Megan Amelia Waterman

Megan Amelia Waterman was born on January 18, 1988 in Portland, Maine. She was raised by her grandparents Muriel Benner and Douglas Osgood and mother Lorraine Ela.

When Megan began 8th grade at Scarborough Middle School, the contrast in wealth was striking. Many students were sporting cell phones and designer clothes, while Megan’s family was struggling to make ends meet. Academically, Megan found herself facing significant challenges. Trying to keep up with other kids, Megan was caught shoplifting from Walmart multiple times and became well-known to the Scarborough Police. As a result, she was sent to the Maine Youth Center in South Portland.

In the fall of 2005, at the age of 17, Megan became pregnant. The baby’s father was in his early 30s, nearly twice her age, and they had met at a club in Portland.

In the summer of 2006 At 18, Megan gave birth to a healthy baby girl named Liliana. The arrival of her daughter shifted Megan’s priorities and transformed her personality.

Megan received a $400 monthly government subsidy to help support Liliana, but she needed to find additional ways to survive. Megan Waterman was leading a typical small-town life in Scarborough, Maine, balancing two minimum-wage jobs at local sandwich shops while striving to care for her young daughter.

By 2009 She had fallen back into drinking and drugs, and Then, one night, at a Maine nightclub she met Blake and Akeem Cruz from Brooklyn. Megan and Akeem began dating, and he eventually persuaded Megan Waterman that she could easily earn money by working as an escort.

August 14, 2009 Megan Waterman, 21, of Scarborough, was arrested by Officer Frank Gorham on a charge of theft.

October 2009, Megan was arrested for soliciting an undercover police officer she arranged to meet through Graigslist/ Backpage at an Extended Stay America in Bethpage. She returned home to Maine shortly after, only to come back to Long Island eight months later.

On June 1, 2010, Akeem and Megan took a bus from Portland to New York City. Megan checked into a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge, a town on Long Island. While Akeem stayed with his family, also located nearby on Long Island, Megan worked out of her hotel room, engaging in sex work posted ad

Trip to Long Island

June 1, 2010 She had traveled to Long Island that weekend with her boyfriend, 21-year-old Akeem Cruz, to work as an escort. Waterman had placed an advertisement on Craigslist.

On June 5, Megan had a phone conversation with her mother, Lorraine.

At 8:00 PM, the hotel security camera recorded Akeem and Megan leaving the hotel together.

By 8:30 PM, Megan returned alone.

At 9:50 PM, she called her grandmother, Muriel, and spoke briefly with her daughter.

Phone records show that Akeem called Megan at 1:15 AM, and at 1:30 AM Megan told Akeem she was stepping out for a while and would call him later.

In the early hours of June 6th, 2010, a 22-year-old Megan Waterman left her Holiday Inn Express hotel in Hauppauge to meet a client for an out-call.

Akeem Cruz

11:00AM, Akeem Cruz called Megans family with concern. “Have you heard from Megan? Do you know where she is?” Muriel said, “She was supposed to be with you?” He said she was missing. He said that they had to wait 48 hours to get the police to listen. She was reported missing on June 8, 2010

When police searched the hotel room they found Megan Waterman’s makeup, clothing, cell phone and other belongings.

Hotel video

June 6, 2010 Megan Waterman vanished from the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge – 2050 Express Dr S, Hauppauge, NY 11788 over Memorial Day weekend.

She left the hotel around 1:30 a.m. on June 6, without her wallet, money, or identification, according to police.

Security footage showed her walking out of the lobby and turning right, towards a dark and deserted industrial area on the southern side of the hotel.

Cellphone records later placed her phone in a Long Island neighborhood Massapequa Park.

June, 5 2010

Cellphone records show that Megan Waterman was picked up and driven to Massapequa Park, located approximately 15–20 miles southwest of the hotel. The last recorded activity on her phone was at 3:11 a.m. in that area.

