Rex Heuermann kept isolated before Gilgo Beach sentencing
Suffolk County’s sheriff says the convicted Gilgo Beach killer has spent three years alone in jail while awaiting sentencing.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
3 min read
Rex Heuermann, the former Manhattan architect convicted in the Gilgo Beach killings, has spent nearly three years in a segregated Suffolk County jail cell as he awaits sentencing. Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon told The Associated Press that jail officials have kept Heuermann isolated to prevent contact with other inmates and to ensure the case is resolved in court.
Heuermann is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday and faces life in prison without parole, according to the AP. He pleaded guilty to killing seven women and, in April, admitted killing another woman, the AP reported.
Toulon said Heuermann has spent more than 1,000 days in custody at the jail in Riverhead, New York, with little change in demeanor. The sheriff described him as stoic and said he has shown no remorse or visible despair, according to the AP.
Correspondence from another killer
Toulon told the AP that Keith Hunter Jesperson, known as the “Happy Face Killer,” wrote to Heuermann first. Jesperson is serving multiple life sentences without parole in Oregon after confessing to killing eight women across the country in the 1990s, the AP reported.
Heuermann replied once, but Toulon said he has not answered several later letters from Jesperson. The sheriff also said other people he described as “fanatics” have tried to contact Heuermann, while Heuermann has refused visits or communication from them, including requests from news organizations.
Gloria Allred, who represents some relatives of the Long Island victims, criticized both men in a statement to the AP and urged people to focus on ending violence against women. She said the victims were daughters, mothers and sisters, and said the men targeted vulnerable people.
Many of Heuermann’s victims were female sex workers whose remains were found near a remote parkway by Gilgo Beach, about 50 miles east of Manhattan, according to the AP. Jesperson met many of his victims while working as a truck driver, the AP reported, and received his nickname because he drew smiley faces on letters sent to police and news outlets.
Books and jail conditions
Toulon said Heuermann has read heavily while in custody, with a preference for crime and mystery novels, including books involving serial killers. The sheriff told the AP that recent jail library loans included works by J.D. Robb, John Sandford, Heather Graham, Sue Grafton and Lisa Jackson.
The sheriff said Heuermann is held in a standard 6-by-9-foot cell with a metal sink, metal toilet and bed. Correction officers can see the cells in the unit, and Toulon said the jail increased staffing after Heuermann’s arrest in July 2023.
Toulon told the AP that no female correction officers were assigned to the unit and that staff access is limited to authorized personnel. He said inmates in the unit receive meals in their cells and have no common area, though they can see a communal television through cell bars.
When Heuermann leaves his cell, other inmate movement stops so he remains separate, according to Toulon. The sheriff said Heuermann showers alone and may go to the yard alone up to six days a week, where he mostly walks in circles rather than exercises.
Family will not attend
The Suffolk County district attorney’s office declined to comment to the AP about Heuermann’s jail life. His family also did not comment directly.
Lawyers for Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and his two adult children said they will not attend the sentencing, according to the AP. Robert Macedonio, Ellerup’s attorney, said she does not want her presence to distract from the proceedings and that her thoughts remain with the victims and their families.
This story draws on original reporting from Fortune.