The FBI has joined the investigation into a possible link between suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann and a missing South Carolina mother – but the local sheriff warned that so far there is “zero” direct evidence.
The Sumter County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to NBC News Monday that the feds have been asked to help investigate the 2017 disappearance of Julia Ann Bean after her daughter recently came forward to say she was last seen with a man who resembles the 59-year-old Gilgo Beach suspect.
Her daughter, Cameron Bean, also said the mystery man was driving a dark truck, looking similar to the vehicle hauled from Heuermann’s own home in the Palmetto State after his arrest in the Long Island murder.
“Miss Bean may be related to New York serial killer Rex Heuermann,” sheriff’s office spokesman Mark Bordeaux recently told WLTX.
“It’s still unclear, but there is enough hope that our investigators are working to find answers.”
Sumter County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Mark Bordeaux confirmed the FBI was involved in the case. NBC News
Still, while acknowledging the “restrained excitement” of his own investigators, Bordeaux insisted that the preliminary investigation had yet to yield anything concrete beyond the daughter’s reported recollection.
“So far, the connection has been zero,” he told NBC’s “Today” show on Monday.
“We have rumours, we have assumptions, but whether the man is Rex Heuermann or not, we have yet to determine,” he said.
“Just because we really want to find Miss Julia Bean’s location, doesn’t mean we can assume anything.
“We have to operate in the world of facts,” he said of the reopened investigation.
The FBI did not immediately return a message Monday seeking comment on its investigation.
Bean’s daughter confirmed in a statement to NBC News that she is cooperating with investigators on the case.
Daughter Julia Ann Bean said her mother, pictured here, was last seen with a man who looked like Heuermann. Sumter County Sheriff’s Office
A family friend of Heidi Kovas previously shared a text message the daughter allegedly sent after first seeing a photo of the burly architect suspected of killing the Gilgo Four.
“I’m shaking … That was the last man I saw in person with,” he allegedly texted the night his 36-year-old mother disappeared in June 2017.
“He recognized it immediately,” family friend Heidi Kovas told PIX 11. “He recognized it immediately. He said that was the last person he ever saw with his mother.”
Family friends said Bean looked like Heuermann’s other alleged victims and was possibly an accomplice. Sumter County Sheriff’s Office
Heuermann owns property in a wooded area of Chester County, South Carolina — about 90 minutes from Sumter — where he reportedly plans to retire.
Although he didn’t buy the property until 2021, his brother, Craig, has lived in the Chester area since about 2000, records show.
The architect was first linked to the Gilgo Beach killings by his distinctive dark Chevrolet Avalanche truck, which was driven away from his property in South Carolina shortly after his arrest in New York.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to three counts each of first and second degree murder. via REUTERS
Kovas also said the Gilgo Beach victim shared a striking resemblance to Bean, who he said was “most likely accompanying” her when she disappeared, as did the Long Island woman.
“They look like Julia,” Kovas told PIX11 Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, whose bodies were found wrapped in burlap along Ocean Parkway in December 2010.
“They look just like Julia. Brown hair, green eyes, petite.”
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said it “stands ready to assist outside jurisdictions with any of their ongoing investigations,” but would not comment on any specific inquest. James Keivom
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office has said it is “ready to assist outside jurisdictions with any of their ongoing investigations,” but would not comment on any specific inquest.
Officials are also looking into possible links between the father of two and cold cases in several states, including Nevada, where Heuermann has long owned a timeshare in Las Vegas.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to three counts each of first- and second-degree murder in the deaths of Costello, 27, Barthelemy, 24, and Waterman, 22. He has been officially named the “prime suspect” in the death of Brainard-Barnes, 25.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
