A former Long Island escort who used to date accused Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann said he “got off” when he spoke about his victims.
In an interview with the New York Daily newssaid Nicole Brass, 34, about a decade ago, when she would “date” Heuermann, he would chat about the then relatively recent and unsolved murders.
“He asked me if I’m a real crime buff… We talked briefly about other serial killers, and then he said, ‘Did you hear about the Gilgo Beach murders? That’s when he got really weird.'”
Heuermann then tried to lure the escort, who was struggling with an opioid addiction at the time, back to a private compound.
Heuermann was arrested last week and charged with the murders of three of the 11 eleven victims found along a desolate stretch of land near Gilgo Beach on Long Island.
Suffolk County prosecutors say they expect to charge him in connection with at least one of the other murders. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Former escort Nicole Brass, 34, discussed her date with accused Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann, who said excitedly told her details of the mysterious 2015 murders
Heuermann, 59, is charged with killing three of the 11 Gilgo Beach victims. He is currently being held without bail at the Suffolk County Jail
She said she met Heuermann through a website similar to BackPage – a site for escorts. He wanted to meet her in a hotel room near Massapequa Park.
“I was in my early twenties at the time and I was addicted and didn’t really think about safety. I was thinking to get money. So I went on dates with rich guys and made them pay me for my time.’
Brass said meeting just the two of them didn’t sit well with her, so she asked to go out to dinner instead.
“He said he’d get a room. I didn’t feel comfortable not meeting in public or in an area I wasn’t familiar with, so I convinced him to meet me in Port Jeff,” she said.
They met at Steamroom, a seafood restaurant in Port Jefferson, where they chatted at the table.
“At first he seemed completely normal. He talked about his job and just seemed perfectly normal — until he brought up the Gilgo Beach murders,” she said.
‘He brought [the Gilgo Beach murders] on his own.’
She said the accused killer became more animated talking about the mysterious murders and brought up several details that Brass, who had been following the cases, hadn’t heard.
“I was following the case and he mentioned one of the girls I hadn’t heard from. It seemed like he was talking about it from experience, not point of view,’ she said.
Suffolk County Police Department and police recruits search a stretch of beach near where human remains were found more than a decade ago
A general view of Gilgo Beach on July 18, 2023 in Babylon, New York
An aerial view of Heuermann’s home in Massapequa, where box trucks and investigators have been planted in recent days to gather evidence
Brass said she was very shocked by the conversation she had with Heuermann in 2015. “It didn’t seem like someone who feels bad when he talks about the victims. It seemed like someone who really wanted to brag about what they were doing but couldn’t,” she said
She added that the Manhattan architect seemed to have no empathy for the dead women and was almost thrilled about their deaths.
“It didn’t seem like someone who feels bad when he talks about the victims. It seemed like someone who really wanted to brag about what they were doing, but couldn’t,” said Brass.
“When he spoke, something about his body language changed, the look in his eyes changed, and it seemed like talking about the victims was fun for him.
“When he talked about it, it was almost like he visualized it in his head and started what he said.”
The former escort said she found the experience extremely upsetting and moved to end the dinner as soon as possible.
“The way he talked about it was really weird, and it gave me the worst gut feeling. I was so scared at the end of it. I didn’t try to keep the dinner going for long after that,” she recalls.
After the meal, Heuermann tried to convince Brass to leave her car in the parking lot and join him in the room he had reserved. She said he was upset when she refused.
“He was like, leave your car; come into mine. He was adamant that I left my car behind. In hindsight, he didn’t want to have to kill someone and get off his car,” she said.
An entrance to Gilgo Beach captured on July 18, 2023. Nearby, Rex Heuermann is believed to have buried nearly a dozen victims over the years
Crime scene detectives continue to work nearly 24 hours a day at Heuermann’s Long Island home
New York State Police troopers stand guard as police search Heuermann’s home
Several years later, Brass told a friend of her fiancé’s about the unpleasant encounter.
The friend, Francis Donoghue, confirmed Brass’s story to the Daily News, saying Heuermann’s arrest last week was “quite shocking.”
“To have it verified like that, that’s actually pretty amazing.”
Brass said she never contacted authorities about her suspicions about Heuermann because she was on parole on a drug felony charge at the time.
“I am a criminal and had a history and did not want to deal with the police. I think he went after girls who were addicted or had a criminal record, or someone who was less likely to talk to the police.
‘When I saw him being arrested, I almost felt relieved, but I was also like – Holy s***, I was right,” she said. “Maybe I should have talked to the police, but I knew they wouldn’t listen to me.”