The Case Against Rex Heuermann
The Case Against Rex Heuermann
Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Victims
LISK Victim
Melissa Barthelemy
Melissa Barthelemy was 24 years old and lived in the Bronx when she went missing. Ms. Barthelemy worked as an escort and advertised on sites like Adult Friend Finder, the police said.
She was last seen at her home, a basement apartment, on July 12, 2009. On the night she disappeared, Ms. Barthelemy told a friend that she was going to see a man and would return, according to the police. Her mother reported her missing on July 18, after not hearing from her.
Melissa Barthelemy was the first one discovered on Dec. 11, 2010, when a police officer, John Mallia, was conducting a training exercise with his K9 partner, Blue, according to prosecutors. Blue discovered human remains.
Two days later, the police returned to the stretch of beach where the remains were found and recovered three more bodies within a quarter-mile of where Ms. Barthelemy was discovered.
After Ms. Barthelemy was reported missing, her younger sister, Amanda, began receiving calls, never lasting more than three minutes, from an unidentified male caller, the police said. The caller would repeatedly taunt her and in one call confessed to Ms. Barthelemy’s killing,

Melissa Barthelemy
Costello had moved to New York from Clearwater Florida and had completed a 28-day drug rehab, but had relapsed not long before her disappearance.
Melissa Mary Barthelemy
Melissa Mary Barthelemy Born, April 14, 1985. A few weeks before her birth, Grandma Mary had died during an epileptic seizure. Melissa’s mother Lynn named the baby Melissa Mary Barthelemy.
Melissa graduated from Buffalo’s South Park High School in 2003, then earned her cosmetology license from Continental Beauty School. She worked at a Supercuts in her home town before moving to the city, where she hoped
to find a more glamorous job as a stylist and someday to own her own hair salon..
Melissa rented a $700 basement apartment on Underhill Avenue in Tremont, a Bronx neighborhood. She told her parents that she was working in cosmetology. Barthelemy was arrested on Sept. 12, 2008, at Sixth Avenue and West 46th Street on suspicion of prostitution. In April 2009, she pleaded guilty to attempted prostitution, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to five days of community service.
July 9, 2009, Barthelemy had sent a late-night text message to her sister, Amanda Funderburg. Funderburg, 15, was the only family member who knew that Barthelemy was working as an escort, though by then the family knew she was doing exotic dancing rather than haircuts. That text was the last time the family would hear from her. Early the next day, she made a $900 deposit into her bank account, and she seems to have tried to call an ex-boyfriend, who didn’t answer. She also checked her voicemail from two motels in Massapequa, a Budget Inn and a Best Western.
On July 9, 2009, Barthelemy sent a late-night text message to her 15-year-old sister, Amanda Funderburg. Funderburg was the only family member who knew that Barthelemy was working as an escort, although by then the family knew she was doing exotic dancing instead of haircuts. This text was the last communication the family had from her.
July 10, 2009 Early the next day, she made a $900 deposit into her bank account and attempted to call an ex-boyfriend who didn’t answer. She also checked her voicemail from two motels in Massapequa, including a Budget Inn and a Best Western.
24 hours later, the family attempted to report her missing, but officers at the New York Police Department precinct they called didn’t take their concerns seriously. A few days later, a family friend convinced the Erie County Sheriff’s Office to pressure the NYPD to take the case seriously. It was only then that the NYPD opened a missing-person file on her, and the investigation began. They were soon in touch with their counterparts in Long Island.
Between July 16, 19, and 23, an unidentified man made calls to Melissas sister Amanda using her missing sister’s phone. During these calls, he insulted the victim by falsely claiming that her sister was a prostitute and a bad person. The NYPD was able to trace the calls to Madison Square Garden and then to Times Square. Investigators believed that the caller deliberately chose these busy locations and kept the calls short to make it difficult for authorities to track him using surveillance cameras. They also suspected that the caller might have a background in law enforcement due to his knowledge of police procedures. Despite the efforts of NYPD detectives to locate and confront the caller, they were unable to find him.
December 2010, Suffolk County police found Melissa Barthelemy and the others on Gilgo Beach. DNA from a toothbrush found in her basement apartment helped identify her. Family and friends gathered at the Life Church in West Seneca, N.Y
2023 Rex Heuermann, an architect who has lived most of his life in Nassau County and worked in Manhattan was arrested for murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello
Heuermann was charged with three counts of first degree murder and three counts of second degree murder in the killings of Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy, whose bodies were found wrapped in hunting camouflage
burlap within a quarter mile of each other on a stretch of beach. All had been in their 20s, petite and working as escorts. They disappeared between 2009 and 2010.
Read Bail Document