‘Like My Dad’_ Daughter of Serial Killer BTK Reacts to Gilgo Beach Murders Case
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00:00 These young women went missing between July of 2007
00:04 and September of 2010.
00:07 - The man charged in three of the Gilgo Beach murders
00:09 lived in Long Island in plain sight for decades.
00:12 Rex Huerman was an architect by day,
00:15 but police say by night, he was targeting women
00:18 in his hidden life as a serial killer.
00:21 - I was reading those charging documents,
00:23 like what Rex was doing.
00:26 Like I literally was cussing on Twitter
00:28 because I was like, holy cow, this is so much like my dad.
00:31 - I talk with Keri Rawson,
00:33 the daughter of serial killer BTK about the case.
00:37 Thanks for joining us here on Law & Crime.
00:39 I'm Anjanette Levy.
00:40 Rex Huerman faces charges of first and second degree murder
00:44 in the deaths of three women
00:45 found buried in camouflage burlap.
00:48 The bodies of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelomew,
00:51 and Amber Costello were discovered in 2010
00:54 on Long Island's Gilgo Beach.
00:56 Huerman is a suspect in the death of Maureen Brainerd Barnes
01:00 and it's possible more charges could be filed against him.
01:04 Huerman lived in Massapequa Park on Long Island,
01:07 traveling into the city each day
01:09 to work at his Manhattan firm as an architect.
01:12 He entered a not guilty plea to the charges
01:14 and he's innocent until proven guilty,
01:17 but his arrest has drawn comparisons to Dennis Rader,
01:20 the BTK serial killer who was arrested in 2005 in Kansas
01:25 and later confessed to killing 10 people.
01:28 Rader went to work every day and attended church.
01:31 He had a family, just like Rex Huerman.
01:34 I spoke with Rader's daughter, Carrie Rawson,
01:36 who's an author and an advocate for victims
01:39 about the Gilgo Beach case.
01:41 Carrie, when you heard there had been an arrest
01:43 in the Gilgo Beach case, what went through your mind?
01:46 - So you're glad to hear there's been an arrest
01:48 and then instantly I was like, is there a family?
01:51 And did he have a family?
01:54 And so then when you're hearing, you know,
01:56 that Rex has a wife and kids, you're just instantly
02:00 like from my reality, just torn apart.
02:04 But again, it's just like, it hits all over again.
02:08 It's like, here we are on another Friday,
02:11 it's 18 years later, here's another family going through
02:15 what ours is and it's like, has anything really changed
02:18 in culture in 20 years?
02:20 No.
02:21 - What I find so interesting about this,
02:25 and it's incredibly sad as well,
02:27 Rex Huerman is an architect going into the city each day.
02:31 He owns an architectural firm and he's your guy
02:36 living in the house in suburbia, driving his truck,
02:40 very similar in some respects to your father.
02:43 Your father, you know, worked a job and had a career
02:47 and I think the similarities are striking.
02:51 Did you feel that way?
02:52 - Absolutely, I felt the similarities were the same
02:55 with like Rex and my dad, even down to their method of,
03:00 well, Rex is a suspect, so we have to remember that,
03:04 but based on-
03:05 - Correct, he's innocent till proven guilty,
03:07 yet presumption of innocence.
03:08 - Right, but when we're looking at like the charging
03:10 documents with the bit and the no bell,
03:12 like down to like method of murder,
03:16 like as far as I understand strangulation with,
03:20 you know, Gilgo Beach, when we're talking at least
03:23 the four women, the three that have been charged
03:25 and the one that's coming, I'm sure Marine,
03:27 like that's the same method of murder as my father,
03:32 almost all nine out of 10 were strangulation
03:34 and the 10th would have been if it hadn't been interrupted.
03:37 So like down to the method of murder and then the bondage,
03:42 like we're seeing bondage items used
03:46 with the Gilgo Beach women,
03:49 that was like primarily my dad's method of like torture
03:54 and leaving these binds sometimes on the women.
03:58 So my dad's really prolifically known for these sort
04:01 of things like withdrawings and Polaroids,
04:04 like seeking out this sort of stuff.
04:06 And then when you're looking at that list
04:08 of internet searches, you know, that Rex was looking for,
04:12 like if my dad was not in prison now,
04:16 he would basically like be like Rex right now
04:20 with like the burner phones
04:21 and on the internet with these searches.
04:24 So the differences are though that my father trolled
04:28 and stalked like unknown people to him.
04:32 And then he sometimes didn't even know their name
04:35 until after they were in the news as being murdered.
04:38 Rex is, as far as we know, focusing on sex workers.
04:43 And so there is a difference of how he communicated
04:47 and picked his victims, like narrowed down on him.
04:51 But like when I was reading those charging documents,
04:56 like what Rex was doing,
04:58 like I literally was cussing on Twitter
05:00 because I was like, holy cow, this is so much like my dad.
05:04 - You can imagine like no one else can
05:09 what his family is going through.
