Grace: How many serial killers can there be at Gilgo Beach?
Fox Nation host Nancy Grace weighs in on police identifying the remains of another victim at Gilgo Beach on "Fox & Friends."
Rex Heuermann, the 59-year-old New York City architect charged with killing three young women and dumping their bodies in a remote marsh closer to his suburban home, has been taken off suicide watch in a Long Island jail, the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office revealed Monday.
"Mental health staff at the jail have made the determination to remove Rex Heuermann from suicide watch at this time," Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. said in a statement. "He will continue to be evaluated periodically. His housing and security protocols have not changed."
Heuermann has been held at the jail in Yaphank since mid-July on six murder charges in the cold-case deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27, whose bodies police found in 2010 while searching for a different missing woman – Shannan Gilbert, 23.
FAMILY OF SUSPECTED SERIAL KILLER REVEALS CHAOTIC MESS INSIDE ACCUSED MURDERER'S RAMSHACKLE HOME
Rex Heuermann, the architect suspected of murdering at least three women near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, appears in Suffolk County Court on Aug. 1, 2023, in Riverhead, New York. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP/Pool)
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has also said that Heuermann remains the prime suspect in the slaying of a fourth woman whose remains were found near the others, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
Gilbert's remains were discovered a few miles away months later, but police said last year that they believe she died in an accident. Six other sets of human remains were discovered during the search.
Heuermann faces life in prison without parole and is still under investigation in Suffolk County and elsewhere in connection with unsolved murder cases that may fit a pattern.
A road sign directs drivers to Gilgo Beach off Ocean Parkway, about 45 miles east of New York City. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
REX HEUERMANN'S LAWYER CLAIMS PIZZA BOX DNA DOESN'T SHOW PROBABLE CAUSE IN GILGO BEACH MURDERS
Heuermann's alleged victims have been described as "petite," with three of the "Gilgo Four" women under 5 feet tall and all around 100 pounds.
Three were concealed in camouflaged burlap material used for making duck blinds in the remote brush to the north of Ocean Parkway, just east of Gilgo Beach, about 45 miles east of Manhattan. Some of their relatives received mocking phone calls from the suspect that originated on their deceased loved ones' phones, police said.
Gilgo Beach murder victims Amber Costello, top left, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, top right, Melissa Barthelemy, bottom left, and Megan Waterman. (Suffolk County Police Department)
Heuermann allegedly met them online, using anonymous "burner" phones in a high-tech effort to conceal his communications, and, according to prosecutors, he allegedly continued to contact sex workers for years.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
But tracked those phones and linked them back to Heuermann, according to court filings. They also collected his DNA from a pizza box he discarded in a sidewalk trash can and say they matched it to evidence recovered with Waterman's body.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty. He is due back in court Tuesday.
After his arrest, his wife filed for divorce. She and her two adult children returned to the family's home after police spent nearly two weeks searching it – removing boxes upon boxes of evidence, including hundreds of firearms and revealing the presence of a 6-foot vault in the basement where he kept them.
True Crime
The hottest stories ripped from the headlines, from crime to courts, legal and scandal.
By entering your email and clicking the Subscribe button, you agree to the Fox News Privacy Policy and Terms of Use, and agree to receive content and promotional communications from Fox News. You understand that you can opt-out at any time.
