The architect who maintained a double life while committing the Gilgo Beach serial murders has been living in isolation for three years, consuming crime fiction and receiving occasional visits from legal counsel and family members, according to the sheriff overseeing his detention facility.
Rex Heuermann has also engaged in a short written exchange with Keith Hunter Jesperson, the notorious “Happy Face Killer” who admitted to murdering eight women nationwide during the 1990s, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon revealed.
According to the sheriff, Jesperson initiated contact by sending the first letter to Heuermann at the Riverhead, New York detention center, where he has remained since his July 2023 arrest.
While Heuermann responded once, he has ignored subsequent letters from Jesperson, who is currently serving life without parole in Oregon, Toulon told The Associated Press before Heuermann’s Wednesday sentencing hearing.
The defendant is expected to receive life imprisonment without parole after entering guilty pleas for seven murders and confessing in April to killing an additional woman.
Though Toulon noted that “other fanatics” have attempted contact, Heuermann has rejected “all visits or any communication,” including interview requests from media organizations.
Gloria Allred, representing several Long Island victims’ families, condemned both Heuermann and Jesperson as “losers” and “cowards” while calling for commitment to stopping violence against women.
“They both murdered someone’s daughter, someone’s mother, someone’s sister,” she stated. “They chose the most vulnerable victims.”
The majority of Heuermann’s victims were female sex workers whose dismembered bodies were discovered along a secluded ocean parkway near Gilgo Beach, approximately 50 miles east of Manhattan.
Jesperson encountered many of his victims during his work as a truck driver. He earned the Happy Face Killer nickname by drawing smiley faces on threatening letters sent to media outlets and law enforcement.
While Heuermann reads extensively during his incarceration, Toulon expressed concern about the inmate’s attraction to violent crime and mystery novels, including books about serial killers.
Recent library selections include J.D. Robb’s “Portrait in Death,” John Sandford’s “Secret Prey,” Heather Graham’s “Picture Me Dead,” Sue Grafton’s “N is for Noose” and Lisa Jackson’s “Chosen to Die,” Toulon reported.
“He’s not taking out sports books or cooking books, you know,” the sheriff observed. “He’s choosing to read about this.”
Toulon, who won election in 2017 following decades with the New York City corrections department, said Heuermann’s attitude has stayed consistent throughout more than 1,000 days behind bars.
“He doesn’t seem uncomfortable in his cell,” the sheriff noted. “No emotion, no despair.”
“Every time you see him, it’s the same stoic look that he has when you see him in the courtroom,” Toulon added. “There’s no remorse.”
The imposing Heuermann occupies a standard 6-by-9-foot cell containing a metal sink, metal toilet and bed with a “very thin mattress,” Toulon described.
All cells in the housing unit remain visible to correction officers, he said. The department increased staffing following Heuermann’s arrest but deliberately excluded female correction officers from the unit, restricting access to authorized personnel only.
“One of the things that we wanted to ensure when he came into our custody is that justice was served in the courts and not in our jails,” Toulon explained.
Unit inmates receive three daily meals delivered to their cells, Toulon said. Without a common area, they can only view the shared television through cell bars.
Heuermann remains isolated whenever leaving his cell, with officers halting all other inmate movement to prevent interactions, he said.
He showers in solitude and, while permitted fresh air in the jail yard up to six days weekly alone, shows little physical activity, Toulon observed.
“He does not play basketball, doesn’t do any sprints. He does not do any dips, pullups, or situps or pushups,” the sheriff said. “He just basically just walks around in circles in the yard.”
Heuermann meets visitors in a designated area where handcuffs are removed and inmates may embrace or kiss visitors once at meeting start and finish. He has met face-to-face with his ex-wife Asa Ellerup, their adult daughter Victoria, his legal team, his therapist and a few others.
“He does not have an extensive visit list,” Toulon stated.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office, handling the prosecution, refused to discuss Heuermann’s jail conditions. His family also declined comment.
His ex-wife and two adult children announced through legal representatives they will not attend the sentencing, where victims’ families plan to confront Heuermann with emotional testimony.
“Out of respect for those who have endured unimaginable loss and suffering, she does not wish her presence to distract from the purpose of these proceedings,” said Robert Macedonio, Ellerup’s attorney. “Her thoughts remain with the victims and their loved ones as they continue their pursuit of justice, healing, and closure.”
