he used them to communicate
with his victims,
taunt the family of one of them,
and search for information
related to the investigation
into the long unsolved murders.
We recognize that these crimes
may have happened years ago,
but that pain continues.
Investigators biggest break came
when they were surveilled
human at his midtown Manhattan office.
He was eating pizza and discarded it
in a public trashcan.
DNA from the pizza crust
say investigators linked human
to the murders.
Human has been charged
with the murders of Melissa
Barthelemy, Amber Lynn
Costello and Megan Waterman.
All sex workers, all on their toes.
The investigation is continuing,
and he has also been named
as a suspect in the murder of Marine
Raynard Barnes.
In all,
there were 11 bodies
found in and around Gill
Beach, only three
and possibly a fourth
now linked to one alleged killer.
So far,
investigators say
they made the arrest now
because they feared human
could strike again.
One of the reasons
why we had to take this case down
was we learned that the defendant
was using these alternate
identities and these
alternate instruments
to continue to patronize sex workers.
Rex Human has pled not guilty and insists
through his lawyer that he's innocent.
He is an unlikely suspect,
a husband, father of two,
an architect working in Manhattan
dealing with arcane building codes.
In February 20, 22,
he was even interviewed about his job
for a YouTube show.
Recommend an architect.
I'm an architectural consultant.
I'm a troubleshooter.
Born and raised on Long Island.
As for the several other victims
found near Guillot Beach,
many of their family members
hope this will lead to answers
about their loved ones.
Were they victims as well?
I'm hopeful for the future,
and I'm hopeful that a connection is made
What more investigators
saying about the suspect
and his alleged crimes
My God,
the more you dig into
this, Anderson,
it is just shocking
how much investigators have put out there
and some
some seriously incredible
investigative work that they have done.
They're saying that
this guy became increasingly brazen
through all of this,
saying that
he was using burner phones to search
about the investigation itself.
And with regard to that one taunting,
that he'd use a burner phone
to call a relative of Melissa Barthelemy
telling that person
that he had both sexually assaulted
and killed Melissa Barthelemy.
Just shocking Anderson.
So incredible.
Miguel Marquez, appreciate it.
Joining us
now is Suffolk County District
Attorney Raymond Tierney,
who you saw there in Miguel's piece.
Mr.
Tierney,
thank you so much for joining us
on this evening.
What initially led you to this suspect?
Was there a first clue that was sort of
an aha moment?
Well, I took office in January of 20, 22.
Of course,
the investigation had been going on
for about 12 years.
So we did sort of a soup to nuts
analysis of the case
and we looked at some of the old evidence
and then we factored into some
some new evidence, specifically
some information
with regard to a car
that the defendant owned.
And we able to plug that
into existing phone evidence
as well as the sum of the hairs
that were left on the murder victims
and I think
March 14th of of 20, 22 was, was
when we really focused on this defendant
and not had been the first time
that this defendant
had ever been identified as a suspect
in these murders.
Well, so he wasn't even identified
as a suspect early on.
It was it was March of 20, 22.
That was the first
time he was identified as a suspect.
That's correct.
And when did
you know for sure, in your opinion,
that he was the killer?
Well, I mean, I think that there's
you know, it
just kept on getting more
and more interesting.
I think if you look at the defendant.
Yes, he's a he's a he's
a very large person
with with the distinctive
appearance of the witnesses
at the time of Ambling Costello's
disappearance, really described
the person that looked
that that appeared very much
like the defendant.
He owned a particular vehicle,
a Chevy Avalanche.
FBI agents back in 20, 2012
established areas of interest of phone
usage in
both Massapequa Park and New York City,
where it appeared
as though
the the murderer was making phone calls.
And this constrained area
was exactly where this defendant
lived as well. As where he worked.
So, you know,
we kept on putting these things together,
stringing them together.
Then, of course,
following him,
obtaining the abandonment sample,
and then being able to link up
some of the DNA
samples left at the scene
with the profiles
of both the defendant and his relatives
was was very helpful.
Can you say how long you were
following him for,
like like physically following him or.
Well, it's very difficult
to follow somebody. 24.
Seven. Yeah.
But, you know,
we had the resources of our task
force, fortunately.
So we had the resources,
but Suffolk County P.D.
in this instance, as well as the FBI.
So we were
we were physically surveilling him.
And then we have ways of
electronically surveilling people,
which I don't really want to go into.
But so we were,
you know, the combination of the two,
you know, we were gathering evidence.
We felt comfortable.
But then we got to the point where,
you know,
the interest in gathering evidence
didn't override
our our, you know, concern
for public safety,
given his activities
and how much I mean,
in the 12
and half years, there's
obviously been
a lot of technological advances
and changes in DNA, DNA.
How much of
the technological changes
in that time frame
have been instrumental and help help it?
Well, I think the thing
that's really extraordinary
about the case is the FBI,
the cast agent, he did a phenomenal job.
And he really back in 2012,
you know,
he set the course
for the cell site evidence.
You know, the the women were
were out in in a tough environment.
For a long period of time.
So there was not a lot
of forensic evidence.
But the hairs that we got in in 2010
I'm sorry, 2011 you
you couldn't use
traditional DNA analysis methods.
So the DNA technology improved
where you could now go from that.
You couldn't use
what's what's known
as traditional
nuclear DNA testing,
which you could do
mitochondrial DNA testing.
And as we got into,
you know,
the late teens
and into the early twenties, now,
the the technology caught up
to where we could do
that, which was very fortunate
routinely to extraordinary work.
Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
Thank you. Thank you, Anderson.