The Long Island Ogre

Thanks to forensic genetic genealogy and a pizza crust, in July of 2023 a perpetrator was arrested in connection with the case of the Long Island Serial Killings known as (LISK). Described as 'Ogre -like' in witness reports at 6'4 , 59-year-old Manhattan architect and Massapequa Park resident, Rex Heuermann, has been linked to the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello of "The Giglo Four" and is a prime suspect in the murder of the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes. In total, 11 remains of sex workers who were targeted on Craigslist were discovered on the South shore of Long Island from 1996-2011, some of who remain unidentified. It is believed he could be linked to more deaths in Las Vegas and South Carolina where he had properties.

Michelle with her background in criminology helps to recenter the larger conversation back onto the victims and the necessity of our culture to destigmatize sex work, as well as open the larger conversation as to why old typologies didn't work in this case. In other words, why what we largely know about serial offenders in their M.O. and signature is evolving and why forensic genetic genealogy is going to catch the 'less detectable' serial offenders and how that is going to inform how they are apprehended.

Books Mentioned

• Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker
• Camgirl by Isa Mazzei

TV Mentioned

• Lost Girls