November 17, 2025 • 39 mins
Why Ocean Parkway? Did Rex Heuermann's passion for duck hunting transform an isolated marshland into a dumping ground? When prosecutors charged him with Sandra Costilla's 1993 murder, pushing the killing spree back three decades, a chilling question emerged, if Sandra was the only victim not found along Ocean Parkway, and Rex allegedly hunted across Long Island and beyond, how many more trophy gardens are still waiting to be discovered?
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
New episodes are released weekly absolutely free, but you can
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(00:27):
Hunting the Long Island Serial Killer. The views and opinions
expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals
participating in the podcast and do not reflect those of
Tenderfoot TV or iHeartMedia. This podcast contains subject matter which
may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
In this episode, we'll be talking about these victims in
very graphic terms. These details are crucial for proving the
mistakes and missed opportunities that could have led to the
perpetrators capture sooner. These individuals deserve to be remembered not
by the details of their deaths, but by the fullness
of their lives. They are Shannon Gilbert Green, Brainerd Barnes,
(01:12):
Megan Waterman, Melissa Bartholome ambuy, Lyn Costello, Jessica Taylor, Valerie
mac Karen Bergatta Asian Doe, Tanya, Denise Jackson and Tatiana
Marie Dykes.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
When she first disappeared, I called all the precincts to
find out if she had been arrested, because she didn't
call me. After a couple of days, I didn't find
anybody that I had no deed, so I really I
didn't think she was dead. Finally someone had called me.
They had said, have you spoken to Amber? And I'm
like no, why. They're like, are you watching the news?
(01:50):
I'm like, why is she arrested? Is she on the news?
They're like him, they just pulled up four bodies off
Gilgoa Beach and they think his girls were from Craigslist.
And right then I knew one of those girls. I knew,
like I knew.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
The voice you're hearing is that of Kim over Street.
Her sister was Amber lingk Costello, one of the four
women found wrapped in burlap on Gilgo Beach. We interviewed
Kim back in twenty fourteen in the same hotel where
victim Megan Waterman was last seen. This wasn't by chance.
A hotel was still popular with sex workers, and that
(02:24):
included Amber's sister Kim, whose life had spiraled into darkness.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Where I'm at right now, has just thought everything to
do with what happened to Amber. I walked away from
friends and family that I could call. I've just given
up my will. I feel like I've lost my wife.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
I just.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
I have no reason to do anything, you know, I
just do whatever I have to at that moment. You know,
I live moment at the moment right now. I just
don't know if I will to ever be able to
come back from this.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
You know, it's hard.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Like many of the families whose loved ones had been
taken by lisk Kim had given up all hope of
law enforcement ever solving Amber's case.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
I don't think that they really have a lot. They
have a bag of bones in one hand and some
hope in the other.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So your sister disappears, how quickly do you continue to
keep working after?
Speaker 6 (03:22):
Immediately immediately he didn't stop.
Speaker 7 (03:25):
No.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
I quit my job and did it all day and
all night, hoping I would come across the guy who
did it. You know, I was hoping he'd still be
in the area. I've been trying to solve it. I've
took guys information down, tag numbers, if I could get
anything off, the driver's license you know, I did.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
Whatever I could, So what do you want? I just
want to know who kunt my sister.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I just want to see from myself and the Two Eyes.
Speaker 6 (03:47):
And is that going to help you? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I think it will.
Speaker 6 (03:53):
And so if we were to go find him, where
should we do?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Good question on that page advertisements meant for women, same
way he finds us.
Speaker 8 (04:06):
Do you think this guy scans back page?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Absolutely every day? Every day?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And that's where we came in to use our series,
not just to tell a story, but to change it.
We wanted to provoke Lisk, to get a reaction and
maybe a clue, which led us to posting messages on
the escort site backpage that we filmed for.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
Our series The Killing Season.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Knowing that List liked to Peru's backpage and taunt his victims,
we decided it was time to look in his hunting ground.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
Filmmakers seek escort for documentary. We're looking forts who think
they may have come across the Long Island zero Killer.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
We have information as to whom we believe this individual
is and are looking for someone to confirm based upon
specific details.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
We knew that List would be looking at backpage. He
knew he would see this ad. All right, you ready
to do this?
Speaker 9 (05:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I'm Josh Semen and this is monster hunting, the Long
Island's serial killer. No.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
New York's number one news channel seven NIE witness.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Meetings of six back today after an arrest and the
infamous Gilgo Beach murders, fifty nine year old Rex Heureman
is now charged in the.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Murders of three women.
Speaker 8 (05:53):
Right.
Speaker 9 (05:55):
Heureman was arrested last night near his office in Midtown Manhattan.
Speaker 6 (05:59):
Tonight. He being held without fail.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Rex hunted and haunted unsuspecting young women over three decades.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Whether it was the earliest days of the Gilgo Beach
investigation for moments after the arrest of the alleged Long
Island serial killer Rex Hureman. Throughout the media's coverage, we'd
often heard the inevitable serial killer as hunter analogy. It's
an all too common trope that goes back to the
classic short story The Most Dangerous Game in the nineteen
thirty two film that.
Speaker 10 (06:29):
Followed Here on My Island, I Hunt the Most Dangerous Game.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
The storytells of a Russian nobleman who hunts humans for sport,
claiming his prey for nothing more than scum of the earth.
But in the aftermath of Rex's arrest, what was suddenly
apparent was how closely this dark tale of human behavior
and power dynamics mirrored the list case.
Speaker 11 (06:54):
His intent was to hunt them down and to bring
them under his.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Controlman was an alleged predator who terrorized and killed sex
workers for his gratification.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
He liked the idea of having a prize stalking prey,
stalking prey and winning.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
He liked to win.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
From the very beginning, we wanted to turn the tables
on this serial killer as hunter theme. We wanted to
shift the dynamic and take that power away, and so
in our retelling, the hunter would become the hunt dead.
Another common trope, but one that gave these victims and
their families at least something in lieu of the justice
that they'd been denied, which is what led Rachel and
(07:34):
I to that post on backpage.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Do you think he's actually gonna like contact us?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
We're basically saying we have information as to who he
is and we're just looking for somebody to confirm the details.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
I feel like nothing's gonna come on this, But then
a little bit.
Speaker 8 (07:49):
Of me is like, but what if it does.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
While we didn't know if Lisk would find some veiled
way of reaching out to find out how much we knew,
one cryptic response did catch our attention, from an anonymous
source claiming to know why List had seemingly gone cold,
along with a number for us to call.
Speaker 9 (08:09):
I heard who the lisk is slash was and it
kind of makes sense that he hasn't killed a while.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
Which call.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Hey, we're the domakers doing the Long Island Serial killer documentary.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
He saw a post on back page. Yeah, I had
heard that the gentleman that owned Atlanta.
Speaker 12 (08:36):
Three he was back and that's when he.
Speaker 8 (08:41):
Had committed suicide.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
And how did you hear that?
Speaker 12 (08:44):
I worked with the police department.
Speaker 10 (08:46):
I had heard back who the DA's office was questioning
before forrest somebody on it, and that's one a standard set.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
The caller was repeating a rumor claiming a Suffolk County
business man who committed suicide just after the bodies were
found was actually Lisk, a rumor that, conveniently for the
DIA's office escaped go to to dead Man. But in
the days after Huerman's rest, some viewers thought the caller
might have been Rex himself.
Speaker 13 (09:17):
We're learning that Rex Huerman may have called a documentary
filmmaker seven years ago in a sick effort at pinning
the crime spree on somebody else. Audio expert Anthony Nelson
analyzed the recordings for Inside Edition. Was it him who
made that phone call?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
In my opinion, it sounds exactly like him.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Whether that was Rex really calling us, it's hard to say,
and what we're leery of Inside Editions findings. One thing
we know is true, Rex Hureerman was in fact scouring
news reports, documentaries and websites trying to figure out exactly
who knew what. It's a cat and mouse game with
Lisk that stretches all the way back to our twenty
(09:57):
fifteen interview with former Suffolk County Police Chief Richard Dormer.
Speaker 8 (10:02):
You think he probably controls these sites.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
That talk about him. Yes, I believe that the media
thing is big.
Speaker 14 (10:10):
He's going to watch this show when you advertise this thing,
He's going to zero win on this.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
If there was even a remote chance that our backpage
post gave Lisk the littlest tinge of fear than in
our minds.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
It was worth it.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's why we originally wanted to call our show the
hunting season, and now ten years later, it seems this
hunting theme was the answer all along, the clue to
understanding why Liss chose Ocean Parkway, or what is now
known is the largest crime scene in Suffolk County history.
