Suvechha Sarkar
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was a devoted mother, a loving sister, and like many, dreamt of providing a good life for her children. In 2007, she traveled from her home in Norwich, Connecticut, to New York for her work. However, her life took a tragic turn when she never returned, which prompted her friend to file a missing report after a few days. The case almost went cold with no viable leads to follow, but the discovery of her remains brought a horrific crime to light. Netflix’s ‘Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer’ chronicles the investigation following the finding of her remains. Despite the authorities’ arduous efforts, it ultimately took years to find a suspect.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes Allegedly Went to Meet Someone But Never Returned
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was born on June 14, 1982, in New London, Connecticut, and filled the lives of her parents, Marie Ducharme and Robert Senecal, with joy and laughter. While growing up, Maureen had always been close to her sister Melissa Cann and often spent their time sharing secrets to staying alongside one another in different milestones of their lives. However, she faced a major heartbreak in her life when her beloved brother, William Vieu Jr., left the world. Gradually, she picked herself up, and life started to look up. She finally became complete when she welcomed her little bundle of joys, Nicolette Brainard-Barnes and Dylan Haggett. With her children’s arrival, her life began revolving around them. No matter what choice or step she took in her life, she always thought of them first.
From reading to them every night to trying to fill their life with happiness, Maureen had been nothing but a dutiful and loving mother. To provide for them, she worked twice as hard as a dealer at Foxwood’s Resort & Casino. However, things did not go as planned when she became unemployed and started struggling to make ends meet. Unable to find another workplace, she ended up providing adult services. She had to travel to Manhattan because of her work and was often accompanied by her female friend. During this time, Maureen inherently worked mainly in the Super 8 motel in Manhattan, and her friend also worked in the same location and just in a different room. Everything was going okay until July 9, 2007, when her friend last heard from her. Maureen stayed behind and called her friend to inform her that she was leaving the motel to meet with a client for an “out-call.”
However, with no updates from Maureen and her cell phone being off, the worries grew, and a friend ultimately filed a missing person report in Norwich Police Department on July 14, 2007. An investigation began along with the help of the New York Police Department since her cellphone was last used in Long Beach. After multiple attempts to find her, the officials arrived at a dead end. It was not until December 13, 2010, that her remains were found along Ocean Parkway, which was near Gilgo Beach. Two days prior, a police officer, along with her canine friend, had accidentally discovered the remains of a victim. The search that followed this incident found three more victims, including Maureen. Her cause of death was determined as strangulation, and the police allegedly believed that she was the first of these four Gilgo murder victims. The harrowing crime finally launched a full-blown investigation that would take over a decade to identify a suspect.
Maureen’s Alleged Killer is Awaiting Trial on Multiple Murder Charges Today
For over 12 years, the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes remained a mystery. However, a new task force was formed in February 2022 to find the killer of the four victims who were found near Gilgo Beach. After digitalizing the evidence, the investigators quickly came across a witness account of the murder of one of the victims. It stated that the accused was a very tall guy with bushy hair and had a first-generation Chevy Avalanche, which was dark colored. It was soon noted that this kind of vehicle was actually driven by a relatively large person. Additionally, the burner phones that the killer used were mainly based in or around the location of Massapequa Park, Long Island, and Midtown, Manhattan.
As each piece of information matched, on March 14, 2022, the task force finally had the suspect’s name, Rex Heuermann. On further investigation, law enforcement found that the location of Rex completely matched the victims’ last cell phone locations. Now, for definitive evidence, the officials needed his DNA, which they soon obtained from a pizza crumb that he left in a pizza box. Upon comparing it with the hair found at the crime scene, they found out that the DNA was a match. Finally, in July 2023, he was arrested as the suspect and charged with the murders of Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman, and Melissa Barthelemy.
However, it took them some time to find evidence to link Maureen’s murder. Shortly after, the police found the hair of Rex’s wife on one of the belts that was present on the victim’s body. Ultimately, on January 16, 2024, he was charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. As the officials expanded their search, they allegedly found the link of the accused with several other murders. Shortly after, he was also charged with the 1993 murder of Sandra Costilla and the 2003 murder of Jessica Taylor. In December 2024, he was additionally accused of the killing of Valerie Mack. As of writing, Rex Heuermann continues to claim innocence on all seven charges.
