Netflix's Gone Girls: Long Island Serial Killer & How He Almost Got Away With It
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VOICE OVER: Emily Brayton
WRITTEN BY: Tyler Allen
A modern Jack the Ripper haunted Long Island for decades, targeting sex workers while authorities failed to act. Discover how Rex Heuermann evaded capture for so long despite leaving victims along Ocean Parkway. From corruption within Suffolk County PD to public apathy toward the victims, this chilling case exposes how prejudice and incompetence allowed a killer to continue his reign of terror until a DNA breakthrough finally brought him to justice. We examine how the search for Shannan Gilbert uncovered multiple victims, the stigmatization of sex workers that hampered the investigation, and the shocking corruption involving figures like Tom Spota and Jim Burke that potentially enabled Heuermann's continued crimes. Learn how this seemingly ordinary architect managed to hide his dark double life for years.
MM-TV-Gone-Girls:-How-The-Long-Island-Serial-Killer-Almost-Got-Away-With-It_D6R4H8
Serial killers may feel like a long gone spectre of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but the ongoing prosecution of Long Island’s Rex Heuermann[a] proves that the danger is still very real—and most terrifying of all, he nearly got away with it. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re investigating the shocking true story of the Long Island serial killer.
A modern Jack the Ripper, Rex targeted young women engaged in sex work primarily between the ‘90s and 2010’s, and has since been charged in the deaths of seven victims. But what makes this case so viscerally unsettling is just how long he managed to remain undetected. Netflix’s documentary series “Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer” positively identifies the key factors that delayed his comeuppance, each compounding like a sickening gut punch. Despite the determination of the victims’ loved ones to find the perpetrator, it seemed as though they were the only ones looking. Here are the downright disturbing reasons why the Long Island serial killer was provided a fertile hunting ground for decades, and exactly who might have enabled his abominable streak.
As the “Gilgo[b] Four” were ID’ed, the commonalities became blatant. Melissa Barthelemy,[c] Maureen Brainard-Barnes[d], Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman: these young women all had one thing in common, they had engaged in prostitution—a key term that became deeply stigmatized throughout the investigation. Public sentiment began to shift from “lock your doors” to “as long as you don’t participate in that line of work, he won’t come after you.” This attitude permeated the county, echoing throughout the greater New York area and reinforcing a primitive sense of disdain for sex workers. While it was undoubtedly tragic that these young women had lost their lives, there was a worrisome sense of collective relief that these victims supposedly “brought it on themselves.” 6 more sets of scattered remains, including those of a toddler, were found the following year, until remnants of Shannan were finally unearthed. Although her death remains a mystery and has not been linked to the Long Island Serial killer case, it would take 13 years for an arrest in the other slayings to occur. So why did it take over a decade to crack the case?
Because sex workers are less likely to come forward and speak with police, investigators should have made greater attempts to reach out to that community. Yet they ignored these valuable men and women, who could have helped thread the story together. In fact, they even began to neglect important collaboration with the victims' mothers as well. Time continued to tick on with no true leads standing out. The immediate rush of interest dissipated, and a periodic column reminding local newspaper readers that there were no updates became the rule.
Internal politics further tainted the investigation. The DA and retiring Commissioner Tom Spota[e] publicly disagreed on even the most basic principles of this case, such as whether or not one person was responsible for the murders. And the decision to appoint Inspector Jim Burke as Chief of Department was a controversial one. In fact, he’d been recommended for the role by Spota, who had his own blemished track record of forcing dubious confessions in order to get convictions. Incredibly, Spota had worked with Burke in a 1979 murder case to develop a shaky eyewitness testimony that served as the key to scoring another series of convictions.
With Burke heading the Gilgo Beach investigation, Suffolk County PD isolated itself from the neighboring county, state police, and even the FBI, turning away analysis that was underway because it was deemed irrelevant. Directives were even sent out stating that if a member of service was contacted by an external agency, they were to immediately notify their supervisor. It began to feel as if the urgency to contain all information regarding the case was a power-grab at best and a cover-up at worst. And so the conspiracy theories began to pile up.
