(NewsNation) — Accused killer Rex Heuermann is due in court Wednesday, more than two months after officers arrested him in connection with the deaths of three women whose bodies were found along the New York coast.
Wednesday marks Heuermann’s third court appearance stemming from the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
In Massapequa Park, where Heuermann lived with his wife and adult children, residents are trying to make sense of the accusations against their former neighbor.
“I knew people who knew him,” one resident told NewsNation. “They said he was very dark; he wasn’t too friendly. They were a little afraid of him. Kids wouldn’t go trick-or-treating back in the day, knocking on the door, so they knew something was up.”
Meanwhile, the battle for belongings removed during the initial 12-day raid of Heuermann’s home has continued this week. Court papers were filed Monday to have the large amount of guns removed from the home turned over to a licensed firearms dealer so they can be sold and profits divided. Heuermann was the breadwinner, and his wife and children are now financially strapped.
“She was pretty blindsided,” said Robert Macedonio, the lawyer representing Heuermann’s wife, who has not been charged in the killings. “Nobody wants to believe that they were living with and sleeping with a serial killer, so her initial reaction was no way … at this point in time, the only thing she knows about this case is what the media is reporting.”
The family’s day-to-day life is still far from normal.
“People go through her garbage when it’s put out,” Macedonio said. “So she puts the garbage out at the last possible moment when they know the garbage man is up the block.”
The family has been offered complete makeovers, new wardrobes and stays at hotels in various states for weeks or months at a time. So far, it has declined the offers, unsure of the motives behind them.