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[narrator] The search for
the Gilgo Beach serial killer

dragged on for 13 long years.

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.BZ

But it didn't
have to be that way.

[Dave Schaller] It wasn't
The Amazing Kreskin came in

and figured this [bleep] out.

It was, on paper, 13 years.
It's sickening.

[narrator] Eleven bodies
dumped in a five-mile radius.

Rex Heuermann has been charged
with murdering three.

If he is the serial killer,

it's likely he murdered more.

[Dr. Phil McGraw] This is
kind of an addictive aspect.

They just have to
act on that impulse.

[narrator] Cops had clues
for more than a decade

that would have led them
to Heuermann's doorstep.

But those clues were ignored.

I gave them
the guy's description,
down to his beady-ass eyes.

They had everything they needed.

[narrator] Some women
who encountered Heuermann

knew what was up.

[Nikkie Brass]
I told people for years,

I had dinner with
the Gilgo Beach killer.

[narrator] Yet authorities
turned a blind eye,

in large part
because of the top cop.

[John Ray] He was
morally, sexually corrupt.

He was a pervert, and he was
the one running the show.

[narrator] The tragic reality:
the bungling,

the corruption,
the missed clues,

may have spiked the body count.

[Dr. Scott Bonn] He may
well have a burial ground

that has yet to be discovered.

[narrator] It's a travesty of
justice

with fatal consequences.

TMZ Investigates:

Gilgo Beach Serial Murders:

Missed Warning Signs.

[eerie music playing]

[Rodney Harrison] Rex Heuermann
is a demon that walks among us.

[♪]

A predator that ruined families.

If not for the members
of this task force...

he would still be
on the streets today.

[reporter]

[narrator] On July 13th,
59-year-old Rex Heuermann

was arrested and charged
with murdering three women

found dead on Gilgo Beach
on New York's Long Island
back in 2010.

The skeletal remains were found
in this shallow grave.

[narrator] It was a mystery
that haunted a community
for more than a decade,

and it should have
never taken that long.

[Rob Trotta] It seems to me
this should've been solved

in the first three months,
rather than 13 years later.

I really, really feel bad
if-- if this person went out

and killed other people
during this time,

and, you know,
we dropped the ball.

I gave them the
[bleep] guy's description

down to his beady-ass eyes.

His size, height, weight.

Everything. Hair color,
[bleep], you name it.

They had everything they needed.
They had everything.

[narrator]
The victims: Megan Waterman,

Melissa Barthelemy,
and Amber Costello.

Heuermann is also
the prime suspect

in the murder
of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

They're known
as the Gilgo Four.

There were four bodies
that had been disposed of

in a similar fashion in
the thicket in a very isolated,

desolate area
there on Long Island.

It was obvious that we were
dealing with a serial killer.

[♪]

[narrator] And there's
another common thread:

all of them were sex workers.

[♪]

There were a total of 11 bodies
found within a five-mile radius.

Authorities dismissed
some as unrelated.

But not everyone is buying that.

There's also
the distinct possibility

that we're looking at
a serial killer who evolved.

One who went from dismemberment
to one who simply said,

"I'm going to leave these bodies
wrapped in burlap

because it's simply
an easier thing to do."

[♪]

[dispatcher] State police.

[narrator] 24-year-old
Shannan Gilbert

was not one of the Gilgo Four,

but her mysterious
disappearance back in 2010

led cops to discover

there was a serial killer
on the loose.

[narrator] Early in the morning
of May 1st,

Shannan, a sex worker,
makes a 22-minute 911 call

from a client's home
near Gilgo Beach,

claiming she's in big trouble.

[narrator]
Toward the end of the call,
Shannan takes off running,

her phone
still connected to 911.

[phone line crackling]

[Shannan screaming]

[phone line crackling]

[Shannan panting]

[narrator]
She's never heard from again.

[melancholy music playing]

[narrator] Seven months later,
on December 11th, 2010,

a Suffolk County officer
and his search dog

are looking for
Shannan's body on Gilgo Beach,

not far from the last place
Shannan was seen.

[mysterious music playing]

Just a few feet
off Ocean Parkway,

they make a gruesome discovery.

It's not Shannan.

It's the body
of Melissa Barthelemy.

Two days later,
three more bodies are found:

Maureen Brainard-Barnes,
Megan Waterman,

and Amber Lynn Costello.