On June 5, 2010, Ms. Waterman’s cellphone was contacted by another burner cellphone, which had just been activated that day.

June, 6, 2010

Cellphone records show that Megan Waterman was picked up and driven to Massapequa Park, located approximately 15–20 miles southwest of the hotel. The last recorded activity on her phone was at 3:11 a.m. in that area.

Megan Waterman Phone communicated with this burner cellphone on June 6, 2010, at approximately 1:31 a.m., which is around the time Megan Waterman was captured on video surveillance exiting the Holiday Inn in Hauppauge for the last time.

Cell site records show that the Waterman Phone traveled to Massapequa Park with the last cell site location being in Massapequa Park at approximately 3:11 a.m

October 6, 2010

From Megan Waterman’s mom:

“Megan it has been 4 months today since you’ve gone missing. There is not a single second I do not think of you. To whoever took my daughter or knows where she is, please do the right thing and call the local police. Her little girl who needs her mommy. Megan I love you and miss you so much. I will not ever give up till you are home with your baby girl.” Crime Tip Hotline: 730-4200 ext 3093

Scarborough Maine Police Department Anyone with information on the disappearance of Waterman is asked to call the Scarborough Police Department at 207-883-6361, the Suffolk County Police Department at 631-854-8400, or the Scarborough Police Department’s anonymous tip hot line at 207-730-4200, ext 3093. www.meganwaterman.com

December 11, 2010

Police Officer John Malia was conducting a training exercise with his K9 partner, Blue, along Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach, Suffolk County, New York.

During the course of the training exercise, Blue located a set of human remains. The remains were later identified to be those of Melissa Barthelemy. Two days later, on December 13, 2010, the SCPD continued to search in proximity to where the remains of Melissa Barthelemy were recovered.

On that date, members of the SCPD found three additional sets of human remains within one-quarter mile of the first discovery.

These three additional sets of remains were identified as those of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. The cause of death of all four women was determined to be homicidal violence.

Location: Megan Waterman-10-658467-22’9″ from pavement 40.624767, -73.375417

December 14, 2010

December 14, Authorities obtained a DNA sample from Lorraine Ela, the mother of 22-year-old Megan Waterman, who had advertised her escort services on Craigslist, to verify if one of the bodies found was her daughter’s, according to Robert Moulton, chief of the Scarborough, Maine, Police Department.

On January 18, 2011, Megan’s 23rd birthday, the New York City medical examiner informed police and prosecutors that she was one of the four victims. The following day, January 19, investigators delivered the tragic news to Megan’s family.

March, 2011

The federal government wants to search the contents of a laptop computer that belonged to Akeem Malik Cruz, the Brooklyn man authorities named as the pimp of one of four women found dead in December near Gilgo Beach. FBI Special Agent Johanna Esposito filed an 11-page affidavit in federal court in Brooklyn seeking approval to search Cruz’s Toshiba Satellite laptop for evidence of his involvement in the sex-trafficking trade.

The computer is in possession of the Suffolk County Police Department, the affidavit says. A law enforcement said yesterday that the search- warrant request was part of a federal investigation into human trafficking that is distinct from the Gilgo Beach slaying case.

Cruz, 21, of Brooklyn, also is known as “Vybe” and “Mello,” is in jail in Maine on drug charges unrelated to the investigation into the death of Megan Waterman, 21, of Scarborough, Maine. He has not been charged in relation to prostitution. Cruz is one of the last people known to have seen Waterman alive, police have said. Waterman was working as an escort and traveled to Long Island with Cruz, whom Waterman’s relatives and friends have described as her boyfriend and pimp, after placing an escort ad on Craigslist.

January 2013

Akeem Cruz of Brooklyn was accused of bringing Maine resident Megan Waterman to New York to work as a prostitute; Waterman was later found dead, a victim of a suspected seriel killer.

A pimp convicted of bringing a Maine woman to New York to work as a prostitute has been sentenced to three years in prison and has been sentenced to three years in prison.