Speaker 15 (10:42):
Ocean Parkway stretches along this barrier island for fifteen miles.
It is a terribly desolate area, perhaps the most desolate
in the New York City metropolitan area.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
It's so dark out here that if a killer were
to pull over the side of the road, you'd be
able to operate in real secrecy.
Speaker 6 (10:59):
This is what he see, absolutely nothing.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Ocean Parkway runs the length of Jones Beach Island, with
the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Great Jones
Bay on the other. In some sections, it's just a
few hundred feet wide, no homes, no street lights. Pulling
onto its grassy shoulder, you could quickly step into brush
so thick you couldn't see a body unless you were
(11:24):
right on top of it. You could also spot the
headlights of an approaching car from miles away. In short,
the perfect place to hide a body. But how did
the killer know this remote spot so intimately and what
did it have to do with burlap.
Speaker 13 (11:42):
The remains of four missing women were found here, bound
in burlap and dumped.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Maureen, Melissa, Meghan and Amber the first four women found
on Gilgo Beach in December of twenty ten. Unlike many
of the other victims who were dis membered, they were
found intact. But more importantly, a clue leaked to the
press revealed that they were wrapped in a unique type
of burlap. Again's Foreign Police Chief Richard Dormer.
Speaker 14 (12:14):
Disinformation went out there about what they were wrapped in,
and we never verified that. I will verify the were
wrapped rapped, but what they were wrapped in, we never
revealed that. But somebody, a source told the media, and
of course anybody that had anything to do with burlap
sacks was a suspect.
Speaker 6 (12:34):
Those burlap sacks found in the scene. Burlap isn't common
these days. Who would use burlap in that area well, clamdiggers.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Off camera, Dormer told us there was something printed on
the outside of the burlap. Leading Rachel and I on
our own wild goose chase. When that focused on landscapers.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
Do you sell burlap sacked? No, don't sell burlap sacked?
There was some question about the bodies were wrapped in
laugh Oh.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
When we heard about this, even convicted serial killer and
former landscaper himself, Joel Rifkin had an opinion.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
He has some theories about who this person might be.
Speaker 13 (13:11):
Someone who's local, someone who's a fisherman, someone who has
access to these burlap bags that some of the bodies
are founded.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Ironically, the answer to the burlap mystery and who list
might be was buried on our own footage in one
of the first scenes that Rachel and I ever filmed
as we explored the frenzy of online sluice theorizing about
the case. So this is the site that popped up
immediately after they found the bodies. Long Island serial killer
dot Com. A lot of people had a lot of
(13:39):
theories and so they came to this site.
Speaker 16 (13:42):
Personally, I feel it's a textbook case of a sexually
statistic serial killer who has been killing since at least
nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
There's this guy, Inspector Gadget. I've narrowed down my search
to two members of the Duck Hunting Club. While Inspector
Gadget was looking at the wrong suspects, his theory that
Li was a duck hunter was right on target. In fact,
within days of Human's arrest, it was reported that not
only did Rex have a huge collection of guns, but
(14:10):
he was an avid hunter with a special affinity for
duck hunting.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
Police say they found a walk in vault with guns
in the basement of Gilgo Beach.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Suspect Rex h weremen.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
He had a duck hunting boat, he had a duck
hunting license, He had duck hunting guns.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
Going out shooting hunting, that was his passion.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
We now know that Rex held over ninety two gun
permits and had even renewed his New York hunting license
in twenty twelve, two years after the bodies were found.
As for his favorite hunting spot, the isolated Inlet Bays
off Ocean Parkway, corroborated by a photo of Rex smiling
in waste deep waters surrounded by decoy ducks, just a
(14:54):
few hundred yards from where Asian Doe was found. And finally,
the tragic clue that connected all the.
Speaker 8 (15:01):
Dots here in.
Speaker 9 (15:03):
Authorities now say that some of the victims were wrapped
in a burlap that hunters often use was chilling.
Speaker 11 (15:12):
The burlop was camouflage burlap used for duckblines hunting, so
obviously it was used to hide the bodies.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Learning that such burlap was used by duck hunters, it
all seems so painfully obvious. Ocean Parkway was more than
just this killer's dumping grounds. It was also his hunting grounds.
And the two weren't extricably linked.
Speaker 10 (15:40):
So GB four are all carefully laid out. That's the
same strip of road. They are carefully wrapped into burlap.
This is collection behaviors. This guy is a collector.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
While filming The Killing Season, we met Peter Brent, a
former submarine technician and author of maritime thrillers. But Peter's
passion with developing serial killer profiles, several of which have
been cited by law enforcement. In twenty fifteen, Peter published
a profile of Lisk that was uniquely insightful for understanding
(16:15):
why this killer chose Ocean Parkway.
Speaker 10 (16:24):
Sound can influence as a mindset of any person. You
sit somewhere and you listen to music, and it can
change your mood. The same is for psychopaths, only they
feel it different than normal people. They're emotionally distanced. For them,
it's more this almost heterogenous sound. It's like the ocean,
(16:46):
like waves rolling on the beach. It's the same kind
of noise. It's almost always the same, but it has
little variations in it. It's like wind over the forest,
a little bit like tourtain. Lullabies works on normal people
like it works on them. It works calming, it, it
(17:08):
works comforting. Is that is what they like? Especially? This
is a typical dump area of psychopathic serial.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Killer when it comes to criminal profiling, which at best
is an educated guess, and it works no better than
fortune telling. Peter Brent's take on Lisk was bizarrely prescient.
Tell me a little bit about what this behavior means
about him.
Speaker 10 (17:34):
This guy is not your garden variety sexual predator. Look
at the dump side. Normally, if a sexual predator builds
cluster dumb sides, he does it to revisit, to relift
something sexual. So they usually don't build dumb sides next
to a road. This guy had no sexual intention. He
(17:55):
has intention to revisit for him. It's enough to drive
by to know the victims us there. He is a hunter,
deer hunter. You have ever been in the house of
a hunter. You see all those animal heads staring from
the wall down at you.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
This guy did exactly. It's the same thing. Along that road.
He parked his victims.
Speaker 10 (18:14):
In nice equal distances to each other, like a trophy guard,
always reminding him of his achievement.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
And considering what we now know about the alleged reck Hureman,
it seems that another one of his trophy gardens was Manorville.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Canine units and squad cars descending on the thick rush
of Manorville, New York.
Speaker 9 (18:35):
It was two decades ago when human remains of two
women were found here and at Kilgo Beach, later identified
as Jessica Taylor and Valerie mac.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Some twenty miles north of Gilgo Beach is Manorville, sitting
on the edge of Long Island's last remaining wilderness. It's
still a popular destination for hunters, which maybe one reason
why November of two thousand, Valerie max remains had been
placed on a well worn trail well during the opening
weeks of pheasant season, only to be found by three hunters.
(19:05):
But there were still other clues to corroborate this tragic connection.
Speaker 17 (19:10):
Two law enforcement sources told me Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack,
found in Manerville were tied up in a very cruel way,
one saying their leg area was bound in a ball.
The second source said the knees were brought into their
chest area. You'd have to be a hunter to do
something like that.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
But could there be an even more sinister reason as
to why Liss chose Manorville. It's a question worth asking
because of that strange word that keeps popping up in
this case coincidence. You see, Rex wasn't the only hunter
in Long Island who at the time was killing sex workers,
which by now isn't so surprising, except that this hunter
(19:51):
lived less than three miles from where the bodies of
Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack were found, right in the
heart of Manorville.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
What of Da Tom's Modis's.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
Forty eight year old John Bitroff of Manorvilla is accused
of killing two prostitutes in the nineties.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
Bitrol and Avid Hunter.
Speaker 9 (20:08):
He was twenty seven at the time and has since
lived here in Manerville, surrounded by woods and trusting neighbors.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
In twenty fourteen, John Bitroff, a licensed hunter and carpenter,
was arrested after DNA taken from his brother on an
unrelated charge was uploaded into the CODIS database. That database
revealed that John Bitroff's DNA had been found on two
murdered women in the nineties, Rita Tangretti, aged thirty one,
and Colleen mcnamie, aged twenty.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
Tangretti's nude body was found in a wooded area in
East Patchog A few months later, McNamee's body was discovered
in the woods and Shirley, two young women murdered twenty
years ago, both of them found in wooded.
