‘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.

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