MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: The first arrest has been made in the Gilgo Beach murders that shook the nation in the 2000s. A New York-based architect named Rex Heuermann, 59 has been arrested on three charges of first-degree murder and three of second-degree murder. He is also the suspect in a fourth murder.

When the regular-looking portly businessman, who is the president of his New York-based architecture firm, RH Architecture, was arrested on Thursday, July 14, most of his neighbors could not believe their eyes. They have always known Heuermann as a family man who regularly went to work. Heuerman has been charged for the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. He is also a “prime suspect” in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25. All the victims worked as escorts and were petite in figure.

Who are Rex Heuermann’s parents?

Heuermann was born to Dolores and Theodore, as per the New York Post. Theodore died in 1975 when he was 50 years of age and Heuermann was 11. His mother, now 93, is still alive.

While nothing much about his parents is known, Heuermann once claimed that his father was an “aerospace engineer who built satellites.” He also said that he was an accomplished cabinet maker too. While speaking about his father, Heuermann revealed a piece of interesting information. He said that he too learned the art of cabinet-making from his father and has acquired the knowledge of relying on “a hammer” whenever he needed to “persuade something.”

Heuermann is said to have bought the 1st Avenue home from Dolores in 1994 for $170,000. The same year, he also started his company, RH Architecture Design, in Manhattan.

Rex Heuermann kept an eye on alleged victims' families

Heuermann reportedly kept an eye on his alleged victims' families. As per the Independent, Suffolk County district attorney Raymond Tierney revealed that Barthelemy's sister received “taunting calls” from her sister’s alleged killer. The phone call was reportedly made from a place near Heuermann’s midtown Manhattan office. It was also alleged that the suspect kept all the phones of his victims and used them to check their voicemails.

It is also revealed that Heuermann also searched the images of his victims and their families and searched queries related to the Gilgo Beach Murders. He created a fictitious email id by the name Thomas Hawk and used it to “repeatedly view hundreds of images depicting the murdered victims and members of their immediate families,” as per the Independent.