Speaker 17 (20:51):
Areas in the same naked pose.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
There is a third murder case, twenty eight year old
Sandra Costilla, murdered back in nineteen nine ninety three under
very similar circumstances.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Three women murdered in just three months, first red to
Tankretti on November two, nineteen ninety three, then only three
weeks later Santra Castilla, then ten weeks later Colleen McNamee.
And while bit Trov's DNA wasn't found on Castia, the
strange timing and similar circumstances of her murder led Suffolk
County DA Tom Spoda to believe that Bitroff was responsible.
Speaker 12 (21:29):
It's remarkable that we have this wonderful thing called DNA
because there can't be any other person. I also wanted
to mention that we have a third woman. Her manner
of death is very similar to the two other women.
Sandra Castilla at the third victim.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
When news first broke in the middle of the Gilgo
Beach investigation that John Bitroff had been charged with killing
two sex workers, many assumed he must be Lisk. Whoever,
the DA's office disagreed Bitroff's modus operandi that of a
Blitz style bluzzeoning didn't match the list victims. We're either
dismembered or wrapped in burlap. Of course, mo o's can change,
(22:10):
but none of Bitroff's victims were also found on Ocean Parkway. Yet,
just after his conviction, DA spoda's office would conveniently change
its mind about a possible connection to Lisk.
Speaker 16 (22:24):
Now, three years after the district attorney said there was
no link between Bittroff and the Gilgo Beach case, we're
getting a different story. Quote there are victims at Gilgo
that may be attributed to mister Bittroff, and that investigation
is continuing.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Well, we didn't know in twenty sixteen if the DA's
office was trying to pin any Gilgo victims on Bitroff.
It wasn't the first time he'd heard rumors of Da
Spoda trying to escapegoat another. Yet little did we know
that Bitroff saga would return in June of twenty twenty four,
when the Gilgo Beach Tasked Force made a stunning announcement.
Speaker 11 (23:03):
We're here today to announce additional charges in the case
against Rex Yuerman in the nineteen ninety three murder of
Sondra Castilla. On November twenty two, individuals, while hunting in
that wooded area of north Sea discovered her body.
Speaker 15 (23:30):
We're turning out to this major update in the case
of the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
In a shocking turn of events, rex Huerman has been
indicted in the November nineteen ninety three death of Sandra Costilla.
Speaker 8 (23:41):
John Bittrolf has been long suspected in her death but
never charged.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
Prosecutors are saying they believe that around nineteen ninety three
rex Huerman began this killing spray, and that is the
really big news out of what we're hearing today.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
With this shocking twist in the murder of Sondra Castillo,
we started digging back into thirty year old newspaper reports
looking for some clue that could link back to Rex.
What we do know is that Sondra's life took her
from Trinidad to Hawaii before she married and settled in
New York. Police described Sondra as a quote trifter living
(24:18):
in transient lifestyle before two hunters discovered her body in
nineteen ninety three behind the now defunct fish cove in
in the North Sea area of Long Island.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
These allegations are stunning, and they dramatically expand this now
sprawling murder investigation.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
For the briefest moment, we questioned if these new prosecutors
we're trying to pin Castillo's murder on Huerman in hopes
of clearing old cold cases.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
That was until we heard the evidence.
Speaker 11 (24:47):
There were two hairs from a Sandra Castilla's remains. One
was a male hair. That same male hair was four
point three four seven times ten to three hundred and
thirty two power more likely to I've come from a
person genetically identical to Rex Yuerman, then from an unrelated individual.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
A hair discovered on Sandra had matched the DNA of
Rex Yuerman. Moreso, never released. Details of the crime now
calls into question attempts by former Da Spoda to link
Sondra's murder with those of Bitrop's other victims.
Speaker 18 (25:20):
The District Attorney's office says Sandra Costia was mutilated. She
had a lot of wounds on her body that don't
exist at the other two crime scenes.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Additionally, John Bitrof's two victims were found only nine miles apart,
while Sondra Castilla was found over thirty miles away in
the woods behind a shuttered holiday camp known as the
Fish Cove In. Ironically, the abandoned lodge became the setting
for the nineteen eighty slasher film Madman, a low budget
retelling of the cropsy legend that featured a hulking killer.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
My story deals with.
Speaker 14 (25:54):
A man who used to live in that old, dilapidated
house behind those trees. Untain nights, when the moon is full,
he's out there stalking in the woods.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
What's now clear is that a real life Madman named
Rex Yuerman allegedly killed Sondra, which only further complicates this case.
Sondra was not only the earliest known victim, but the
only victim whose remains were not found on Ocean Parkway.
She was also identified via fingerprints, meaning the killer hadn't
tried to prevent her identification. While his next four victims,
(26:29):
Valerie mack Kanya Denise Jackson, Karen Bergatta, and Jessica Taylor
had all been dismembered.
Speaker 5 (26:37):
Sandra Costilla is surprising and the reason for that is
she was found in nineteen ninety three, that is before
anyone suspected that Long Island serial killer was at work here.
But that is what prosecutors are saying.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So are we seeing a killer evolved, changing his modus
operandi as he starts to employ forensic countermeasures to prevent
his victims from being identified through fingerprints or dental records?
More so, are we seeing a killer developing his signature,
his unique imprint as he places every other victim after
Sandra Castia on Ocean Parkway in the creation of his
(27:15):
trophy garden. And why is any of this important? Because
these are the questions investigators are asking as they try
to untangle a case that's been bungled from the start.
Speaker 18 (27:27):
Right here, And he will say, just because Tom Spoda
many years ago said he thought those cases were so similar,
does not mean he shares the same opinion.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
And then there's the timing of rex Huremann's crimes as
it relates to Bitroff's crimes and the confusion it created.
Back in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 7 (27:43):
Authorities believe Bitroff may be responsible for the murder of
Sandra Castilla, which happened in between the deaths of Tangretti
A Nacanamy.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
And for those of us who have been following the
list case, this timing was more than just strange, it
was downright mystifying.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Let me explain.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
In November of nineteen ninety three, John Bitroff kills his
first victim, Then just two and a half weeks later,
Rex Huerman allegedly kills his first victim, Sondra Castilla. Then
two weeks later Bitroff kills again. So are we to
believe that rex Huerman allegedly starts his decades long killing
spree right in the middle of bit Roff's two murders,
(28:23):
and then their timelines intersect again nearly a decade later,
when Hureman discards two victims in Manerville, just miles from
Bitroff's home. This is somehow all completely random or even
more coincidences, and can one case really have this many coincidences?
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Well, I think the biggest bomb that dropped was the
Sondra still a case. We had Reda ten Gritty and
Colleen mcnamie and then find out it was Rex that.
Speaker 6 (28:49):
Was a shogun.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Hureman's strange connection with John bit Roff is an issue
I brought up with Joe jack Alone, former commander of
the Bronx Cold Case Squad and one of his recent
PODCAS casts. For years, Joe and I have been delving
into the enigmas of the list case. We know how
Rex knows the Gilgo Beach area because of the duck hunting,
(29:11):
but how does he know manner? This is all about
hunting and victims and kind of some weird hunting psychopathy.
Speaker 8 (29:17):
Valerie mac Andjessica Daylor are found by hunters.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Who else was a hunter? Pit Roff was a hunter
known to you know, one hunter who lived in the area.
But then is it a coincidence that he dropped these
bodies less than a mile and a half away from
where pitt Roff lived.
Speaker 8 (29:32):
I've said this a thousand times. From the investigative standpoint,
I don't believe in coincidences. I was hoping that somebody
in the media, and you know what, they can take
this and run with it, would start searching the sea
if there was a connection anywhere between these two guys.
And you kind of led me into this one because
you just can't ignore the fact that hunters were involved
(29:54):
in two of those three cases out there, and you
have all these gun clubs out there also, and there's
also a Upper Peconic River Fishing Access not too far
from where this was on Mill Road.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
This hunting thing is going to come back. There's something where.