As the months passed,
things get even worse.

Seven more bodies
are found within
a five-mile radius of beach,

11 in total.

Eight of them
female sex workers.

The last body found:
Shannan Gilbert's,

19 months after she made
that chilling call.

All that was left
were skeletal remains.

It's all along a stretch of land
which is a--

sort of an enlarged cemetery
for sex workers.

Cops say Shannan
may have drowned,

and possibly been under
the influence of something.

But her family
believes she was murdered.

Everything Shannan did that
night was perfectly rational,

and look at the consequence.

What happened to her
is exactly what she predicted
was about to happen to her.

[Charles Latibeaudiere]
Here's the enraging thing.

During the 13 years
the case went nowhere,

other women
may have been murdered,

because serial killers
typically have uncontainable,

murderous tendencies.

Some of these people do stop
for periods of time,

but the chance
that he went dormant

for that long
a period of time, 13 years,

is a very low probability.

It-- it-- it boggles my mind.

I hope to God
that their incompetence

didn't cause someone else
to lose their life,

because that would be
a horrible, horrible thing

for them to live with,
to anybody to live with.

Because this really,
clearly, should've been
solved right away.

[narrator] Coming up...

[Dr. Bonn] They are able to
seamlessly flip a switch,

go from husband and father
to sadistic killer,

and they can do it
without any sort of shame.

My father
called me that morning,

and said, "Hey, you know,
that guy, the serial killer

that we used to joke about?"
And I said, "Yeah."

He goes,
"He's actually a serial killer."

[♪]

[dramatic music playing]

[reporter]

[narrator] Rex Heuermann
was arrested in July

at his architecture office
in Manhattan.

He has pled not guilty
to multiple murder charges.

But if he is the serial killer,

he was living
an insane double life

in plain sight
for a long, long time.

-Rex, hi.
-Hello!

-How you doing?
-Good to see you.

Likewise. Hope you don't mind
I brought my assistant with me.

-Norman.
-[Heuermann] Hello, Norman.

[narrator]
In this 2022 interview,

Rex seems normal.

Hard to believe this man
could be a ruthless killer.

What do you think is
the most important qualities

a person in your position

-dealing with the job must have?
-Patience.

What has this job
taught you about yourself?

I think it's taught me more
about how to understand people.

[mysterious music playing]

[narrator] On many levels,
Heuermann seemed
like a regular guy.

A college graduate,
married to his second wife,

Asa Ellerup, for 27 years.

He raised two kids,
a daughter and a stepson,
both adults now.

That was one life.

But cops say his other life
was steeped in evil.

He's definitely somebody
that should not be out
in the public,

and being involved
with other human beings.

It is a Jekyll and Hyde,

and I think we have
enough information now,

sadly, tragically,

about serial killers,

that had done exactly
what we're describing here,

living parallel lives.

-It's...
-Selfie time!

Selfie time.

You're fast.

Ready? One, two, three.

Ah!

-Can you smile?
-That is!

[laughing]

[Dr. Bonn] What these
individuals are able to do,

they are able to seamlessly
flip a switch,

and go from family man,
go from husband and father,

to sadistic killer.

And they can do it
without any sort of shame,

guilt, angst.

No sense of right and wrong.

[narrator] So sadistic,
he allegedly called
Melissa Barthelemy's sister

to taunt her
from Melissa's phone.

When she was missing for a few
days, and then the phone rang,

and it said, "Melissa,"
like, from her phone,

and Amanda, the sister, said,

"Melissa, where have you been?
We've been looking for you!"

And then she heard that voice,
of the killer.

When you're seeing an offender
reach out to family members

that are already suffering

and call them over
and over and over

to increase their suffering,

you have someone who enjoys
watching people suffer.

And that's exactly
what we have here.

[♪]

[eerie music playing]

[narrator]
When Heuermann was arrested,

some of his neighbors
weren't all that surprised.

My father actually called me
that morning and said,

"Hey, you know that guy,
the serial killer

that we used to joke about?"
And I said, "Yeah."

He goes,
"He's actually a serial killer."

[narrator] People who
knew Heuermann for years,

since childhood,
say he was always an outcast.

[John Parisi] He was very
strange, he was very smart,

but he didn't have many friends,
and he was very much to himself.

