Prosecutors have released additional phone records they say are linked to the suspect in the Gilgo Beach serial killings case.
In March 2010, 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert called authorities, saying she was afraid people were trying to kill her.
Gilbert, who worked as an escort, later vanished. During the search for her, investigators found the bodies of four women near Gilgo Beach on Long Island, a discovery that became known as the Gilgo Beach serial killings.
In July 2023, New York architect Rex A. Heuermann was arrested and accused of killing three of those four women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello.
In 2024, prosecutors added two more murder allegations, saying he also killed Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. He has since been charged with the murders of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Taylor and Costilla.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to every charge.
At a pre-trial hearing on Tuesday (March 3), prosecutors shared a new court filing describing an investigation into cellphone data tied to two phones—one of which they allege Heuermann possessed when he was arrested.
According to reports, the phones were registered under aliases.
The filing alleges that in the four years before Heuermann’s arrest, the two devices were used to contact at least 60 sex workers more than 500 times.
Court documents reportedly state that one phone reached out to more than 56 sex workers over 300 times between January 2021 and March 2022.
The other phone allegedly contacted 61 numbers described as “prostitution-related” more than 220 times through February 2023.
Prosecutors also outlined alleged search activity associated with an account linked to one of the phones.
The cellphone data reportedly included more than 1,000 searches, including efforts to access pornographic content depicting “bruised and impaled women”.
A police detective, quoted by NewsDay, said the information makes it “clear” Heuermann is a “sexual sadist”.
The newly filed records also reportedly indicate recurring payments for the online dating app Tinder, prosecutors said.
Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Andrew Lee wrote in a motion filed Tuesday: “[Heuermann’s] modern day use of burner phones to patronize prostitutes is probative … of [his] modus operandi.”
The filing follows earlier comments from authorities after Heuermann’s arrest focusing on his alleged use of multiple phones.
In July 2023, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said at a news conference, as quoted by NewsDay, that Heuermann used seven different burner phones over a 14-month span.
Authorities have alleged the devices contained searches related to the Gilgo Beach investigation, along with searches for information and photos of victims and their family members.
Tierney also said the suspect allegedly visited a Suffolk police website created to solicit information and tips connected to the killings.
The district attorney said: “For each of the murders, he got an individual burner phone and he used that to communicate with the victims and then shortly after the death of the victims, he then would get rid of the burner phone.”
Heuermann is currently scheduled to stand trial for the seven killings in September 2026.