Speaker 8 (30:10):
There is a hunter's type of relationship somewhere here.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
While we didn't know exactly how Bitrock fit into the equation,
it seems in trying to answer one question, Joe and
I stumbled upon another.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
Why Manorville.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Joe had mentioned the name Upper Peconic Fishing Access, which
we would quickly discover was right next to the Peconic
River Sportsmen's Club. Just a few days after our conversation
was revealed that Rex was not only a volunteer at
the gun club, but he often went there on weekends
to hone his hunting skills.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
Gun Club records show Huerman took part in public shooting
competitions and courses in the early two thousands in Manorville
at the Paconic River Sportsmen's Club.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
In the end, the reason why Lisk chose Manerville might
be so simple it's terrifying. The Piconic River Sportsman's Club
was only two and a half miles away from where
Jessica Taylor's body was found. In fact, it was on
the same road, no turns, no complicated driving required. But
it was only when we went to Manerville did it
all make sense. Driving along Hawsley Manor Road, we were
(31:21):
shocked just how clearly we could see that exact same
spot where Jessicataylor's remains have been so carefully placed out
in the open, a spot Rex made sure he could
see so easily from behind the wheel of his Chevy
Avalanche as he drove by on any given weekend on
his way to indulge his other passion guns and to
(31:43):
teach his skills to the next generation.
Speaker 9 (31:46):
Structor Ira Rutderman remembers Rex Yewerman as an high powered
gun enthusiast who regularly volunteered as a coach at the
Sportsman's Club.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
And then there was sonra Castilla, just four miles away
from and where she was found was the Southampton Pistol
Rifle Range, where it's been said that Rex also went
to practice his unique skill set.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
Rex loved hunting, and he loved guns. He liked to
shock people.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
He was interested in power.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Games, whether this theme of hunting or gun clubs or
playing the most dangerous game, Whether any of this is
why the alleged Rex Hureman chose Ocean Parkway or Manorville.
Unless we get those answers from Rex himself, all we're
doing is speculating. It's all any of us are doing,
whether it be the dozens of podcasts or documentaries, and
(32:38):
who doesn't like to speculate, To play amateur profiler, to
see if you can figure out what the killer might
be thinking, until that moment when you do know, when
you finally learn what horror goes on inside.
Speaker 6 (32:52):
That monster's head. As the old saying goes, be careful
what you wish for. I need to give you a
war about our next story. Now what you are about
to hear is extremely graphic, and it.
Speaker 13 (33:04):
Brings us inside the mind of an alleged serial killer.
Breaking news about the horrifying notes prosecutors say they found
on the dilgo beat serial killer's computer.
Speaker 6 (33:25):
We do want to warn you these details are disturbing.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Ever since Rex's arrest, the DA's office has been releasing
court documents to help bolster their case, documents that also
filled in the blanks for our own investigation. But we
are still missing that one piece, you might call it
the how how did this monster do what he did?
And how could he get away with it for so long?
(33:50):
And then it came the answer no one was expecting,
the one piece of evidence that tied it all together,
the one I wish I never saw.
Speaker 8 (34:00):
And welcome to this edition of ROCAL. I'm your host,
Joseph Jackalone. Josh Zimdia is with USSH. Thanks for coming up, Thanks.
Speaker 6 (34:06):
For having me important today.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
On June six, twenty twenty four, I joined Joe jackaloone
and retired Detective David Sarney on a live stream as
the Suffolk County DA was set to reveal new charges
and release new evidence against Rex Hureman.
Speaker 6 (34:24):
Joe, you heard that what we're going to find out
is not pretty.
Speaker 8 (34:27):
Yeah, the word that actually was used was bad. Now,
when you hear the term bad from law enforcement, you're
talking about really terrible things. That happened to a human
being be prepared.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
We are going to watch the press are live. Okay,
we got it.
Speaker 11 (34:41):
Hang on, We're here today to announce additional charges. The
task force discovered a Microsoft word document covered from the
home of the defendant, entitled HK two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
As Tierney continued, the DA's office posted the indictment. One
piece of evidence that immediately caught our attention, one that
went far beyond the hors than any one of us,
even seasoned detectives, had ever seen. Now there it is.
Speaker 8 (35:12):
There's the indictment, newly discovered digital evidence. In twenty twenty three,
the Giggle task Force sees the HOD drive from the basement.
The task force found the Microsoft word document entitled HK
two thousand and two Planning Documents.
Speaker 6 (35:27):
Guys, look at.
Speaker 8 (35:29):
The planning document delivers a three category section that heading
pre prep, prep and post events.
Speaker 6 (35:35):
Bon drain cleaner, body wipes, tarts.
Speaker 8 (35:37):
Holy, this is just unbelievable.
Speaker 6 (35:39):
This is this is photo photos.
Speaker 8 (35:41):
Watch body inside in all cavities, removes trace, DNA, remove
ID marks, tattoos, move head and hands. So the post event,
let's talk look at that destroy file, change tires, right,
he's worried about leaving tire tracks, Jesus burned gloves, dispose
of picks, a story sets next time, recondumpster locations, misleaders.
Speaker 19 (36:02):
What could mislead a the investigations.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
For problems In any investigation, there's always that moment when
the rubicon is crossed, when what was once imagined becomes reality.
Speaker 12 (36:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Unfortunately the family members are going to hear what happened.
So it's it's really just really tragic.
Speaker 19 (36:21):
This is a deviant, evil person. He was thorough in
his attempt to hide the murdency was committing. This is
a dural serial killer. He had it all planned. He
had it prepared.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Rex had planned everything step by step by step.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
He had his whole methodology on what he did, thinking
of every contingencyprints.
Speaker 19 (36:45):
In gloves, He remembered that about fingerprints being inside gloves.
Speaker 6 (36:49):
Of every detail, wifes and towels. No wonder he lasted
over thirty years.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Yeah, why did Rex allegedly get away with so much
for so long?
Speaker 6 (37:00):
Because, as we were about to find.
Speaker 8 (37:01):
Out, this is the stuff what nightmares are made of.
Speaker 6 (37:05):
That was the plan from the start.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Ready to keep listening, Remember you can binge the rest
of the season right now with an iHeart True Crime
Plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts Plus, you get
exclusive bonuses and ad free listening. So head to Apple
Podcasts search iHeart True Crime Plus and subscribe today. Hunting
(37:47):
the Long Island Serial Killer is a production of tenor
Foot TV and iHeart Podcasts. Hosted, written and executive produced
by me Josh Zemon, Produced and written by Caitlin Colford,
Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay are executive producers on behalf
of Tenderfoot TV. Matt Frederick and Trevor Young our executive
(38:09):
producers on behalf of iHeart Podcasts. Original music by Alex Lasarenko,
David Little and makeup and Vanity set Our supervising producer
is John Street. Editing and writing by Daniel Lonsberry. Additional
voiceover provided by Rachel Mills. Additional production provided by Ghost Robot,
(38:32):
Sound design, mix and master by Dayden Cole. Cover design
by Byron McCoy. Interns Arnetta Fontinat, Shelby Hanson, Alec Walker
and Fox Williams. Ana Television Networks LLC. Audio from the
Killing season used under license copyright twenty twenty five a
(38:53):
Anda Television Networks LLC.
Speaker 6 (38:56):
All rights reserved.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Special thanks to the Team United Talent Agency, the Nord Group,
Brad Abramson, Todd Leebowitz, Rich Perrillo and Jigsaw Productions, Rachel Mills,
Zachary Mortensen, Jen Beegle, David Baker, Joe jack Alone, and
Evan Krause, as well as the teams at iHeart Podcasts
and Tenderfoot TV. Find us on social media at Monster
(39:22):
Underscore Pod. For more podcasts like Monster Hunting the Long
Island serial Killer, search Tenderfoot TV in your podcast app
or visit tenderfoot dot tv. And if you want to
keep following my hunt for the Long Island serial Killer
or a deeper dive into my other true crime content,
join me on YouTube at Sinister with Josh Zeman,
New episodes are released weekly absolutely free, but you can
binge the entire season now with iHeart True Crime Plus
exclusively on Apple Podcasts. You'll also get ad free listening
and exclusive bonus episodes, So head to Apple Podcasts, search
iheartrue Crime Plus and subscribe. Today you're listening to Monster
(00:27):
Hunting the Long Island Serial Killer. The views and opinions
expressed in this podcast are solely those of the individuals
participating in the podcast and do not reflect those of
Tenderfoot TV or iHeartMedia. This podcast contains subject matter which
may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
In this episode, we'll be talking about these victims in
very graphic terms. These details are crucial for proving the
mistakes and missed opportunities that could have led to the
perpetrators capture sooner. These individuals deserve to be remembered not
by the details of their deaths, but by the fullness
of their lives. They are Shannon Gilbert Green, Brainerd Barnes,
(01:12):
Megan Waterman, Melissa Bartholome ambuy, Lyn Costello, Jessica Taylor, Valerie
mac Karen Bergatta Asian Doe, Tanya, Denise Jackson and Tatiana
Marie Dykes.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
When she first disappeared, I called all the precincts to
find out if she had been arrested, because she didn't
call me. After a couple of days, I didn't find
anybody that I had no deed, so I really I
didn't think she was dead. Finally someone had called me.
