Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann is a ‘major target’ for a jailhouse attack leading accused killer to stay in solitary to review his court case four hours and ‘maintain his grooming standards’

Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann is believed to be a “prime target” for inmates at the maximum-security New York prison where he is currently in solitary confinement, officials admitted.

Accused serial killer Heuermann, 59, has spent most of his days in a small windowless cell at the Riverhead Jail since his arrest in July 2023, awaiting trial.

“We have very good information that he would be the target of violence if he were not in a secure location,” Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. said. from Suffolk County. Newsday.

“There was someone who said if he could get in close contact with him, ‘I’m going to do something.’

“Prisoners in prison don’t like prisoners who abuse women or children,” he added. “Due to the nature of his case, which is receiving a lot of attention, there is a duty to keep him safe because justice will be served in the courts and not in my prison.”

Between 1996 and 2011, the remains of eleven people were found on Gilgo Beach, Long Island, and Heuermann is accused of being the serial killer behind four of the deaths.

All known victims were sex workers advertising on Craigslist.

Toulon, who runs operations at the prisons in Riverhead and Yaphank, said Heuermann has lived in a special unit where only one other inmate lives, and the two do not communicate.

The sheriff described Heuermann’s daily routine to Newsday. He said the former architectural consultant and Massapequa Park resident now wakes up in his cell at 6 a.m. before being served breakfast and the opportunity to shower in his cell.

He can also use the prison’s in-house barber shop – which explains the new haircut Heuermann had when he last appeared in court earlier this month – a short cut on the sides with longer hair on top.

“He maintains his grooming standards,” Toulon said.

“He’s used to it,” the sheriff added. “I can tell you he’s slimmed down a bit. I don’t know if it’s our food. I know he’s eating.’

Heuermann is then given a laptop with which he can access court documents, or he is taken to the prison library, but he can only enter if no other inmates are present. He also has access to 26 television channels, newspapers and books.

At an earlier hearing, the accused killer told Superior Court Judge Timothy Mazzei that he spends two to three hours every day reviewing discovery documents from prosecutors to plan his defense.

Toulon added that Heuermann regularly walks in the prison’s recreation area, which also has basketball courts and pull-up equipment, and chooses to have weekly meetings with a member of the Catholic clergy.

According to Toulon, Heuermann has had no behavioral problems so far. “He is following all directions given to him by all correctional officers and supervisors,” the sheriff told Newsday.

The inmate’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, who filed for divorce six days after his arrest, has visited him in prison three times in the past six months, Toulon said, adding that a mysterious person who is not a family member also visited him visited three times. time.

Ellerup, along with a camera crew from her ex, has also appeared at her ex’s court hearings to observe developments in his case.

She reportedly signed a seven-figure deal with NBC Universal, Texas Crew Productions and G-Unit to appear in a documentary about the case.

Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael J Brown, previously emphasized that he has never been arrested and has maintained his innocence since the case began.

He has pleaded not guilty to the murders of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Lynn Costello, whose remains were found near Gilgo Beach 13 years ago.

Last week he was hit with a fourth murder case linked to the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose remains were found near those of the other victims, which he also denied.

The remains of the women, all sex workers, were found along Ocean Parkway.

During his last court hearing, Heuermann’s internet history came under scrutiny, and his lawyer defended him by claiming his “sadistic” searches do not mean he is a murderer.

“When you search the Internet, ask yourself what you’re looking for on your computers and phones,” attorney Michael Brown told reporters Tuesday after Heuermann was charged with killing a fourth Long Island woman.

“One thing leads to another: you see a program about something, you start searching, and they talk about how someone was murdered… You start searching, and then they talk about another way, and you start searching.” , Brown added. .

“Imagine if they looked at your own personal search history, suddenly you were guilty because of your search history?”

Investigators say they found dozens of alarming Internet searches on a burner phone and email account Heuermann used under the name “Thomas Hawk.”

The searches included “torture redhead porn,” “girl with beaten up face,” “chubby 10-year-old girl crying,” and “Asian twink tied up.”

Earlier this month, Heuermann was charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, a 25-year-old sex worker who disappeared in 2007.

Last summer he was accused of murdering three of the ‘Gilgo Beach four’: Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy.

He denies all allegations and his lawyer Brown has claimed that the DNA testing is not infallible.

Brown said: “He has maintained his innocence from day one. We had announced in advance that it was coming, I explained it to him. He said, “I’m not guilty,” he looks forward to fighting these charges.

‘All along we have been told that the evidence is not suitable for nuclear DNA testing. There are testimonials, laboratory reports that said it was unable to perform nuclear DNA testing.

“Those statistics are not very convincing.”

Heuermann must appear in court again in February.