He was a loner.

Rex was bullied and teased

for the way he appeared.

If you dig deep enough,
you'll find, somewhere,

somewhere in the background,
something triggered them,

some anger,
some unresolved conflict

that they're acting out
against these victims.

Over the years, Rex Heuermann

showed aggression
in different ways.

He filed multiple lawsuits,

claiming he'd been hit by cars.

And here's what's so puzzling.

If he is the serial killer,

why would he draw that
kind of attention to himself?

[Dr. Bonn]
The fact that Rex Heuermann
may have been involved

in a number of legal cases
where he was suing folks,

that would indicate
someone who is so narcissistic,

things have to go his way,

and wanting control
and domination of others.

They look at it from
only their point of view,

and they're so arrogant,
they think,
"I'm above the law.

Nobody's gonna look at me,
nobody's gonna catch me.

I'm a respected architect,
I know what I'm doing.

People think I'm,
you know, a big deal here.

They'll never suspect me."

And sadly, in many cases,
that turns out to be right.

[narrator] In March of 2022,

authorities finally
zeroed in on Heuermann,

and the walls
started to close in.

Where we'd get his internet
searches, he was making inquiry

with regard to the Gilgo
investigation over 200 times.

He was also doing
a lot of searches

with regard to
a lot of torture porn

and other
rather disturbing searches.

[narrator]
Heuermann was also googling

family members of the victims,
including a child.

Cell phone records
put Heuermann in proximity

to all four victims.

Authorities used DNA
from a discarded pizza crust

to match Heuermann to hair
found on one of the victims.

We looked at travel records,
and were able to establish

that the wife and the children

were out of the state
during the time

of the commission
of those crimes.

[narrator] After his arrest
on July 13th,

cops spent 12 days
searching Heuermann's home,

digging up his yard.

No bodies, but they unearthed
a boatload of evidence,

including nearly 300 firearms.

And here's a chilling detail.

Heuermann also owns properties
in Las Vegas and South Carolina.

Investigators want to know,
in the 13 years
the case went unsolved,

did the accused
Gilgo serial killer

murder way beyond
the confines of his hometown?

[Errol Toulon] Not only
are we worried about other lives

being lost, not only here in
Suffolk County but, you know,

we're looking at South Carolina,
we're looking at Las Vegas,

we're looking at anywhere
Rex Heuermann might have been.

You can't assume
in a situation like this

that you have found
all these victims.

This person
traveled out of state.

He had places in other locales.

For anyone to assume
that this person killed

all these people
and then stopped in 2010,

I don't believe that.

There was critical evidence

sitting right in
Rex Heuermann's driveway,

evidence that
went unnoticed by cops

for more than a decade.

Evidence that could've
put him in cuffs

and spared other women
their lives.

And one of the reasons
cops dropped the ball
is mind-blowing.

[narrator] Coming up,

a major piece
of evidence ignored.

It wasn't The Amazing Kreskin
came in and figured
this [bleep] out.

It was on paper for
[bleep] 13 years, you know?
It's sickening.

[narrator] Plus, the top cop
who may have derailed
the investigation

for very personal reasons.

He was morally,
sexually corrupt.

He was a pervert.

[♪]

[dramatic music playing]

[narrator] Rex Heuermann
lived his life,

walked the streets,

and possibly continued
his alleged murderous rampage

undetected for 13 long years.

A lot of people say
it didn't have to be that way.

From the pieces
I've put together,

you know,
this is Investigations 101.

Turns out, a major clue
was missed early on.

A clue that eventually
cracked the case,

and it was either ignored
or deliberately pushed aside

for all those years.

It came from a man
named Dave Schaller.

This guy just screamed "freak,"
you know what I mean?

Like, everything about him.

[narrator]
Schaller was roommates with
one of the Gilgo Four victims,

Amber Costello.

A few weeks
before Amber vanished,

Schaller had a violent
encounter with a man

who had hired Amber for
a lap dance in their home.

A man he says
was Rex Heuermann.

I was out. She calls me, and
it was like, the guy, you know,

didn't wanna take no
for an answer,

and started grab-assing
on her, you know?

And was basically, you know,
trying to pull her down

to-- you know, to rape her.

So, came flying
back to the house,

busted through the door,
and there's a giant
in my living room.

