Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann linked to Suffolk County gun club near where victims' remains found
MANORVILLE, N.Y. -- Pictures of a younger Rex Heuermann are providing new evidence that the accused Gilgo Beach serial killer was familiar with a remote part of Suffolk County, where victims' remains were dumped.
CBS New York on Wednesday spoke with a gun club member who remembers the hulking Heuermann competing in shooting events.
The public has only seen him facing charges in the murders of six women, but shooting instructor Ira Ruderman remembers Heuermann as an affable, high-powered gun enthusiast who regularly competed and volunteered as a coach at the Peconic River Sportsman's Club.
"You don't miss him in a room. So when it came up on he news, I'm like, 'Oh, he has been at some of our events,'" Ruderman said.
Months ago, police asked for gun club records as they returned to the Manorville woods to re-examine the murders of Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack. Their dismembered bodies were left there two decades ago. Heuermann was charged in the killing of Taylor and another woman, Sandra Costilla, last Thursday.
Gun club records show Heuermann took part in public shooting competitions and courses in the early 2000s in Manorville -- at Peconic River Sportsman's Club.
"There it was. He attended some events. I was kind of surprised that his named popped up as often as it did. I guess it just places him in the area, that he knew the area," Ruderman said.
"It's a tremendous, direct piece of evidence"
Heuermann participated in one event at Peconic River the day before Taylor disappeared. Prosecutors say his own shorthand in a bone-chilling planning document found in his home on an erased hard drive noted dump sites.
"It's a tremendous, direct piece of evidence for the case," said Fred Klein, a law professor at Hofstra University.
None of it is shocking to Klein, who prosecuted serial killer Joe Rivkin, another Long Islander who changed his M.O.
"He also would dismember them and dispose of the body parts in different locations," Klein said. "He eventually learned to dispose of these people in remote areas, various areas, and I think Heuermann is very similar."
Heuermann has maintained his innocence. His family claims if he's guilty, he was living a double life and they knew nothing.
That claim that will be challenged Thursday, when an attorney for several victims is expected to release what he calls new evidence regarding Heuermann's family members.