One of the most shocking speculations to surface was that Burke himself could be responsible for the murders. It was revealed that he’d hired several escorts while the investigation was ongoing, with one woman even describing that interaction at a press conference. In response, Burke quickly lawyered up, with none other than Tom Spota at his side. Another popular theory centered Burke’s attempts to slow the investigation as a means of stifling the ultimate discovery that a close friend of his was the killer. Regardless of whether one subscribed to these theorems, it became clear why the efforts to resolve the case stagnated.
In 2015, Burke was arrested for violently assaulting and threatening the life of a petty offender. While looking into those who’d defended Burke during that investigation, Spota was also taken down for obstruction of justice. The Suffolk County commissioner changed hands multiple times over the next several years, each chipping away at formerly ignored data in the investigation. Finally in 2023, a breakthrough put the rumors to rest and pinpointed the prime suspect.
The married father of 2 had spent his entire life living in that same dilapidated home in the quaint suburb of Massapequa Park. While neighbors felt he was odd and kept to himself, the discovery that a monster had been living among them sent shockwaves through the community. Rex’s coworkers at his NYC architecture firm were just as rattled. During his younger years, he spent a lot of time working at the parks department and as a ranger at the Suffolk beaches. So his knowledge of the area’s blueprints provided all the intel he needed to kickstart his nefarious career as a serial killer.
Rex’s family was also clueless about his double identity, as he found time to be both a family man and a prolific murderer. In a bizarre twist, his wife Asa quickly filed for divorce, but continues to maintain his innocence. Though a trial date has yet to be set, the case of who was responsible appears to be effectively closed. However, the case of why it took so long to stop Rex remains unresolved.
This grim public mindset also bled into the ethos of the police department. Between deep-seated corruption and misprioritized agendas, the case continued to slip out of the jurisdiction’s hands. The troubling realities of which unsolved murders are properly investigated, as well as exactly who is considered worth looking for are both deeply telling. By failing to resolve the case as swiftly as possible, officials also failed the victims, their families, the greater community, and, in a sense, the entire world that watched on. This dangerous precedent that one victim is worth less than another not only enables serial killers to pick off the “low hanging fruit,” but deeply violates the ethics of a department designed to safeguard citizens. So with justice hopefully around the corner, there’s still another layer to this case that needs to be settled. Accountability for the botched investigation, assurance that this can never happen again, and a shift in sentiment that these women and others like them deserve better—that they should never remain gone.
[a]HUE-er-muhn: https://youtu.be/Z5NzqHQ9F8k?si=z98wI8i27EH37M7u&t=11
[b]https://forvo.com/word/gilgo_beach/
[c]Bar-THAW-luh-mee: https://youtu.be/05IzsEMt0eQ?si=AuzUz15grcGAZ5yi&t=80
[d]BRAIN-urd Barnes:
https://youtu.be/GlNqamo7HwA?si=qp2JRFpyWZD3Vi9f&t=184
[e]SPOH-tuh: https://youtu.be/EtwlbBtCDCs?si=GbQPQA-rROb3zf6I
[f]Mary
Serial killers may feel like a long gone spectre of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but the ongoing prosecution of Long Island’s Rex Heuermann[a] proves that the danger is still very real—and most terrifying of all, he nearly got away with it. Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re investigating the shocking true story of the Long Island serial killer.
A modern Jack the Ripper, Rex targeted young women engaged in sex work primarily between the ‘90s and 2010’s, and has since been charged in the deaths of seven victims. But what makes this case so viscerally unsettling is just how long he managed to remain undetected. Netflix’s documentary series “Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer” positively identifies the key factors that delayed his comeuppance, each compounding like a sickening gut punch. Despite the determination of the victims’ loved ones to find the perpetrator, it seemed as though they were the only ones looking. Here are the downright disturbing reasons why the Long Island serial killer was provided a fertile hunting ground for decades, and exactly who might have enabled his abominable streak.