[laughs] Basically,
he was like Frankenstein.

The guy just was
like a motionless,
just, you know, blank.

So I was like, you know,

"What the [bleep]
you doing here?"

I was like, you know,
"You gotta go."

And he's like-- You know,
he just shook his head,
and he's like, "Nope."

And I was like,
"Well, you're gonna go
one way or another."

So I pushed him.
He pushed me back.

I punched him in the face.

We went out the front door.

Knocked him down the stoop.

Kicked him in the chest
a couple times.

You know, he got up.

Dropped a couple more
punches on him,

he hit me, and finally,
I picked up a rake

that I had there,
and I was gonna smash him
in the face with the rake.

He got in his car and bounced.

And just literally
no emotion, no nothing.

As he was leaving,
he was turning his head,

just like, you know,
like, watching the whole time.

[narrator]
Schaller says, a month later,

Amber saw Heuermann again,
because she needed cash--

needed it badly--

and he offered her two grand.

It was the last time
she was seen alive.

The second she went missing,

the first person that
came to my head was that dude.

[♪]

[narrator]
Schaller told police about
the incident in chilling detail

a few days after
they found Amber's body.

Then two more times
right after that.

He described the exact type
of truck the man was driving,

a dark green or black
Chevy Avalanche.

Yet cops never followed up.

All they had to do was run
Avalanches in Massapequa,

and the case was over, you know?

[Rob Trotta] They had someone
telling them
that it was a Chevy Avalanche,

that it was a six-foot-five guy
who looked like an ogre.

And if you went on Google Maps
and went up and down the street,

you saw the car
parked in the street.

[narrator] Right in front
of the Heuermanns' home.

Sometimes parked on the street,

sometimes
right in his driveway.

This could easily have
led to an arrest years ago,

before other victims
may have been murdered.

[♪]

There weren't a lot of
Chevy Avalanches
all over the place,

certainly not in Massapequa.

That, to me, would seem
like an "aha" moment

when you saw it,
like a, "We almost got you."

This one particular tip or lead
should have gone

to the very top of the pile,
in my opinion.

[narrator] Yet cops waited years
before following up

on that critical
piece of evidence.

The initial investigation
in 2010 were not
given the information

that, in fact, there was
a Chevy Avalanche involved,

with a six-foot-five guy,
who was described as an ogre.

How do you keep that information
from a chief or an inspector
who's overseeing these cases?

[♪]

[Gary Depass] Once you have
information on the make
and model of a vehicle,

within a couple
of business days,

DMV can get back to you
with the information
on that vehicle,

which would include the make,
the model, the color,

the plate, the address,
and the registered owner.

Then the next step would be
to run the license information
of that registered owner,

and you have height included
on that description.

And eye color as well.

Someone who's 6'5", 6'6",
270 pounds is
going to stick out.

[narrator] Finally, last year,
investigators did just that,

and the Avalanche,
along with cell phone
and DNA evidence,

gave authorities
the ammo to make an arrest.

Bingo! The second--
That's the face I've had
in my head for 13 years.

It's the only way to put it.
100% that's him. You know?

I'd love to see him,
just laugh in his face,
be like, you know, "Remember me?

I'm the guy you forgot to
clean up, you know what I mean?

The fact that those clues
were not pursued back then

is not only inexcusable, it's
something that's unimaginable

in the law enforcement
community.

We cannot have
this happen again.

I have to apologize,
from a law enforcement
perspective,

that it did take this long for
us to bring him into custody.

[narrator] So who's to blame?

A lot of people are pointing
the finger

at this man, James Burke.

He was appointed
Suffolk County Police Chief
back in 2012,

and his tenure
was fraught with scandal.

Now, I can't stress
to you enough

on the unbelievable corruption

that went on in this police
department over the past decade.

[narrator]
Burke went to prison in 2016

over charges related to
beating up a man

who stole porn
and sex toys from him.

And the Suffolk County DA
at the time,

Tom Spota, went to prison

for obstructing
the investigation
into Chief Burke.

[Latibeaudiere]
But there's more.

Burke, allegedly, had sex
with prostitutes himself.

A lot.

His critics say
the last thing Burke wanted

was to put the spotlight
on sex workers

found dead in his jurisdiction.

I knew him,
and he was not fond of women,

and clearly has a propensity
to patronize prostitutes.