They had said, have you spoken to Amber? And I'm
like no, why. They're like, are you watching the news?
(01:50):
I'm like, why is she arrested? Is she on the news?
They're like him, they just pulled up four bodies off
Gilgoa Beach and they think his girls were from Craigslist.
And right then I knew one of those girls. I knew,
like I knew.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
The voice you're hearing is that of Kim over Street.
Her sister was Amber lingk Costello, one of the four
women found wrapped in burlap on Gilgo Beach. We interviewed
Kim back in twenty fourteen in the same hotel where
victim Megan Waterman was last seen. This wasn't by chance.
A hotel was still popular with sex workers, and that
(02:24):
included Amber's sister Kim, whose life had spiraled into darkness.
Speaker 3 (02:29):
Where I'm at right now, has just thought everything to
do with what happened to Amber. I walked away from
friends and family that I could call. I've just given
up my will. I feel like I've lost my wife.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
I just.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
I have no reason to do anything, you know, I
just do whatever I have to at that moment. You know,
I live moment at the moment right now. I just
don't know if I will to ever be able to
come back from this.
Speaker 5 (02:56):
You know, it's hard.
Speaker 2 (03:01):
Like many of the families whose loved ones had been
taken by lisk Kim had given up all hope of
law enforcement ever solving Amber's case.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
I don't think that they really have a lot. They
have a bag of bones in one hand and some
hope in the other.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
So your sister disappears, how quickly do you continue to
keep working after?
Speaker 6 (03:22):
Immediately immediately he didn't stop.
Speaker 7 (03:25):
No.
Speaker 3 (03:25):
I quit my job and did it all day and
all night, hoping I would come across the guy who
did it. You know, I was hoping he'd still be
in the area. I've been trying to solve it. I've
took guys information down, tag numbers, if I could get
anything off, the driver's license you know, I did.
Speaker 6 (03:39):
Whatever I could, So what do you want? I just
want to know who kunt my sister.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
I just want to see from myself and the Two Eyes.
Speaker 6 (03:47):
And is that going to help you? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:51):
I think it will.
Speaker 6 (03:53):
And so if we were to go find him, where
should we do?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Good question on that page advertisements meant for women, same
way he finds us.
Speaker 8 (04:06):
Do you think this guy scans back page?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
Absolutely every day? Every day?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
And that's where we came in to use our series,
not just to tell a story, but to change it.
We wanted to provoke Lisk, to get a reaction and
maybe a clue, which led us to posting messages on
the escort site backpage that we filmed for.
Speaker 6 (04:31):
Our series The Killing Season.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Knowing that List liked to Peru's backpage and taunt his victims,
we decided it was time to look in his hunting ground.
Speaker 6 (04:42):
Filmmakers seek escort for documentary. We're looking forts who think
they may have come across the Long Island zero Killer.
Speaker 2 (04:50):
We have information as to whom we believe this individual
is and are looking for someone to confirm based upon
specific details.
Speaker 6 (04:59):
We knew that List would be looking at backpage. He
knew he would see this ad. All right, you ready
to do this?
Speaker 9 (05:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (05:07):
I'm Josh Semen and this is monster hunting, the Long
Island's serial killer. No.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
New York's number one news channel seven NIE witness.
Speaker 5 (05:43):
Meetings of six back today after an arrest and the
infamous Gilgo Beach murders, fifty nine year old Rex Heureman
is now charged in the.
Speaker 6 (05:51):
Murders of three women.
Speaker 8 (05:53):
Right.
Speaker 9 (05:55):
Heureman was arrested last night near his office in Midtown Manhattan.
Speaker 6 (05:59):
Tonight. He being held without fail.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Rex hunted and haunted unsuspecting young women over three decades.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Whether it was the earliest days of the Gilgo Beach
investigation for moments after the arrest of the alleged Long
Island serial killer Rex Hureman. Throughout the media's coverage, we'd
often heard the inevitable serial killer as hunter analogy. It's
an all too common trope that goes back to the
classic short story The Most Dangerous Game in the nineteen
thirty two film that.
Speaker 10 (06:29):
Followed Here on My Island, I Hunt the Most Dangerous Game.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
The storytells of a Russian nobleman who hunts humans for sport,
claiming his prey for nothing more than scum of the earth.
But in the aftermath of Rex's arrest, what was suddenly
apparent was how closely this dark tale of human behavior
and power dynamics mirrored the list case.
Speaker 11 (06:54):
His intent was to hunt them down and to bring
them under his.
Speaker 4 (06:58):
Controlman was an alleged predator who terrorized and killed sex
workers for his gratification.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
He liked the idea of having a prize stalking prey,
stalking prey and winning.
Speaker 6 (07:10):
He liked to win.
Speaker 2 (07:12):
From the very beginning, we wanted to turn the tables
on this serial killer as hunter theme. We wanted to
shift the dynamic and take that power away, and so
in our retelling, the hunter would become the hunt dead.
Another common trope, but one that gave these victims and
their families at least something in lieu of the justice
that they'd been denied, which is what led Rachel and
(07:34):
I to that post on backpage.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
Do you think he's actually gonna like contact us?
Speaker 2 (07:40):
We're basically saying we have information as to who he
is and we're just looking for somebody to confirm the details.
Speaker 6 (07:46):
I feel like nothing's gonna come on this, But then
a little bit.
Speaker 8 (07:49):
Of me is like, but what if it does.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
While we didn't know if Lisk would find some veiled
way of reaching out to find out how much we knew,
one cryptic response did catch our attention, from an anonymous
source claiming to know why List had seemingly gone cold,
along with a number for us to call.
Speaker 9 (08:09):
I heard who the lisk is slash was and it
kind of makes sense that he hasn't killed a while.
Speaker 6 (08:16):
Which call.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Hey, we're the domakers doing the Long Island Serial killer documentary.
Speaker 6 (08:28):
He saw a post on back page. Yeah, I had
heard that the gentleman that owned Atlanta.
Speaker 12 (08:36):
Three he was back and that's when he.
Speaker 8 (08:41):
Had committed suicide.
Speaker 6 (08:43):
And how did you hear that?
Speaker 12 (08:44):
I worked with the police department.
Speaker 10 (08:46):
I had heard back who the DA's office was questioning
before forrest somebody on it, and that's one a standard set.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
The caller was repeating a rumor claiming a Suffolk County
business man who committed suicide just after the bodies were
found was actually Lisk, a rumor that, conveniently for the
DIA's office escaped go to to dead Man. But in
the days after Huerman's rest, some viewers thought the caller
might have been Rex himself.
Speaker 13 (09:17):
We're learning that Rex Huerman may have called a documentary
filmmaker seven years ago in a sick effort at pinning
the crime spree on somebody else. Audio expert Anthony Nelson
analyzed the recordings for Inside Edition. Was it him who
made that phone call?
Speaker 4 (09:32):
In my opinion, it sounds exactly like him.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
Whether that was Rex really calling us, it's hard to say,
and what we're leery of Inside Editions findings. One thing
we know is true, Rex Hureerman was in fact scouring
news reports, documentaries and websites trying to figure out exactly
who knew what. It's a cat and mouse game with
Lisk that stretches all the way back to our twenty
(09:57):
fifteen interview with former Suffolk County Police Chief Richard Dormer.
Speaker 8 (10:02):
You think he probably controls these sites.
Speaker 6 (10:05):
That talk about him. Yes, I believe that the media
thing is big.
Speaker 14 (10:10):
He's going to watch this show when you advertise this thing,
He's going to zero win on this.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
If there was even a remote chance that our backpage
post gave Lisk the littlest tinge of fear than in
our minds.
Speaker 6 (10:23):
It was worth it.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
It's why we originally wanted to call our show the
hunting season, and now ten years later, it seems this
hunting theme was the answer all along, the clue to
understanding why Liss chose Ocean Parkway, or what is now
known is the largest crime scene in Suffolk County history.
Speaker 15 (10:42):
Ocean Parkway stretches along this barrier island for fifteen miles.
