Rex Heuermann’s family defend creepy crime scene scrapbook found on kitchen table as Gilgo Beach cops continue search of their home
- Police found Death Scenes: a homicide detective’s scrapbook on the kitchen table
- Family lawyer tells DailyMail.com: ‘It’s not against the law to have books’
The attorney representing the children of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann has defended their apparent possession of a creepy book containing crime scene photos from several murders.
Police continue to search the family’s home in Massapequa Park, Long Island, but have not yet revealed what exactly they are looking for.
Heuermann was arrested in July and initially charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, in 2010 and 2011.
Investigators and state police swarmed the Massapequa Park home of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann (photo in court in February) with a new search warrant
In February, he was also charged with the murder of 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
The women he allegedly killed were among 11 victims whose bodies were found along the Long Island coastline between 2009 and 2011.
Police sources told Fox News yesterday family still had a copy with death scenes: a murder detective’s scrapbook, on the family kitchen table.
It had been inventoried as part of the initial search in July last year and returned to the family.
The book is a compilation of photos from the career of a California homicide detective.
Why the Heuermann’s had it, or which of them bought it, remains unknown.
According to police sources, the police found this book on the kitchen table in the parental home. Written by a former LAPD homicide detective, the book features gruesome photographs of the crimes he investigated
Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is ‘incapable’ of the brutal murders he is accused of, according to his estranged wife Asa Ellerup (pictured)
Christopher (left) and Victoria (right) have reportedly been crying themselves to sleep since their father’s arrest as police tear apart their Long Island home
The first victim, 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy, was discovered by Suffolk County police on December 11, 2010. The body of Megan Waterman, 22, of Maine, was found two days later.
Heuermann is also accused of the murders of Amber Costello (left) and Maureen Brainard-Barnes (right)
It is not clear at this time what prompted the search of the Long Island property or what officials were looking for, but multiple law enforcement agencies were present, including a command center.
In a statement to DailyMail.com, Vess Mitev, the lawyer representing 26-year-old Victoria Heuermann and 33-year-old Christopher Sheridan, said neither he nor his clients had “knowledge” of such a book.
He then offered a possible defense of them.
“It’s not against the law to have books!” he said.
Investigators have long maintained that Heuermann, an architect who worked in Manhattan, committed the sex worker murders while his family was out of town.
His estranged wife Asa continues to attend court hearings, neither in his defense nor in support of the victims.
Instead, she says she wants to hear all the evidence before forming an opinion.
Heuermann is accused of targeting the women by meeting them through their advertisements.
He is also accused of tormenting the victims’ families after killing them.
White tents are set up outside the Massapequa Park home on First Avenue as NYS Troopers block the street