Alicia Adams “One of 100’s” on LISK Task Force ‘Cold Case’ List

When Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney sat down for an interview in July, shortly before the one-year anniversary of Rex Heuermann's arrest in the Long Island Serial Killer (LISK) case, he noted "We've expanded the investigation past the crimes charged, past the other bodies in Gilgo."

Now we're getting a sense of just how vast the cold case review actually is.

"Hundreds of people," I was told in the last week. "We have made a big list."

It's clear the list to be evaluated includes murder victims in Nassau County, the five boroughs of New York City, and beyond.

A number of them did sex work.

One of the people on the list is Alicia Adams, 22, a petite woman whose nude body was discovered in a woody area near the eastbound Belt Parkway on June 21, 2013, not far from John F. Kennedy airport in Queens. She was a Black woman with two, small children to provide for.

NYPD flyer seeking information on 2013 Alicia Adams homicide

Investigators learned Alicia was known to street walk near the Galaxy and Linden Hotels in East New York, Brooklyn, about six miles from where her body was found. Witnesses told cops, "They last saw her get into a car like a white Trans Am, kind of outdated. A 'Knight Rider' kind of car." This was in April 2013.

Alicia's decomposing body was found more than two months later.

This was two years after the last, known Gilgo victims were discovered on Ocean Parkway in April 2011.

The retired NYPD detective who originally responded to the crime scene on South Conduit Avenue, a service road to the Belt Parkway, described what she saw.

"Whoever killed Alicia, they just threw her," said the investigator, who didn't want to be identified. "Her hyoid bone was missing. We didn't know if she was choked. We got some DNA."

The detective was horrified by the medical examiner's report on the state of Alicia Adams' remains.

"She had 13 teeth missing," the retired cop recalled.

The detective said she'll always remember the way NYPD cadaver dogs reacted, when they got to the crime scene in the woods off South Conduit Avenue.

They focused on a second area that was just yards from Alicia Adams' decomposing body.

"Two dogs 'hit' another area," the investigator remembered. "They never did an excavation....I know there's other bodies there."

Even though the NYPD cop's belief was never proven, the retired detective had returned with me to the Alicia Adams crime scene in August 2023, a month after Rex Heuermann's arrest. She told me she was still haunted by the unsolved case, ten years later.

"This girl is not at rest," the investigator said.

The eastbound Belt Parkway leads to the Southern State Parkway in Nassau County, which connects with the Wantagh Parkway, a gateway road to Rex Heuermann's home in Massapequa Park, Long Island.

Belt Parkway, close to JFK Airport, leads to Southern State Parkway.

The case number for Alicia Adams' murder is 2013-113-1347, meaning detectives from the 113 Squad in Queens were initially handling the investigation.

Alicia had some prior arrests for prostitution, including one on 47th Street and Eighth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, an area that Rex Heuermann allegedly visited.

This is close to the Port Authority Bus Terminal, the last place where Gilgo/Manorville victim, Jessica Taylor, was seen alive.

The location is also close to a spot where Gilgo/Fire Island victim, Karen Vergata, allegedly did street work. Vergata's two legs washed up near Davis Park on Fire Island in 1996.

Her skull and other limbs were discovered in April 2011 in the brush on Ocean Parkway, in Nassau County's Tobay Beach, during the early Gilgo investigation.

A source with the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task Force said it's believed Heuermann, an architect who expedited building permits, met alleged victims in various boroughs in New York City, "I think depending on where he was working." The source added, "He had different areas that he would frequent."

Investigators already allege that Rex Heuermann made dates with some of the Gilgo Four, the original victims discovered on Ocean Parkway, through online escort sites.

But they believe others were picked up on "the stroll," locations where sex workers would solicit clients. Investigators have also learned of a disparaging name that was used to describe sex workers who frequented truck stops and parking lots.

And although Alicia Adams is on a long list of victims whose cases are under review, the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task Force is eager to get results of lab work and more evidence on the other people found on Ocean Parkway. This would include the woman known as Peaches, her female toddler, victim Valerie Mack, and the man dubbed Asian John Doe, who was wearing women's clothing.

Two murder charges were added to Rex Heuermann's case with a superseding indictment on June 6th, bringing the number to six, so far.

Many following the Gilgo case are eager to see if Valerie Mack will be listed as one of Heuermann's alleged victims in future proceedings.

Mack and victim Jessica Taylor were both dismembered, their mutilated bodies discovered in the woods of Manorville in 2000 and 2003, respectively.

Alicia Adams is yet another woman discovered in the woods.

The borough of Queens is on Long Island.