It is a terribly desolate area, perhaps the most desolate
in the New York City metropolitan area.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
It's so dark out here that if a killer were
to pull over the side of the road, you'd be
able to operate in real secrecy.
Speaker 6 (10:59):
This is what he see, absolutely nothing.
Speaker 2 (11:03):
Ocean Parkway runs the length of Jones Beach Island, with
the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Great Jones
Bay on the other. In some sections, it's just a
few hundred feet wide, no homes, no street lights. Pulling
onto its grassy shoulder, you could quickly step into brush
so thick you couldn't see a body unless you were
(11:24):
right on top of it. You could also spot the
headlights of an approaching car from miles away. In short,
the perfect place to hide a body. But how did
the killer know this remote spot so intimately and what
did it have to do with burlap.
Speaker 13 (11:42):
The remains of four missing women were found here, bound
in burlap and dumped.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Maureen, Melissa, Meghan and Amber the first four women found
on Gilgo Beach in December of twenty ten. Unlike many
of the other victims who were dis membered, they were
found intact. But more importantly, a clue leaked to the
press revealed that they were wrapped in a unique type
of burlap. Again's Foreign Police Chief Richard Dormer.
Speaker 14 (12:14):
Disinformation went out there about what they were wrapped in,
and we never verified that. I will verify the were
wrapped rapped, but what they were wrapped in, we never
revealed that. But somebody, a source told the media, and
of course anybody that had anything to do with burlap
sacks was a suspect.
Speaker 6 (12:34):
Those burlap sacks found in the scene. Burlap isn't common
these days. Who would use burlap in that area well, clamdiggers.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
Off camera, Dormer told us there was something printed on
the outside of the burlap. Leading Rachel and I on
our own wild goose chase. When that focused on landscapers.
Speaker 6 (12:53):
Do you sell burlap sacked? No, don't sell burlap sacked?
There was some question about the bodies were wrapped in
laugh Oh.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
When we heard about this, even convicted serial killer and
former landscaper himself, Joel Rifkin had an opinion.
Speaker 6 (13:08):
He has some theories about who this person might be.
Speaker 13 (13:11):
Someone who's local, someone who's a fisherman, someone who has
access to these burlap bags that some of the bodies
are founded.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Ironically, the answer to the burlap mystery and who list
might be was buried on our own footage in one
of the first scenes that Rachel and I ever filmed
as we explored the frenzy of online sluice theorizing about
the case. So this is the site that popped up
immediately after they found the bodies. Long Island serial killer
dot Com. A lot of people had a lot of
(13:39):
theories and so they came to this site.
Speaker 16 (13:42):
Personally, I feel it's a textbook case of a sexually
statistic serial killer who has been killing since at least
nineteen ninety five.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
There's this guy, Inspector Gadget. I've narrowed down my search
to two members of the Duck Hunting Club. While Inspector
Gadget was looking at the wrong suspects, his theory that
Li was a duck hunter was right on target. In fact,
within days of Human's arrest, it was reported that not
only did Rex have a huge collection of guns, but
(14:10):
he was an avid hunter with a special affinity for
duck hunting.
Speaker 7 (14:16):
Police say they found a walk in vault with guns
in the basement of Gilgo Beach.
Speaker 6 (14:20):
Suspect Rex h weremen.
Speaker 1 (14:22):
He had a duck hunting boat, he had a duck
hunting license, He had duck hunting guns.
Speaker 6 (14:27):
Going out shooting hunting, that was his passion.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
We now know that Rex held over ninety two gun
permits and had even renewed his New York hunting license
in twenty twelve, two years after the bodies were found.
As for his favorite hunting spot, the isolated Inlet Bays
off Ocean Parkway, corroborated by a photo of Rex smiling
in waste deep waters surrounded by decoy ducks, just a
(14:54):
few hundred yards from where Asian Doe was found. And finally,
the tragic clue that connected all the.
Speaker 8 (15:01):
Dots here in.
Speaker 9 (15:03):
Authorities now say that some of the victims were wrapped
in a burlap that hunters often use was chilling.
Speaker 11 (15:12):
The burlop was camouflage burlap used for duckblines hunting, so
obviously it was used to hide the bodies.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Learning that such burlap was used by duck hunters, it
all seems so painfully obvious. Ocean Parkway was more than
just this killer's dumping grounds. It was also his hunting grounds.
And the two weren't extricably linked.
Speaker 10 (15:40):
So GB four are all carefully laid out. That's the
same strip of road. They are carefully wrapped into burlap.
This is collection behaviors. This guy is a collector.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
While filming The Killing Season, we met Peter Brent, a
former submarine technician and author of maritime thrillers. But Peter's
passion with developing serial killer profiles, several of which have
been cited by law enforcement. In twenty fifteen, Peter published
a profile of Lisk that was uniquely insightful for understanding
(16:15):
why this killer chose Ocean Parkway.
Speaker 10 (16:24):
Sound can influence as a mindset of any person. You
sit somewhere and you listen to music, and it can
change your mood. The same is for psychopaths, only they
feel it different than normal people. They're emotionally distanced. For them,
it's more this almost heterogenous sound. It's like the ocean,
(16:46):
like waves rolling on the beach. It's the same kind
of noise. It's almost always the same, but it has
little variations in it. It's like wind over the forest,
a little bit like tourtain. Lullabies works on normal people
like it works on them. It works calming, it, it
(17:08):
works comforting. Is that is what they like? Especially? This
is a typical dump area of psychopathic serial.
Speaker 2 (17:15):
Killer when it comes to criminal profiling, which at best
is an educated guess, and it works no better than
fortune telling. Peter Brent's take on Lisk was bizarrely prescient.
Tell me a little bit about what this behavior means
about him.
Speaker 10 (17:34):
This guy is not your garden variety sexual predator. Look
at the dump side. Normally, if a sexual predator builds
cluster dumb sides, he does it to revisit, to relift
something sexual. So they usually don't build dumb sides next
to a road. This guy had no sexual intention. He
(17:55):
has intention to revisit for him. It's enough to drive
by to know the victims us there. He is a hunter,
deer hunter. You have ever been in the house of
a hunter. You see all those animal heads staring from
the wall down at you.
Speaker 6 (18:09):
This guy did exactly. It's the same thing. Along that road.
He parked his victims.
Speaker 10 (18:14):
In nice equal distances to each other, like a trophy guard,
always reminding him of his achievement.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
And considering what we now know about the alleged reck Hureman,
it seems that another one of his trophy gardens was Manorville.
Speaker 5 (18:30):
Canine units and squad cars descending on the thick rush
of Manorville, New York.
Speaker 9 (18:35):
It was two decades ago when human remains of two
women were found here and at Kilgo Beach, later identified
as Jessica Taylor and Valerie mac.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Some twenty miles north of Gilgo Beach is Manorville, sitting
on the edge of Long Island's last remaining wilderness. It's
still a popular destination for hunters, which maybe one reason
why November of two thousand, Valerie max remains had been
placed on a well worn trail well during the opening
weeks of pheasant season, only to be found by three hunters.
(19:05):
But there were still other clues to corroborate this tragic connection.
Speaker 17 (19:10):
Two law enforcement sources told me Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack,
found in Manerville were tied up in a very cruel way,
one saying their leg area was bound in a ball.
The second source said the knees were brought into their
chest area. You'd have to be a hunter to do
something like that.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
But could there be an even more sinister reason as
to why Liss chose Manorville. It's a question worth asking
because of that strange word that keeps popping up in
this case coincidence. You see, Rex wasn't the only hunter
in Long Island who at the time was killing sex workers,
which by now isn't so surprising, except that this hunter
(19:51):
lived less than three miles from where the bodies of
Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack were found, right in the
heart of Manorville.
Speaker 6 (20:00):
What of Da Tom's Modis's.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
Forty eight year old John Bitroff of Manorvilla is accused
of killing two prostitutes in the nineties.
Speaker 6 (20:06):
Bitrol and Avid Hunter.
Speaker 9 (20:08):
He was twenty seven at the time and has since
lived here in Manerville, surrounded by woods and trusting neighbors.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
In twenty fourteen, John Bitroff, a licensed hunter and carpenter,
was arrested after DNA taken from his brother on an
unrelated charge was uploaded into the CODIS database. That database
revealed that John Bitroff's DNA had been found on two
murdered women in the nineties, Rita Tangretti, aged thirty one,
and Colleen mcnamie, aged twenty.