[Ray] He was morally,
sexually corrupt,

he was a pervert,
and he was the one
running the show.

Burke had no problem
taking his sex worker
girlfriends, plural,

to police affairs, functions.

And they would strut around,
and nobody noticed?

That's what's wrong here.

I think that between Burke
and that other idiot,

the other DA that
got brought up on charges,

I think that they sacked the
case because it would've allowed

[bleep] that would've
tied back to them.

In fact, Burke seemed
to take deliberate moves

to slow down the investigation,

including kicking the FBI
and other agencies off the case.

He wanted full control.

I think the reason
he didn't want the FBI involved

is because he didn't
want them in his house,

interacting with all the guys
in his department,

where one or more
of them might say,

"You know, this guy
has done similar things."

It is a sad day
for all law enforcement

when something
like this happens.

[Ray] The commissioner
of police, with Burke's urging,

shut down the investigation
in January of 2011,

because he said
that the cadaver dogs, plural,

didn't like to work
in the wintertime.

So I asked the question, "Well,
are they lifeguards? Do they
only work in the summer?"

That was an absurd thing
for the police to do.

And they kept the investigation
closed for three months,

giving plenty of time
for evidence to disappear
in the lake.

[♪]

[producer]
We are field producers with TMZ.

[narrator] TMZ tried
to reach Burke multiple times,

even knocked
on the door of his home,

but we got no response.

If they find a bunch more girls,
that's gonna be the tell
of how big a [bleep]-up

the Suffolk County
Police Department had.

Because if there's
a string of bodies still,

which I'm sure there is,

because, you know, this guy
was able to follow along,

this whole bungled
[bleep] case the entire time.

I've always thought,
for so many years,

that he was out there
and just lurking.

And it just really upsets me

that the police
let this go on for so long,

and he could have been
hurting other people.

[narrator] Heuermann's Avalanche
has become symbolic

of the missteps,
corruption, and incompetence

that may have allowed
a serial killer to kill again.

Coming up, the current stylist
and former escort

who may have dodged
a date with death.

[Brass] I told people for years,

I had dinner with
the Gilgo Beach Killer,

and I want to
testify against him.

I want people to know
he was out hunting,

even after
those women were found.

[♪]

[dramatic music playing]

Amber was, like, the most
loving, just... sweetest girl,

and you know, these girls are--
they're human beings.

They're people.

So...

There was a real bias
affecting the intensity

and the quality
of the investigation,

because these girls
were considered disposable,

as sex workers.

Because of that attitude,
I think the idea was,

"Well, you know,
we'll get to it someday."

The fact most of the victims
found dead around Gilgo Beach

were sex workers may have
allowed a serial killer

to roam free for years,

and that may have been part of
Rex Heuermann's plan all along.

As sad as it may be,

they're not going to draw
as much attention

from law enforcement
as other occupations might,

so he chooses
a safe category of victim

in terms of how much focus
they're going to get.

When other women go missing,
especially white women
in this country,

they are often looked at first.

You know, they are blasted
all over the news.

When you are in
an oppressed group,

I feel like they are
going to get pushed down more

than if they were
just that typical blonde-hair,

blue-eyes, lawyer, teacher,
nurse, you know, mother.

People just don't
really look at them

as just regular humans
like the rest of us.

It doesn't really matter
what they're doing
for their lifestyle.

They're still humans.

[Sasse]
There was a lack of interest

because of who they were,
who the victims were.

I hope not,
because that's the worst

kind of discrimination
there is for a dead body,

and the families of that victim.

When you look at sex workers
in the history of--

across the United States,

there is a stigma that people
don't care about them,

that they're throwaways,
but you know what?

No one grew up,
no one was born saying

that they wanted to be
a sex worker.

And I think any person,
any person,

any sex worker that has had
a crime committed against them,

or even a murder,

that person needs
to be brought to justice,

because they are human beings,
just like the rest of us.

Current Suffolk County
officials insist

they treat all victims the same.

Maybe so, but back in 2011,

the police commissioner
made it a point

to reassure the public
the community was safe

since the killer was
only targeting sex workers.

From the four remains
that were found and identified,

the business
that they were in, okay,

indicated that whoever
was targeting these individuals

was doing it
because of their business.

