LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: A young woman from Long Island came forward and shared a troubling incident on Friday, July 14, involving Rex Heuermann, the suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders. The woman, identified as Ally (last name withheld), disclosed that she had a distressing encounter with Heuermann earlier this month at a park. The incident left her so unsettled that she took the step of filing a police report.
On July 14, 2023, Heuermann, a Long Island architect, was formally charged with murder in connection to the Gilgo Beach murders, a series of killings that have remained unsolved for a long time. His arrest specifically pertains to the deaths of three out of the 11 victims involved in the case. Referred to as the "Gilgo Four," the victims in question are Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25. Out of these, Heuermann is the prime suspect in the disappearance of Maureen and has been charged with the murder of the other three. These women were discovered wrapped in burlap within days of each other in 2010. The first body, that of Barthelemy, was found on December 11, 2010, along Ocean Parkway, and caused widespread concern about the presence of a serial killer in the area.
Who is Ally?
Ally is a 25-year-old Long Island resident. It came as a shock to her when she realized that the individual apprehended in connection with the killings was the very person she had encountered on July 3 at Brady Park, located just a short drive from Heuermann's residence on 1st Avenue in Massapequa Park. "I was going for a bike ride over in Brady Park and he came up behind me and he asked me what time it was," Ally told New York Post.
"He was trying to compliment me. Asking me if I came here often. Asking me my name," Ally said, of the suspect's strange behavior. "He had very dirty clothes on. He popped right out of the woods. Everywhere I went in the woods he would pop out somewhere," she continued. She said Heuermann persistently bothered her, approaching her on two separate occasions during her visit to the park.
'... I felt like breathing behind me'
"The first time he came up behind me I felt like breathing behind me. Then he ask me what time it was and he saw the picture of me and my boyfriend on my phone. So he was just asking me questions," she said. Eventually, due to Heuermann's behavior, Ally became extremely upset and had to call her sister to come and pick her up. "That’s when I got (my sister) on the phone because I got nervous. She had to pick me up. I couldn’t even go home from my bike ride," she recalled. Ally, later, took the step of filing a police report regarding the incident.
Two weeks later, Ally was filled with horror upon learning that Heuermann had been arrested in relation to the murders of at least three women. Their remains had been found near Gilgo State Park on Ocean Parkway back in December 2010. "My mom showed me the picture and I started screaming. I got so nervous because I realized that that was him," Ally said.