A Discovery
The search for one missing woman, Shannan Gilbert, led to the discovery of a dumping ground that had effectively turned Long Island’s Ocean Parkway into a mass grave. In 2010, skeletal remains were identified off the shoulder of the scenic roadway. But they didn’t belong to Shannan, and neither did the next three sets of body parts police uncovered. The proximity of the bones to one another, along with the fact that they’d been bound in burlap, immediately triggered alarm bells that this was likely the work of one lunatic. As media descended on the story, the serial killer theory stuck. Word rapidly spread around the island that a madman was at large, generating a sense of hysteria that sleepy Suffolk county was no longer safe—that is, only if you’re a sex worker.As the “Gilgo[b] Four” were ID’ed, the commonalities became blatant. Melissa Barthelemy,[c] Maureen Brainard-Barnes[d], Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman: these young women all had one thing in common, they had engaged in prostitution—a key term that became deeply stigmatized throughout the investigation. Public sentiment began to shift from “lock your doors” to “as long as you don’t participate in that line of work, he won’t come after you.” This attitude permeated the county, echoing throughout the greater New York area and reinforcing a primitive sense of disdain for sex workers. While it was undoubtedly tragic that these young women had lost their lives, there was a worrisome sense of collective relief that these victims supposedly “brought it on themselves.” 6 more sets of scattered remains, including those of a toddler, were found the following year, until remnants of Shannan were finally unearthed. Although her death remains a mystery and has not been linked to the Long Island Serial killer case, it would take 13 years for an arrest in the other slayings to occur. So why did it take over a decade to crack the case?
A Crooked Investigation
The elements along the brush, such as the salt water and harsh sun, had stripped the crime scenes of key information. Most of the remains were eventually identified, but three Does remain unaccounted for to this day. Although the story made global news in the early 2010s, it quickly went cold. Under pressure to issue a response, police offered the public… nothing. Despite having a precise location where Shannan was last seen alive, search teams failed to check the marsh because it was deemed wasteful and inhospitable to their efforts. This is even more egregious when considering that Suffolk PD is one of the highest paid forces in the country. When they finally did look there, they found her. And so emerged a trend of the local jurisdiction failing to adequately deliver on their oath to serve and protect.Because sex workers are less likely to come forward and speak with police, investigators should have made greater attempts to reach out to that community. Yet they ignored these valuable men and women, who could have helped thread the story together. In fact, they even began to neglect important collaboration with the victims' mothers as well. Time continued to tick on with no true leads standing out. The immediate rush of interest dissipated, and a periodic column reminding local newspaper readers that there were no updates became the rule.
Internal politics further tainted the investigation. The DA and retiring Commissioner Tom Spota[e] publicly disagreed on even the most basic principles of this case, such as whether or not one person was responsible for the murders. And the decision to appoint Inspector Jim Burke as Chief of Department was a controversial one. In fact, he’d been recommended for the role by Spota, who had his own blemished track record of forcing dubious confessions in order to get convictions. Incredibly, Spota had worked with Burke in a 1979 murder case to develop a shaky eyewitness testimony that served as the key to scoring another series of convictions.
With Burke heading the Gilgo Beach investigation, Suffolk County PD isolated itself from the neighboring county, state police, and even the FBI, turning away analysis that was underway because it was deemed irrelevant. Directives were even sent out stating that if a member of service was contacted by an external agency, they were to immediately notify their supervisor. It began to feel as if the urgency to contain all information regarding the case was a power-grab at best and a cover-up at worst. And so the conspiracy theories began to pile up.