We don't have somebody
running around Suffolk County

with blood dripping
from a knife,

and I didn't want the public
to think that, you know,

Suffolk County was
crime-ridden,

which it's not.
Very safe county.

So Heuermann may have
gotten the memo way back then.

Police seemed disinterested
in the victims,

which may explain why his
alleged penchant for prostitutes

was apparently alive and well
as late as 2022,

when he was put
under surveillance.

My first impression was
that he was a massive man.

[narrator] Current stylist
and former escort Nikkie Brass

says Heuermann contacted her
for sex in 2015,

four years after
the 11th body was found.

But she had serious misgivings
right from the get-go,

at a restaurant
just 45 miles from Gilgo Beach.

It wasn't until he looked at me
and he said,
"Are you a true crime fan?"

And at that point I got
a little excited, 'cause I am.

And after that,
that's when he said to me,

"Well, have you heard
of the Gilgo Beach killings?"

[♪]

I was like, "Of course,
I'm from Long Island,
we all have."

It was just when he started
to talk about it,

that things took a change,

and I realized
there was a problem.

It was because
he sat up straighter,

you know,
he had this smirk on his face,

and it seemed more like
somebody who wanted to brag

and relive the crimes
they were committing.

[narrator] When Nikkie sensed
she was in danger,

she stepped away
and called a friend

to come meet her in
the parking lot, just in case.

[Brass] I have never,
in my life, at that time,

when I was doing those things,

felt scared, felt fear,
or felt the need to get away.

So towards the end of the date,
he had said,

"Are you gonna
come back with me?"

I said,
"It was really nice meeting you.

Thank you for dinner,
but I'm gonna have to say no.

I have a friend waiting for me
in the parking lot

just to make sure
I get home safely."

You could tell he seemed,
like, very visually agitated,

and, like, angry that
I didn't wanna go with him.

We didn't hug.
He was, like, almost hovering
over me with his size,

and you could tell again
he was mad.

He did all this work,
and I didn't go with him.

[narrator] As they went
their separate ways,

it was clear to Nikkie

she had just escaped
a brush with death.

I 100% thought
Rex was the Gilgo Beach Killer.

I told people for years,
many people, for years.

I said, "I had dinner
with the Gilgo Beach Killer,
and I know it."

[narrator] Nikkie didn't tell
police about what happened,

because at the time she was on
probation for drug possession.

But she has no doubt
the man she met that night
was Rex Heuermann,

a man who police could have
caught four years earlier,

had they jumped
on obvious clues.

[Brass]
I want to testify against him.

I want people to know
he was out hunting,

even after
those women were found.

And I want people to understand

that, like,
these women mattered,

and they had a chance
of a better life,

they had a chance
to become mothers and wives,

and do things with their lives,

and they had that
taken away from them,

because he's a monster.

[narrator] The looming question:
were there other women

not as lucky as Nikkie Brass?

Coming up...

I think that there
is an excellent chance

that he is responsible
for additional murders.

[narrator] And that's
because serial killers
tend to keep on killing.

Oftentimes, this is
kind of an addictive aspect

to their personality,
and it starts to build in them,

and build in them,
and build in them,

where they just have
to act on that impulse.

[♪]

[dramatic music playing]

[Dr. Bonn] I believe
that the individual

who committed the original
Gilgo Four murders--

and assuming that Rex Heuermann
is that person--

I think that there
is an excellent chance

that he is responsible
for additional murders.

He may well have a burial ground
that has yet to be discovered.

[narrator] Officials are looking
for other possible victims

in places
Rex Heuermann frequented,

including Las Vegas,
where he owns a timeshare.

It's important
for homicide detectives

to conduct their investigation,
scour their cold cases,

to see if there is
any connection

between these unsolved murders
and the suspect.

[narrator] And they're searching
in Chester, South Carolina,

where he also owns property.

It could very well be
a connection.

[narrator] Aaliyah Bell Hall
was just 18

when she left her uncle's house
in Rock Hill, South Carolina,

back in 2014,

never to be seen again.

When her aunt heard
about Heuermann's arrest,

she wondered if he knew
what happened to her niece.

[Pickett] She decided to leave,
to go home.

It was walking distance,
and that was the last that
anyone saw her was that day.

Chester's about 15 minutes
from Rock Hill.

And I took some time
to process it,

and I'm like, "Okay, well,
this could be related."

