Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann visited LI gun club days before 2003 slay
NEW YORK — Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann visited a Suffolk County gun club in 2003, just days before the remains of one of the women he is newly accused of killing was found in the woods nearby, according to a new report.
Last week, prosecutors charged Heuermann with the murder of Jessica Taylor, 20, one of six people so far linked to the suspected serial killer.
Taylor’s partial remains were discovered in a wooded lot near the Long Island Expressway on July 25, 2003. The body had been decapitated and both arms had been severed.
According to Newsday, the remains were found about a mile from the edge of the Peconic River Sportsman’s Club, where records show Heuermann had been in attendance just days before.
An excerpt from a day planner revealed by prosecutors, dated July 20, 2003, showed Heuermann was scheduled to be at the club the day before Taylor disappeared.
Online researchers later found photographs that appear to show the suspect training young marksmen at a similar event in 2006.
Heuermann was not a member of the club but is an avid gun collector. Investigators found and seized 280 guns during a search of his Massapequa Park home.
“Mr. Heuermann was not and is not a member of the Peconic River Sportsman’s Club,” Kerry Goldberg, a representative of the gun club told Newsday. “Mr. Heuermann did participate in a few high-powered rifle events at the club, which were open to the public. His role was to ensure safety while working directly with an individual student who took the course and assist them while shooting.”
Last week, Heuermann was charged with second-degree murder in the 1993 death of Sandra Costilla and the 2003 death of Taylor.
He was previously charged with the deaths of four sex workers whose remains were found near one another along a stretch of Ocean Parkway known as Gilgo Beach between late fall 2010 and early spring 2011.
Authorities said Taylor, a sex worker, died between July 21 and July 26, 2003. Costilla was murdered between Nov. 19 and 20, 1993, according to the indictment.
