Crime & Safety
Former Escort Felt She 'Needed To Get Away' From Accused Gilgo Killer: Report
The woman narrowly escaped Rex Heuermann after a "date" with him in Port Jefferson, according to reports.
![Rex Heuermann used selfies of himself when chatting with women he sought to hire as escorts, the Suffolk District Attorney's office says.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/24679441/20230720/122031/styles/patch_image/public/heuermann-1___20113743720.jpg)
PORT JEFFERSON, NY — A former escort who narrowly escaped a fateful encounter with accused Gilgo Beach serial killer, Rex Heuermann, in Port Jefferson says he seemed to take pleasure out of raising the subject of the Gilgo Beach murders, The Daily News reported.
Nicole Brass, 34, said she met Heuermann eight years ago when she went on "dates" with wealthy men to support an opioid addiction, and was scared off by him after he began to talk about the murders, the outlet reported.
“When he spoke about it, it was almost like he was visualizing it in his head and getting off to what he was saying,” Brass, who is now a stylist, told the outlet.
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Heuermann was arraigned on a six-count murder indictment last Friday in connection with the slayings of three of the Gilgo Four – Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello. He is the prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
All four women’s bodies were found buried along Ocean Parkway in December 2010.
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A total of 11 sets of remains, including a toddler and an Asian male, were found buried along the stretch of parkway.
No other charges have been filed.
Heuermann first tried to get her to meet in Nassau, but she instead arranged a meeting at the Steamroom, according to the outlet.
When he talked about the murders he seemed happy and had a glossed over look in his eyes, she told Good Morning America.
The conversation sparked an overwhelming feeling of unease in Brass and she sought to end the date early.
"I had a really really bad feeling like my gut was, like, telling me I needed to get away from him," she said.
Brass told The New York Post that he was "trying to make it seem like somebody who's just really interested in the case but he was very detailed and it didn't seem like somebody who was just a true crime fan."
"It seemed like somebody, who as they talked about it, are reliving it in their head," she added.
Brass believes that others are involved in the deaths and that Heuermann is taking the fall for them, the outlet reported.
Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the charges.
His attorney, Michael Brown of Central Islip, told ABC news on Tuesday that Heuermann was “traumatized” by his arrest.
"Nothing struck me as unusual about him. He was articulate, he was intelligent, he was soft-spoken," he told the outlet.
Heueraman’s case will be challenging for him, and his co-councils, as he appears to have "been convicted in the media already and the media public opinion," Brown said.
His wife, Asa Ellerup, filed for divorce on Wednesday, The Daily Beast first reported.
As Patch previously reported on Monday, Heuermann has been under suicide watch at an undisclosed location with the Suffolk County Correctional Facility since his arrest.
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