05:11 You know, do you have any inkling
05:14 or do you have any feeling about
05:16 whether or not they ever suspected anything?
05:18 Because this was on Long Island where they lived.
05:21 He's driving the truck that is discussed
05:25 as being similar to the one involved in the crimes.
05:28 - I get asked a ton, like, you know,
05:34 do you think the family knew or did your family know?
05:38 You're saying like what people are talking about,
05:40 like to the level of criminality of like living
05:44 with something that's like pathological liar,
05:46 like you're still not jumping from that
05:51 to thinking that they're like murdering people, right?
05:55 So they compartmentalize.
05:58 And so like when you're talking about like my father,
06:03 he calls it cubing.
06:04 And so he's showing you what side he wants.
06:08 And so he's compartmentalizing his whole life.
06:11 And so he didn't have any,
06:13 he could murder and then come home and have dinner
06:16 and you would not necessarily notice any difference.
06:20 - Because he puts that in a box per se.
06:25 That's his cube.
06:26 And it goes up on the shelf and then it goes home
06:28 and the new shelf comes, you know, the new cube comes down.
06:31 - You're literally flipping a cube and it can be very fast.
06:35 He's not even setting it on a shelf.
06:37 He's literally showing you what side,
06:39 like BTK dad, BTK dad, and he's rolling it really quickly
06:43 and he adapts.
06:44 So if he's talking to you and say you're a law enforcement,
06:49 he will adjust his body back.
06:51 He'll be taller and he'll be more reserved.
06:55 He'll be quieter.
06:57 You know, law enforcement talk,
06:58 like you know when you're talking to
06:59 like a law enforcement officer, like how they sound,
07:02 he mimics that.
07:04 So besides like walling off and cubing his life,
07:08 he's literally mimicking himself to you.
07:11 And so it puts you more at ease
07:13 because you feel more comfortable.
07:15 You feel like you're talking to somebody
07:16 that's similar to you.
07:17 - The women Rex Huerman is accused of murdering
07:20 vanished between 2007 and 2010.
07:23 The question remains, if Huerman is indeed
07:25 the Gilgo Beach serial killer,
07:27 did he stop killing women for a number of years,
07:30 essentially going dormant?
07:32 - Well, here's the rub there, okay?
07:36 So if you look at somebody like my father,
07:38 he was arrested when he was 57.
07:41 No, no, I'm sorry.
07:45 He was 60, I'm sorry.
07:47 My father was arrested when he was 60.
07:48 My mom was 57.
07:50 So he was very similar in the same age
07:52 as Rex being arrested now, right?
07:54 My dad was born in 45.
07:56 My dad's cases go back 31 years.
08:01 So they span from 1974 to 1991.
08:04 And we were told there were gaps in there, okay?
08:08 Now there's some questions coming up,
08:11 like are there cold cases that my dad never claimed?
08:15 Are there gaps in my dad's life?
08:17 I would have said up until a few months ago,
08:19 absolutely that he stopped and was dormant after 91
08:23 because that's what he told law enforcement, right?
08:26 He pled guilty like within months to the 10, right?
08:30 He confessed that first weekend to 10.
08:32 Now we've got some questions.
08:34 So if we're trying to apply that logic,
08:39 can they go dormant?
08:41 Absolutely.
08:42 Do they like digress and slow down when they get older?
08:46 Absolutely.
08:46 They lose some of that hormonal drive.
08:48 Do we have any idea right now with Rex?
08:53 No.
08:54 And so when people are saying, what do we need to look at?
08:56 I'm saying from ages like late adolescence, 18,
09:00 until age 59.
09:02 So we're talking mid 80s with this guy, low 80,
09:06 low 1980s till now.
09:07 We've got 40 years we need to look at,
09:09 at least with just Rex.
09:11 And then the media, you guys are like telling us,
09:15 like breaking constantly, like stuff about South Carolina.
09:19 And now you're talking about,
09:20 someone's talking about Vegas and then like other properties.
09:24 We don't even know, right?
09:26 - Huerman has a wife and children
09:28 and lived in a modest home,
09:29 which law enforcement has gone through
09:31 with a fine tooth comb.
09:33 As someone who has been in this situation before,
09:36 learning her father was suspected of killing several people.
09:39 Carrie Rawson has some words about Huerman's family.
09:43 - Just be patient with the investigation,
09:46 be patient with like the coverage and then be respectful.
09:51 So be respectful to Rex's family
09:53 and to all like the victims' families.
09:56 Like whatever respect you would give to a victim,
10:00 crime victim family that's lost somebody,
10:01 give that to Rex's family.
10:03 Like automatically just do it.
10:05 Like don't, like I understand you can,
10:08 you're gonna be pushing back and questioning
10:11 as a media and as public,
10:12 but until told otherwise, they are victims.
10:15 - Rex Huerman is in the Suffolk County Jail
10:19 and will be back in court next month.
10:21 He maintains he did not commit these murders.
10:24 For Law and Crime, I'm Anjanette Levy.