In the same way Hansel and Gretel left a trail of breadcrumbs in the famous fairy tale to find their way home, police and prosecutors believe accused Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann left a “digital trail” concerning specific details of heinous crimes that led to him being charged with two new murders.
But in this case, law enforcement believes Heuermann tried covering those digital tracks by deleting documents on digital devices.,
Cyber investigators were able to recover the files. What they found stunned the police.
Investigators from Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office along with the Secret Service meticulously searched a treasure trove of digital assets they say were recovered from the property of Rex Heuermann: 647 floppy disks, 58 internal hard drives, 46 cell phones 44 SD micro cards, 42 USB devices, 36 SIM cards, 27 computers, 22 external hard drives, 17 tablets, 15 cameras, eleven music devices, nine WiFi routers, eight laptops, and four GPS devices.
“The documents we found were discovered on a laptop. There was an attempt to erase the document. But even when a document is erased on a device, the user cannot access that document, but forensic experts using software can retrieve it,” said Tierney.
According to prosecutors, the documents Heuermann typed served as a meticulous and morbid murder manifesto, a demented digital “do’s and don’ts” on murder, a so-called “planning document” on how to kill, cover it up, and learn from mistakes.
“It was a locally created draft. It was created on the laptop, not downloaded. It was created in 2000, overwritten and modified. This is a planning document to blueprint and plan out his kills with excruciating details. His intent was to hunt them (victims) down, bring them under his control, and kill them,” said the Suffolk County District Attorney, who publicly released the 37-page superseding indictment and bail application that contained the accused serial killer’s planning document.
It contained four gory categories, all typed in caps: “PROBLEMS,” “SUPPLIES,” “DS (Dump Site),” and “TRG (Target or victim).”
Under “PROBLEMS” the accused serial killer wrote a laundry list of issues he’d have to be concerned with after killing: DNA, tire marks, blood stains, fingerprints, shoe prints, hair and fiber, and witnesses.
“SUPPLIES” were allegedly used to carry out multiple killings: booties, acid, a police scanner, rope, a saw, hair nets, body wipes, medical gloves, bags, and tape.
Deeper in the document were three more categories: “PRE-PREP (tasks before a homicide),” “PREP (tasks immediately before a killing),” and “POST-EVENT (following a murder)”
The most grisly portion of what prosecutors called the planning document is titled “BODY PREP” and “DISPOSE OF THE FOLLOWING.”
Law enforcement claims what Heuermann wrote coincides with the bodies of two victims. Under the category “BODY PREP” the tasks listed were “WASH BODY INSIDE AND ALL CAVITIES, REMOVE MARKS FROM TORTURE, REMOVE HEAD AND HANDS, AND PACKAGE FOR TRANSPORT.”
“The ‘BODY PREP’ section above includes a note to 'REMOVE HEAD AND HANDS,' which clearly relates to the condition of Jessica Taylor’s and Valerie Mack’s remains, as both victims were decapitated and dismembered at their arms below their elbows. Additionally, each of these victim’s remains, as well as the remains of the ‘Gilgo Four’ were indeed ‘packaged for transport,’ as this section indicates to do, further increasing the significance of this document’s presence on Heuermann’s laptop computer,” wrote prosecutors in the bail application.
A long list of items under the category DISPOSE OF THE FOLLOWING includes: tools, clothes, props, toys, what you wore, distroy (sp) book and computer files, and burn gloves.
In total, Rex Heuermann has been charged with killing six women. He is scheduled to stay behind bars without bail and again appear in court on July 30th, 2024. The Suffolk County District Attorney promised the investigation is continuing and ongoing.
“This case is about the victims and their families, I hope to give them a small sense of closure. We said we were going to continue investigating this case. The investigation has expanded. Right from the beginning we said the case was not over, we said we would continue to investigate and find more evidence, we did that,” concluded Tierney.