The apprehension of Rex Heuermann, the alleged Long Island serial killer, has sparked a nationwide reevaluation of unresolved murder cases. Among these are the 2006 murders of four sex workers in an oceanfront community near Atlantic City, where their bodies were discovered in a sewage ditch.
On November 21, 2006, two women stumbled upon a horrific scene behind a row of motels just west of Atlantic City. They discovered the remains of Kim Raffo, 35, and when the police arrived, they found three more bodies in the same pit: Tracy Ann Roberts, 23, Barbara Breidor, 42, and Molly Dilts, 19. These victims, like those allegedly targeted by Heuermann, were believed to be sex workers. They were all positioned in the same direction, face down in dirty water, and without shoes.
Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect from Long Island who worked in New York City, was arrested earlier this month on multiple murder charges related to the deaths of three women who disappeared between 2007 and 2010: Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. He is also the main suspect in the murder of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25. All of these women were found in the brush near Gilgo Beach, along Ocean Parkway.
Heuermann, a suburban father of two, also owned a timeshare in Las Vegas and property in South Carolina. Police seized an old Chevrolet Avalanche pickup from his South Carolina property, believed to be the vehicle involved in Costello’s disappearance. Heuermann also appears to have connections to Atlantic City.
A dancer at Stiletto, a strip club on the boardwalk, claimed to have seen Heuermann three times — twice before the coronavirus pandemic and once in 2021. She alleged that he paid for a private room but declined a lap dance, instead persuading her to meet him outside the club, which she never did.
While the dancer couldn’t confirm the man was Heuermann, she described him as a large New Yorker with a similar face. Dave Schaller, the only witness to Costello’s disappearance, described the suspect as an “ogre,” standing over 6 feet tall and weighing around 250 pounds.
Despite the similarities between the Atlantic City and Gilgo Beach cases, an official link to Heuermann as a person of interest in the Atlantic City murders has not been established. Atlantic County Prosecutor William Reynolds stated that they are pursuing all leads in the unsolved Golden Keys case, but could not comment further due to the ongoing investigation.
Heuermann is set to return to court on August 1. He has pleaded not guilty.