2011 suspect profile matches Gilgo Beach arrest: criminologist
- Dr. Scott Bonn helped create a suspect profile in Gilgo Beach killings
- The man arrested in three of those deaths matches those descriptors
- The accused killer, Rex Heuermann, has denied the accusations
FILE – Crime scene investigators use metal detectors to search a marsh for the remains of Shannan Gilbert, Dec. 12, 2011 in Oak Beach, New York. A Long Island architect has been charged, Friday, July 14, 2023, with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool, File)
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(NewsNation) — An expert who helped create a suspect profile 12 years ago in the deaths of 10 people found in New York’s Gilgo Beach says those presumptions align with what the public has learned so far about the man charged in three of the killings.
Criminologist Dr. Scott Bonn helped create that profile in 2011. He joined NewsNation on Monday, where he said descriptions of the man whom police arrested last week seem to align with conclusions Bonn drew about the unnamed killer more than a decade ago.
Rex Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect from Long Island, is charged with first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello. His defense attorney Michael Brown said Heuermann has denied the accusations and told the lawyer he “didn’t do this,” NewsNation affiliate WPIX reported.
Neighbors and co-workers have described Heuerman as being a “recluse,” “antisocial,” “very quiet” and “organized.”
That aligns with what Bonn surmised about the person behind the string of bodies discovered in Gilgo Beach. The person responsible, he said, would likely be a professional, organized, white male with a family.
“What we know is when you have evidence like this where the bodies were found, meticulously bound… This is going to be a highly organized individual,” Bonn said.
Experts in 2011 said the suspected killer could be a sadist who found pleasure in witnessing others’ pain, the New York Times reported.
Prosecutors have since filed court documents alleging that Heuermann conducted internet searches for “sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography,” the Times also reported.
Bonn noted that although the person behind the killings is likely a misogynist who targeted sex workers, he doesn’t believe sex was the primary motive. The killer, rather, sought power and control, he said.
“He was playing God,” Bonn said.
Bonn added that he believes the suspect could be a malignant narcissist and psychopath.
That is Bonn’s opinion and not an official diagnosis.
Although many people with psychopathy have individual traits that could make them more likely to commit violence, many psychopaths are not offenders. Those who are, aren’t necessarily violent, either, Dr. Julia Shaw wrote in Psychology Today.