Speaker 7 (20:38):
Tangretti's nude body was found in a wooded area in
East Patchog A few months later, McNamee's body was discovered
in the woods and Shirley, two young women murdered twenty
years ago, both of them found in wooded.
Speaker 17 (20:51):
Areas in the same naked pose.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
There is a third murder case, twenty eight year old
Sandra Costilla, murdered back in nineteen nine ninety three under
very similar circumstances.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Three women murdered in just three months, first red to
Tankretti on November two, nineteen ninety three, then only three
weeks later Santra Castilla, then ten weeks later Colleen McNamee.
And while bit Trov's DNA wasn't found on Castia, the
strange timing and similar circumstances of her murder led Suffolk
County DA Tom Spoda to believe that Bitroff was responsible.
Speaker 12 (21:29):
It's remarkable that we have this wonderful thing called DNA
because there can't be any other person. I also wanted
to mention that we have a third woman. Her manner
of death is very similar to the two other women.
Sandra Castilla at the third victim.
Speaker 2 (21:47):
When news first broke in the middle of the Gilgo
Beach investigation that John Bitroff had been charged with killing
two sex workers, many assumed he must be Lisk. Whoever,
the DA's office disagreed Bitroff's modus operandi that of a
Blitz style bluzzeoning didn't match the list victims. We're either
dismembered or wrapped in burlap. Of course, mo o's can change,
(22:10):
but none of Bitroff's victims were also found on Ocean Parkway. Yet,
just after his conviction, DA spoda's office would conveniently change
its mind about a possible connection to Lisk.
Speaker 16 (22:24):
Now, three years after the district attorney said there was
no link between Bittroff and the Gilgo Beach case, we're
getting a different story. Quote there are victims at Gilgo
that may be attributed to mister Bittroff, and that investigation
is continuing.
Speaker 2 (22:40):
Well, we didn't know in twenty sixteen if the DA's
office was trying to pin any Gilgo victims on Bitroff.
It wasn't the first time he'd heard rumors of Da
Spoda trying to escapegoat another. Yet little did we know
that Bitroff saga would return in June of twenty twenty four,
when the Gilgo Beach Tasked Force made a stunning announcement.
Speaker 11 (23:03):
We're here today to announce additional charges in the case
against Rex Yuerman in the nineteen ninety three murder of
Sondra Castilla. On November twenty two, individuals, while hunting in
that wooded area of north Sea discovered her body.
Speaker 15 (23:30):
We're turning out to this major update in the case
of the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer.
Speaker 5 (23:34):
In a shocking turn of events, rex Huerman has been
indicted in the November nineteen ninety three death of Sandra Costilla.
Speaker 8 (23:41):
John Bittrolf has been long suspected in her death but
never charged.
Speaker 5 (23:46):
Prosecutors are saying they believe that around nineteen ninety three
rex Huerman began this killing spray, and that is the
really big news out of what we're hearing today.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
With this shocking twist in the murder of Sondra Castillo,
we started digging back into thirty year old newspaper reports
looking for some clue that could link back to Rex.
What we do know is that Sondra's life took her
from Trinidad to Hawaii before she married and settled in
New York. Police described Sondra as a quote trifter living
(24:18):
in transient lifestyle before two hunters discovered her body in
nineteen ninety three behind the now defunct fish cove in
in the North Sea area of Long Island.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
These allegations are stunning, and they dramatically expand this now
sprawling murder investigation.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
For the briefest moment, we questioned if these new prosecutors
we're trying to pin Castillo's murder on Huerman in hopes
of clearing old cold cases.
Speaker 6 (24:45):
That was until we heard the evidence.
Speaker 11 (24:47):
There were two hairs from a Sandra Castilla's remains. One
was a male hair. That same male hair was four
point three four seven times ten to three hundred and
thirty two power more likely to I've come from a
person genetically identical to Rex Yuerman, then from an unrelated individual.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
A hair discovered on Sandra had matched the DNA of
Rex Yuerman. Moreso, never released. Details of the crime now
calls into question attempts by former Da Spoda to link
Sondra's murder with those of Bitrop's other victims.
Speaker 18 (25:20):
The District Attorney's office says Sandra Costia was mutilated. She
had a lot of wounds on her body that don't
exist at the other two crime scenes.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
Additionally, John Bitrof's two victims were found only nine miles apart,
while Sondra Castilla was found over thirty miles away in
the woods behind a shuttered holiday camp known as the
Fish Cove In. Ironically, the abandoned lodge became the setting
for the nineteen eighty slasher film Madman, a low budget
retelling of the cropsy legend that featured a hulking killer.
Speaker 6 (25:53):
My story deals with.
Speaker 14 (25:54):
A man who used to live in that old, dilapidated
house behind those trees. Untain nights, when the moon is full,
he's out there stalking in the woods.
Speaker 2 (26:05):
What's now clear is that a real life Madman named
Rex Yuerman allegedly killed Sondra, which only further complicates this case.
Sondra was not only the earliest known victim, but the
only victim whose remains were not found on Ocean Parkway.
She was also identified via fingerprints, meaning the killer hadn't
tried to prevent her identification. While his next four victims,
(26:29):
Valerie mack Kanya Denise Jackson, Karen Bergatta, and Jessica Taylor
had all been dismembered.
Speaker 5 (26:37):
Sandra Costilla is surprising and the reason for that is
she was found in nineteen ninety three, that is before
anyone suspected that Long Island serial killer was at work here.
But that is what prosecutors are saying.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
So are we seeing a killer evolved, changing his modus
operandi as he starts to employ forensic countermeasures to prevent
his victims from being identified through fingerprints or dental records?
More so, are we seeing a killer developing his signature,
his unique imprint as he places every other victim after
Sandra Castia on Ocean Parkway in the creation of his
(27:15):
trophy garden. And why is any of this important? Because
these are the questions investigators are asking as they try
to untangle a case that's been bungled from the start.
Speaker 18 (27:27):
Right here, And he will say, just because Tom Spoda
many years ago said he thought those cases were so similar,
does not mean he shares the same opinion.
Speaker 2 (27:35):
And then there's the timing of rex Huremann's crimes as
it relates to Bitroff's crimes and the confusion it created.
Back in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 7 (27:43):
Authorities believe Bitroff may be responsible for the murder of
Sandra Castilla, which happened in between the deaths of Tangretti
A Nacanamy.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
And for those of us who have been following the
list case, this timing was more than just strange, it
was downright mystifying.
Speaker 6 (27:58):
Let me explain.
Speaker 2 (28:00):
In November of nineteen ninety three, John Bitroff kills his
first victim, Then just two and a half weeks later,
Rex Huerman allegedly kills his first victim, Sondra Castilla. Then
two weeks later Bitroff kills again. So are we to
believe that rex Huerman allegedly starts his decades long killing
spree right in the middle of bit Roff's two murders,
(28:23):
and then their timelines intersect again nearly a decade later,
when Hureman discards two victims in Manerville, just miles from
Bitroff's home. This is somehow all completely random or even
more coincidences, and can one case really have this many coincidences?
Speaker 8 (28:41):
Well, I think the biggest bomb that dropped was the
Sondra still a case. We had Reda ten Gritty and
Colleen mcnamie and then find out it was Rex that.
Speaker 6 (28:49):
Was a shogun.
Speaker 2 (28:50):
Hureman's strange connection with John bit Roff is an issue
I brought up with Joe jack Alone, former commander of
the Bronx Cold Case Squad and one of his recent
PODCAS casts. For years, Joe and I have been delving
into the enigmas of the list case. We know how
Rex knows the Gilgo Beach area because of the duck hunting,
(29:11):
but how does he know manner? This is all about
hunting and victims and kind of some weird hunting psychopathy.
Speaker 8 (29:17):
Valerie mac Andjessica Daylor are found by hunters.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Who else was a hunter? Pit Roff was a hunter
known to you know, one hunter who lived in the area.
But then is it a coincidence that he dropped these
bodies less than a mile and a half away from
where pitt Roff lived.
Speaker 8 (29:32):
I've said this a thousand times. From the investigative standpoint,
I don't believe in coincidences. I was hoping that somebody
in the media, and you know what, they can take
this and run with it, would start searching the sea
if there was a connection anywhere between these two guys.
And you kind of led me into this one because
you just can't ignore the fact that hunters were involved
(29:54):
in two of those three cases out there, and you
have all these gun clubs out there also, and there's
also a Upper Peconic River Fishing Access not too far
from where this was on Mill Road.
Speaker 6 (30:07):
This hunting thing is going to come back. There's something where.
