2 LISK Victims Had Items in their Mouths

Just about every time a prosecution affidavit is submitted in the Long Island Serial Killer (LISK) case, there are details we didn't hear before. This time, the new information came in District Attorney Raymond Tierney's paperwork, which opposed breaking the case into five, separate trials. There were two affidavits, with 66 pages of material.

When detailing the final days of the seven murder victims allegedly linked to Rex Heuermann, the office of Suffolk County DA Tierney wrote this about Amber Costello, last seen alive on September 2, 2010: "A folded shirt was recovered from inside of the victim's oral cavity," referring to Amber Costello's mouth. It's already been established that Amber was wrapped in camouflage burlap, based on the first indictment, but this was the first mention of another material from the crime scene. Amber was discovered in December 2010, close to three other murder victims known as the Gilgo Four.

Amber Costello, 27, was discovered with a shirt folded inside her mouth, according to Suffolk County DA.

Another new detail emerged, when prosecutors spoke about Megan Waterman, 22, found on the same day as Amber Costello along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach. "A paper towel was recovered from the victim's mouth," the affidavit said.

Megan Waterman, 22, was last seen leaving a LI hotel in June 2010. A paper towel was found inside her mouth on Gilgo Beach that December.

And for the first time, the District Attorney's office released a 2009 picture of Rex Heuermann, a photo taken by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles when Heuermann apparently renewed his driver's license. The picture depicts a then-46 year old Heuermann wearing wire-rimmed glasses. The motion noted Amber Costello's roommate had described a client who looked like an "ogre' in their West Babylon home, the day before Amber disappeared. The roommate was part of a ruse to get the john's money, without the man getting his expected services. The witness later told police the client was six foot four to six foot six inches tall, wearing "big oval style 1970's type eyeglasses."

Rex Heuermann, then 46 years old, appears in 2009 photo taken by the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles.

The affidavits noted that, in at least three cases, the alleged killer offered his victims excessive amounts of money for their time and services. A fellow sex worker who knew Melissa Barthelemy told prosecutors a client from Craigslist was willing to give Melissa $1,000, before Barthelemy disappeared from the Bronx on July 10, 2009. Megan Waterman was apparently making a second appointment with a client who had paid her $850. And it's already been revealed that Amber Costello was offered $1,500 by her last client, who advised her to leave her phone and bag at home.

The District Attorney's office is arguing all seven cases should be tried together, because "each count is necessary to complete the narrative of events." DA Tierney believes there was a common scheme involved in luring the victims, alleging Rex Heuermann, an architect from Massapequa Park, had an "overarching modus operandi."

Suffolk County, NY District Attorney Raymond Tierney said “The offenses are properly joined in a single trial.”

Court photo- James Carbone/Newsday.

DA Tierney's team pointed out again that Heuerman allegedly had a "retention of publications covering each of the charged murders" between 1993 and 2010.

Some of the material, newspapers or magazines, was kept in safes in 'pristine' condition.

Newspaper article about the 1993 murder of victim Sandra Costilla was allegedly found among Heuermann’s possessions.

There was also a reference to Valerie Mack, whose dismembered torso was discovered in Manorville in November 2000, as the only victim who may have been killed outside of the home where "the defendant had exclusive use of his Massapequa Park residence" in the other murders.

The District Attorney said in the affidavit his team believes Rex Heuermann deliberately changed up his M.O. for murder, after reading books and magazine articles authored by former FBI profiler John Douglas, known as the "Mind Hunter."

And once again, the DA noted the victims in the charged murders were all petite and in their 20's.

After the recent court hearing, Heuermann's defense attorney, Michael Brown, told reporters not one shred of DNA evidence has linked Heuermann or any victim to the basement in Massapequa Park where prosecutors think most of the tortures and killings took place. Rex Heuermann, now 61, has emphatically pleaded not guilty to all seven murders.

Rex Heuermann’s defense attorney, Michael Brown, made a motion for five, separate trials. Court photo- James Carbone/Newsday.

DA Tierney indicated the current case involves more than 50 witnesses. One of them said the earliest known victim, Sandra Costilla, was last seen when she was dropped off for "work" in Greenwich Village on November 15, 1993. Her body was discovered in the woods of Southampton five days later, on November 20th.