In April 2011, just a few months after the discovery of the remains of four women buried near Gilgo Beach on Long Island’s South Shore, several experts and criminologists sketched out for The New York Times the characteristics they expected. which can be seen by a suspect.
The women, who were wrapped in sacks and buried within a quarter-mile of each other at a site where the remains of a total of 11 people were eventually found, were likely killed by a white man in his mid-20s to mid-40s, they said. He is married or has a girlfriend. He is educated and well spoken. He is financially secure, has a job, owns an expensive car or truck, and lives or lives near the location of the remains.
On Friday, details began to emerge about Rex Heuermann, who was arrested and charged with murdering three of the women. Prosecutors said he was the prime suspect in the death of the fourth woman. Mr. Heuermann, 59, is a married white man who works as an architect in Manhattan and lives in Massapequa Park, about 15 miles from Gilgo Beach. He had a Chevrolet Avalanche truck at the time of the murders, prosecutors said.
None of this proves that Mr. Heuermann is the serial killer, and experts note that profiles are often used to evaluate individuals who have already come to the attention of investigators. But the similarities did not go unnoticed by some experts who put together the 2011 profile.
“When I heard the news yesterday, I had to smile to myself because this is what I predicted,” Scott Bonn, a criminologist, author and serial-killer researcher who has talked about the Gilgo Beach murders, said. in a telephone interview on Saturday.
Mr. Heuermann, who is being held without bail at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility in Riverhead, NY, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His lawyer said outside court on Friday that he denies committing the murders.
The attorney, Michael Brown, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday night. On Saturday morning, the block around Mr. Heuermann remains closed by police to all but residents. Several box trucks were parked outside the house to remove the items gathered for evidence.
Profiling killers is not an exact science. And the picture drawn by experts in 2011 describes many men who live on Long Island and commute to Manhattan for work.
“The thing about serial killers — at least the most prolific ones — is that they’re always remarkably ordinary,” said James Alan Fox, a professor at Northeastern University who has studied serial killers for more than 40 years. years.
“You can’t use a profile to find the killer,” Mr. Fox said, adding that there are cases where the profiles are incorrect.
In 2011, Dr. Bonn, a former assistant professor of sociology at Drew University in Madison, NJ, predicted that the killer would be “someone who walks into a room and looks like your average Joe.”
The man would be organized, he believed, and careful in his work. He told The Times that the killer was likely to be “persuasive and rational enough” to persuade his victims to meet him on his terms.
Dr. Bonn said Saturday that he was not surprised to learn about Mr. Heuermann’s profession. “Who is more organized, who is more meticulous, than someone who studies engineering and architecture?” he said. Mr. Heuermann must be persuaded to sell his expertise, he added.
Prolific serial killers tend to be very careful not to leave evidence behind and hide in plain sight, blending into their communities, experts said.
“They usually have jobs and families and they’re killing part-time,” Mr. Fox said. “This is not their only activity in life.”
Those who worked with Mr. Heuermann said he was extremely hardworking, impressing some clients while exasperating others with his attention to detail. Some of his neighbors described him as a “moderate” man who they would not consider “anything but a businessman.” To others, he was a man to be avoided – a beaming, tall individual they could see in the front yard of a low-lying, dilapidated house.
“We cross the street,” said Nicholas Ferchaw, 24, a neighbor. “He’s someone you don’t want to be around.”
Serial killers may have conflicting personalities, said Dr. Bonn.
“These individuals lived parts of life,” he said, noting that Mr. Heuermann “obviously worked very hard — had his own architecture firm and took his bag, got on the train, went in the city every day, went to Manhattan and can function.
“But then,” he says, “it’s almost like they flip a switch and become another individual entirely.”
Corey Kilgannon contributed to the report.