And had they took action
like they should have back then,

maybe my niece
wouldn't be missing now.

[narrator]
Police in South Carolina say
they found no connection

between Aaliyah's disappearance
and Rex Heuermann,

at least so far, but
the investigation is ongoing.

The stark reality: serial
killers don't limit themselves

to a particular zip code.

They kill when
there is an opportunity,

and even if they stop
for a while...

the urge is still there.

They do stop at times.
They may stop at times
for years,

and then start back up,

and that's very confounding
to law enforcement.

Some have stopped, and,
you know, have never been
found out, but oftentimes,

this is kind of an addictive
aspect to their personality,

and it starts to build in them,

and build in them,
and build in them,

where they just have
to act on that impulse.

[♪]

[narrator]
Back in Massapequa, the lives
of Heuermann's wife and kids

have been turned upside-down.

The search of their home
left it in shambles.

Asa, who is being treated
for breast and skin cancer,

has filed for divorce.

In order to piece back
what's been crumbled

into a million pieces
is gonna take a very long time.

Through his attorney,
Rex Heuermann has proclaimed
his innocence.

His lawyer calls the case
"circumstantial,"

adding his client has been
traumatized by the accusations.

He's a man who's never been
arrested before.

He's maintained his innocence
from the inception of this case.

I doubt that any one of you,
for a moment,

have even contemplated
the possibility

that they have the wrong guy.

So what we're gonna do is

we're gonna defend this case
in a courtroom.

[narrator] Prosecutors say

they have a trove of evidence

to put Heuermann away for life,

but the wheels of justice
grind slowly.

A trial may be
at least a year away.

Nevertheless,
family members are now hopeful.

[Sasse] At least this man
can't hurt anybody else,

and he would have.

That hole will be there,

but it will help, you know,
close the door,

and this man'll never walk
the streets again.

[narrator] Coming up...

You have so many questions.

How did you pick her?
How did you get her?

You know, did my sister cry?
Did she beg?

Did she say, "Please, please"?
Like, "I have kids"?

[♪]

[narrator] TMZ has broken
some of the biggest stories

in pop culture for
nearly two decades.

Now, TMZ Documentaries
continue to break new ground.

Digging far below the surface

on stories that have
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Stories in the zeitgeist
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TMZ Documentaries,
available on Hulu and Tubi.

[dramatic music playing]

[woman 1]
Well, you know, to celebrate
the lives of these women.

Also, to pay respects to them.

[woman 2] They were
all beautiful women.

They weren't just prostitutes,

as everybody is saying.

They were daughters, sisters,
cousins, nieces, mothers.

[narrator] A few months after
the bodies of the Gilgo Four
were found back in 2010,

family members held a vigil
to honor their lost loved ones.

They had no idea back then

it would take
more than a decade

to track down a suspect
and put him behind bars.

[Lynn Barthelemy] Before
we hung up, I always said,
"I love you, be careful."

I said, you know,
"If you get in trouble,

it's not like you're
right around the block."

I said, "It's gonna take me
seven hours to get to you."

She loved
her daughter so much.

She was just very kindhearted,
you know?

She made mistakes. Who doesn't?

She didn't deserve this.
Nobody deserves this.

[Schaller] She was a sweetheart,
you know?

The whole time that we knew her,
she always, you know,

bent over backwards to,
you know, whatever it was.

She was a good kid, you know?

She was a little,
itty-bitty, teeny-tiny girl,

but she had the biggest heart

and the most nurturing nature,
the most mothering nature.

She tried to
take care of everybody
and every little thing.

You have so many questions.
Why? How?

You know, why my sister?
How you-- why did you pick her?

How did you pick her?
How did you get her?

You know, did my sister cry?
Did she beg?

You know, did she say,
"Please, please"?

Like, "I have kids"? Like--

You know,
there'll be all those answers

that I'm pretty sure
the killer won't answer.

[♪]

[narrator] Justice delayed
is often justice denied,

and if that maxim is true,

then there may
never be true justice

for families of the Gilgo Four,

and possibly
many other families as well.

But there may be
a measure of peace.

If Rex Heuermann
is the serial killer,

a monster may
finally be contained.

His long reign of terror over.

[narrator]
And after so many years,

too many horrifying years,

there could once again be
tranquility on Gilgo Beach.

[♪]