One of the most shocking speculations to surface was that Burke himself could be responsible for the murders. It was revealed that he’d hired several escorts while the investigation was ongoing, with one woman even describing that interaction at a press conference. In response, Burke quickly lawyered up, with none other than Tom Spota at his side. Another popular theory centered Burke’s attempts to slow the investigation as a means of stifling the ultimate discovery that a close friend of his was the killer. Regardless of whether one subscribed to these theorems, it became clear why the efforts to resolve the case stagnated.
In 2015, Burke was arrested for violently assaulting and threatening the life of a petty offender. While looking into those who’d defended Burke during that investigation, Spota was also taken down for obstruction of justice. The Suffolk County commissioner changed hands multiple times over the next several years, each chipping away at formerly ignored data in the investigation. Finally in 2023, a breakthrough put the rumors to rest and pinpointed the prime suspect.
A Killer Unmasked
Police narrowed the search for the killer by tracing cell phone pings on burner phones that had been in touch with victims. They identified a pattern of travel for these devices from midtown Manhattan to a residence in southern Long Island. Through eyewitness testimony of the suspect’s physical description and vehicle, police had a new name: Rex Heurmann. They began to surveil him and uncovered an alarming trend in his behavior that perfectly lined up with the killers. After discarding a pizza box, his DNA was swabbed from the half-eaten crust and matched to evidence found at the crime scenes—a smoking gun.The married father of 2 had spent his entire life living in that same dilapidated home in the quaint suburb of Massapequa Park. While neighbors felt he was odd and kept to himself, the discovery that a monster had been living among them sent shockwaves through the community. Rex’s coworkers at his NYC architecture firm were just as rattled. During his younger years, he spent a lot of time working at the parks department and as a ranger at the Suffolk beaches. So his knowledge of the area’s blueprints provided all the intel he needed to kickstart his nefarious career as a serial killer.
Rex’s family was also clueless about his double identity, as he found time to be both a family man and a prolific murderer. In a bizarre twist, his wife Asa quickly filed for divorce, but continues to maintain his innocence. Though a trial date has yet to be set, the case of who was responsible appears to be effectively closed. However, the case of why it took so long to stop Rex remains unresolved.
Gone Girls
So why the title? Why “Gone Girls”? Well, the young women who’d disappeared at the hands of Rex were effectively gone—gone from this world, gone from social consciousness. A 2020 thriller similarly titled “Lost Girls” is inspired by the efforts of Shannan’s mother Mari[f] to link the grieving families together and raise awareness for their missing girls. Time and time again, the narrative that these women were just escorts dominated the conversation, and their humanity was stripped away.This grim public mindset also bled into the ethos of the police department. Between deep-seated corruption and misprioritized agendas, the case continued to slip out of the jurisdiction’s hands. The troubling realities of which unsolved murders are properly investigated, as well as exactly who is considered worth looking for are both deeply telling. By failing to resolve the case as swiftly as possible, officials also failed the victims, their families, the greater community, and, in a sense, the entire world that watched on. This dangerous precedent that one victim is worth less than another not only enables serial killers to pick off the “low hanging fruit,” but deeply violates the ethics of a department designed to safeguard citizens. So with justice hopefully around the corner, there’s still another layer to this case that needs to be settled. Accountability for the botched investigation, assurance that this can never happen again, and a shift in sentiment that these women and others like them deserve better—that they should never remain gone.
[a]HUE-er-muhn: https://youtu.be/Z5NzqHQ9F8k?si=z98wI8i27EH37M7u&t=11
[b]https://forvo.com/word/gilgo_beach/
[c]Bar-THAW-luh-mee: https://youtu.be/05IzsEMt0eQ?si=AuzUz15grcGAZ5yi&t=80
[d]BRAIN-urd Barnes:
https://youtu.be/GlNqamo7HwA?si=qp2JRFpyWZD3Vi9f&t=184
[e]SPOH-tuh: https://youtu.be/EtwlbBtCDCs?si=GbQPQA-rROb3zf6I
[f]Mary