The woman was later found dead on the side of a Long Island beach highway, a victim of a suspected serial killer.

U.S. District Judge Edward Korman noted Friday that 23-year-old Akeem Cruz of Brooklyn was not responsible for Megan Waterman’s death. But he noted he had put her in danger.

Cruz was arrested on federal charges of interstate transportation for the purpose of prostitution. He took her to a Long Island hotel, where she was last seen alive in May 2010.

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April 13th, 2022

The Suffolk County Police Department released surveillance footage of Waterman in the hotel lobby. The security footage showed Waterman exiting the lobby and turning right.

Megan Waterman is 5-feet-5-inches tall, weighs about 145 pounds, has a birthmark inside her left forearm and a mole on the right side of her face; that she has naturally brown hair, but it’s bleached blonde; a tattoo on her upper left arm that says “Liette,” a Capricorn horoscope sign on her lower left arm and a tribal design with a heart in the center of her lower back.

July 14, 2023

Gilgo Beach task force had arrested 59-year-old Rex Heuermann from Massapequa Park in connection with the murders of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Lynn Costello.

Waterman was found wrapped in duck-blind camouflage burlap and bound with duct tape. Two foreign female hairs were discovered near her head, and a strand of male hair was found at the bottom of the burlap.

After identifying Rex Heuermann as a suspect, police surveillance followed him until he discarded a pizza box in a Midtown Manhattan trash can. Forensic analysis revealed that the DNA from the pizza crust matched the male hair found on the burlap, a match that excluded 99.96% of the North American population.

The female hair found on Waterman’s body matched mitochondrial DNA from Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup. This suggests that Ellerup’s hair was transferred to Waterman’s body from either Heuermann’s home or vehicle, as she had been in Maryland during the time of the murder.

Additionally, a comparison of Heuermann’s personal cellphone records with those of a burner phone used to contact Waterman showed that both phones were in the same general areas at the same times. Google searches on one of Heuermann’s recent burner phones revealed inquiries about the victims and the Gilgo Beach investigation.

The Disappearance and Murder of Megan Waterman Megan Waterman was last seen alive at the Holiday Inn in Hauppauge, New York, on June 6, 2010, at approximately 1:30 a.m. At that time, she was believed to be working as a sex worker.

On June 5, 2010, Ms. Waterman’s cellphone was contacted by another burner cellphone, which had just been activated that day. Thereafter, the Waterman Phone communicated with this burner cellphone on June 6, 2010, at approximately 1:31 a.m. which is around the time Megan Waterman was captured on video surveillance exiting the Holiday Inn in Hauppauge for the last time.

Following that communication, the burner cellphone had no further phone activity. However, cell site records show that the Waterman Phone traveled to Massapequa Park with the last cell site location being in Massapequa Park at approximately 3:11 a.m. in the vicinity of the residence of Defendant Heuermann.

Hotel – Hauppauge, NY

Police reported that video footage from June 2010 shows Megan Waterman in the lobby of the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge. Commissioner Rodney Harrison stated his belief that she left the hotel to meet her killer. “Megan Waterman was wearing a yellow sweater and is captured both arriving at and leaving the hotel. We believe she left that night to meet her killer,” Harrison said.

Waterman’s remains were discovered six months later along Ocean Parkway near Oak Beach during the search for Shannan Gilbert, a missing sex worker from New Jersey. The investigation eventually uncovered 11 sets of remains.

: Megan Waterman was captured on surveillance cameras at the Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge in June of 2010, about six months before her remains were found along Ocean Parkway near Oak Beach.

: Megan Waterman was wearing a yellow sweater and is shown both arriving and leaving the hotel. June of 2010, about six months before her remains were found along Ocean Parkway near Oak Beach.

Crime Scene and Evidence Photos

Waterman’s body was found on December 13, 2010 on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach, during the search for missing person Shannan Gilbert.