Crime & Safety
Gilgo Beach Latest: Soundproof Room, Cadaver Dogs, Classmate Speaks
A former classmate says Rex Heuermann purposely tried to hurt her. Police used K-9 units to further search his home.
![New York State police officers move a metal cabinet as law enforcement searches the home of suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann, Saturday, July 15, 2023, in Massapequa Park.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/ap/25459216/20230724/104912/styles/patch_image/public/ap23202803125657___24104607026.jpg)
MASSAPEQUA PARK, NY — Law enforcement officers continued to investigate Rex Heuermann's Massapequa Park home over the weekend, excavating the backyard of his home and finding a soundproof room, according to reports.
Law enforcement officers used excavating equipment for more than three hours Sunday, Newsday reported. Before that, police dogs reportedly scoured the property.
The news comes after Heuermann's former classmate said he tried to cause her harm when they worked together as stagehands in a high school play.
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In 1980, Berner High School in Massapequa put on a production of “Arsenic and Old Lace,” about a deranged pair of sisters who lure, poison and bury a dozen old men in their cellar.
Without telling anyone, Heuermann added additional weights to the bottom of the pulley system that raised and lowered the stage curtains, the classmate told the New York Post.
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When she pulled on a lever connected to the system, her 95-pound body suddenly went "soaring toward the auditorium ceiling."
Heuermann was charged July 14 with six counts of murder in the deaths of Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy, and Megan Waterman, whose remains were found in 2010 along Ocean Parkway.
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Neighbors also told the New York Post that police used cadaver dogs and ground-penetrating radar to scour his backyard.
So far, officials obtained a menagerie of items from the house including: a trove of more than 200 guns; a painting of a fair-skinned, blonde woman with large, deep-set, dark eyes, a gash on her right cheek; and a childlike doll enclosed in a display case.
Law enforcement also raided an Amityville storage unit last week, in attempts to obtain evidence. It has not been confirmed who the storage unit belongs to.
Since 2010, at least 11 sets of remains have been found, believed to be related to the Gilgo Beach killings. Police have searched for a serial killer ever since. At least four of the killings included strangulation, and two showed signs of blunt-force trauma. The cause of death remains inconclusive for some victims.
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