Speaker 8 (30:10):
There is a hunter's type of relationship somewhere here.
Speaker 2 (30:17):
While we didn't know exactly how Bitrock fit into the equation,
it seems in trying to answer one question, Joe and
I stumbled upon another.
Speaker 6 (30:26):
Why Manorville.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Joe had mentioned the name Upper Peconic Fishing Access, which
we would quickly discover was right next to the Peconic
River Sportsmen's Club. Just a few days after our conversation
was revealed that Rex was not only a volunteer at
the gun club, but he often went there on weekends
to hone his hunting skills.
Speaker 9 (30:47):
Gun Club records show Huerman took part in public shooting
competitions and courses in the early two thousands in Manorville
at the Paconic River Sportsmen's Club.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
In the end, the reason why Lisk chose Manerville might
be so simple it's terrifying. The Piconic River Sportsman's Club
was only two and a half miles away from where
Jessica Taylor's body was found. In fact, it was on
the same road, no turns, no complicated driving required. But
it was only when we went to Manerville did it
all make sense. Driving along Hawsley Manor Road, we were
(31:21):
shocked just how clearly we could see that exact same
spot where Jessicataylor's remains have been so carefully placed out
in the open, a spot Rex made sure he could
see so easily from behind the wheel of his Chevy
Avalanche as he drove by on any given weekend on
his way to indulge his other passion guns and to
(31:43):
teach his skills to the next generation.
Speaker 9 (31:46):
Structor Ira Rutderman remembers Rex Yewerman as an high powered
gun enthusiast who regularly volunteered as a coach at the
Sportsman's Club.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
And then there was sonra Castilla, just four miles away
from and where she was found was the Southampton Pistol
Rifle Range, where it's been said that Rex also went
to practice his unique skill set.
Speaker 6 (32:09):
Rex loved hunting, and he loved guns. He liked to
shock people.
Speaker 3 (32:14):
He was interested in power.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Games, whether this theme of hunting or gun clubs or
playing the most dangerous game, Whether any of this is
why the alleged Rex Hureman chose Ocean Parkway or Manorville.
Unless we get those answers from Rex himself, all we're
doing is speculating. It's all any of us are doing,
whether it be the dozens of podcasts or documentaries, and
(32:38):
who doesn't like to speculate, To play amateur profiler, to
see if you can figure out what the killer might
be thinking, until that moment when you do know, when
you finally learn what horror goes on inside.
Speaker 6 (32:52):
That monster's head. As the old saying goes, be careful
what you wish for. I need to give you a
war about our next story. Now what you are about
to hear is extremely graphic, and it.
Speaker 13 (33:04):
Brings us inside the mind of an alleged serial killer.
Breaking news about the horrifying notes prosecutors say they found
on the dilgo beat serial killer's computer.
Speaker 6 (33:25):
We do want to warn you these details are disturbing.
Speaker 2 (33:29):
Ever since Rex's arrest, the DA's office has been releasing
court documents to help bolster their case, documents that also
filled in the blanks for our own investigation. But we
are still missing that one piece, you might call it
the how how did this monster do what he did?
And how could he get away with it for so long?
(33:50):
And then it came the answer no one was expecting,
the one piece of evidence that tied it all together,
the one I wish I never saw.
Speaker 8 (34:00):
And welcome to this edition of ROCAL. I'm your host,
Joseph Jackalone. Josh Zimdia is with USSH. Thanks for coming up, Thanks.
Speaker 6 (34:06):
For having me important today.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
On June six, twenty twenty four, I joined Joe jackaloone
and retired Detective David Sarney on a live stream as
the Suffolk County DA was set to reveal new charges
and release new evidence against Rex Hureman.
Speaker 6 (34:24):
Joe, you heard that what we're going to find out
is not pretty.
Speaker 8 (34:27):
Yeah, the word that actually was used was bad. Now,
when you hear the term bad from law enforcement, you're
talking about really terrible things. That happened to a human
being be prepared.
Speaker 6 (34:38):
We are going to watch the press are live. Okay,
we got it.
Speaker 11 (34:41):
Hang on, We're here today to announce additional charges. The
task force discovered a Microsoft word document covered from the
home of the defendant, entitled HK two thousand and two.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
As Tierney continued, the DA's office posted the indictment. One
piece of evidence that immediately caught our attention, one that
went far beyond the hors than any one of us,
even seasoned detectives, had ever seen. Now there it is.
Speaker 8 (35:12):
There's the indictment, newly discovered digital evidence. In twenty twenty three,
the Giggle task Force sees the HOD drive from the basement.
The task force found the Microsoft word document entitled HK
two thousand and two Planning Documents.
Speaker 6 (35:27):
Guys, look at.
Speaker 8 (35:29):
The planning document delivers a three category section that heading
pre prep, prep and post events.
Speaker 6 (35:35):
Bon drain cleaner, body wipes, tarts.
Speaker 8 (35:37):
Holy, this is just unbelievable.
Speaker 6 (35:39):
This is this is photo photos.
Speaker 8 (35:41):
Watch body inside in all cavities, removes trace, DNA, remove
ID marks, tattoos, move head and hands. So the post event,
let's talk look at that destroy file, change tires, right,
he's worried about leaving tire tracks, Jesus burned gloves, dispose
of picks, a story sets next time, recondumpster locations, misleaders.
Speaker 19 (36:02):
What could mislead a the investigations.
Speaker 2 (36:04):
For problems In any investigation, there's always that moment when
the rubicon is crossed, when what was once imagined becomes reality.
Speaker 12 (36:14):
You know.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Unfortunately the family members are going to hear what happened.
So it's it's really just really tragic.
Speaker 19 (36:21):
This is a deviant, evil person. He was thorough in
his attempt to hide the murdency was committing. This is
a dural serial killer. He had it all planned. He
had it prepared.
Speaker 2 (36:35):
Rex had planned everything step by step by step.
Speaker 6 (36:40):
He had his whole methodology on what he did, thinking
of every contingencyprints.
Speaker 19 (36:45):
In gloves, He remembered that about fingerprints being inside gloves.
Speaker 6 (36:49):
Of every detail, wifes and towels. No wonder he lasted
over thirty years.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Yeah, why did Rex allegedly get away with so much
for so long?
Speaker 6 (37:00):
Because, as we were about to find.
Speaker 8 (37:01):
Out, this is the stuff what nightmares are made of.
Speaker 6 (37:05):
That was the plan from the start.
Speaker 2 (37:19):
Ready to keep listening, Remember you can binge the rest
of the season right now with an iHeart True Crime
Plus subscription available exclusively on Apple Podcasts Plus, you get
exclusive bonuses and ad free listening. So head to Apple
Podcasts search iHeart True Crime Plus and subscribe today. Hunting
(37:47):
the Long Island Serial Killer is a production of tenor
Foot TV and iHeart Podcasts. Hosted, written and executive produced
by me Josh Zemon, Produced and written by Caitlin Colford,
Donald Albright and Payne Lindsay are executive producers on behalf
of Tenderfoot TV. Matt Frederick and Trevor Young our executive
(38:09):
producers on behalf of iHeart Podcasts. Original music by Alex Lasarenko,
David Little and makeup and Vanity set Our supervising producer
is John Street. Editing and writing by Daniel Lonsberry. Additional
voiceover provided by Rachel Mills. Additional production provided by Ghost Robot,
(38:32):
Sound design, mix and master by Dayden Cole. Cover design
by Byron McCoy. Interns Arnetta Fontinat, Shelby Hanson, Alec Walker
and Fox Williams. Ana Television Networks LLC. Audio from the
Killing season used under license copyright twenty twenty five a
(38:53):
Anda Television Networks LLC.
Speaker 6 (38:56):
All rights reserved.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
Special thanks to the Team United Talent Agency, the Nord Group,
Brad Abramson, Todd Leebowitz, Rich Perrillo and Jigsaw Productions, Rachel Mills,
Zachary Mortensen, Jen Beegle, David Baker, Joe jack Alone, and
Evan Krause, as well as the teams at iHeart Podcasts
and Tenderfoot TV. Find us on social media at Monster
(39:22):
Underscore Pod. For more podcasts like Monster Hunting the Long
Island serial Killer, search Tenderfoot TV in your podcast app
or visit tenderfoot dot tv. And if you want to
keep following my hunt for the Long Island serial Killer
or a deeper dive into my other true crime content,
join me on YouTube at Sinister with Josh Zeman,
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