Gilgo: Strangulation, Taunts Common In Serial, Sexual Murder: Psych

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Heuermann has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody at an undisclosed location in the Suffolk County Correctional Facility.

Statistics

Murder, in general, is the least common crime, with sexual murder about one percent of all murder, and serial, sexual murder a fractional percentage of that one percent, Schlesinger says.

“So you see how extraordinary this is and how rare this is,” he added.

In cases involving non-serial, sexual murder, which involves a known victim, the perpetrator is usually captured quite quickly, he says.

“Why is that?” Schlesinger asks. “Because it’s not planned out. There’s witnesses around or evidence is left behind, and so on. Many of these individuals that go on for an extended period of time and are not caught like this guy, Heuermann; they plan their crime.”

The perpetrators are intelligent and plan their crime, he explains.

“They are forensically aware and able to elude law enforcement,” he added.

Fifty percent of serial, sexual murderers, do not have a criminal record at all, according to Schlesinger.

Heuermann’s attorney, Michael Brown of Central Islip, has reportedly said that his client has never been in trouble with the law before.

Strangulation No. 1 Manner Of Killing

Barthelemy, Costello, Waterman, and Brainard-Barnes were all reportedly strangled. Some of the women’s remains showed signs of blunt-force trauma, authorities have said.

That is not uncommon for serial, sexual murders, according to Schlesinger’s research.

The No. 1 way serial, sexual murderers kill is strangulation, because it is up “close and personal,” Schlesinger said.

If you want to kill people, the most efficient way is a gun, but strangulation allows the perpetrator more control so that the suffering associated with death can be prolonged, he explained.

“It prolongs [the victim’s] agony and prolongs [the killer’s] sexual stimulation and the sexual gratification is enormously gratifying for him to have her realize that he is in total control of life and death,” he said. “This is sexually arousing for these types of individuals. So, that’s very typical.”

Rape History

While it is unknown if any of the four women were raped as not all has been revealed in the investigation, there is a claim of the killing and rape of Barthelemy that was allegedly made by a caller who used a burner cell phone traced to Heuermann, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s bail application.

Schlesinger says very few of serial sexual murderers have a history of sexual assault or rape, and of those who do, 85 percent of them sexually penetrate their victims at the crime scene.

If there is “deliberate torture” involved, which is “more than just the usual sort of sadistic acts but deliberate torture – bondage – these sorts of things, strangely, as it might sound, the arrest record of those offenders are usually for-profit crimes counterfeiting robbery, check forgery, and that sort of thing,” he said.

“It is very counterintuitive, but that’s what you find,” he said.

“This is a very difficult crime to clear by law enforcement because again, you’re killing strangers. You know, most murders are the most typical,” he said.

The prototype of the vast majority of murders are found in the Bible in the story of Cain and Abel, with about 70 percent of everything you need to know about murder found in that story, according to Schlesinger.

The pair were brothers and out of jealousy, Cain slew Abel, and when God asked where Abel was, Cain lied to him, according to the Bible.

“‘I know not. I am not my brother’s keeper,’” Schlesinger said, repeating the infamously implicating phrase.

“So, when law enforcement or anybody else confronts an offender with wrongdoing, he’s going to lie,” he said. “He’s not going to tell the truth.”

Taunting Phone Calls

It’s not uncommon for a serial, sexual murderer to taunt his victims’ families.

The Golden State and Dating Game killers did just that.

The Golden State Killer, Joseph James D’Angelo, was a U.S. Navy veteran and former police officer, who was sentenced in 2020 to life in prison after being convicted is for at least 13 murders, 51 rapes, and 120 burglaries.

He is believed to have taunted his victims and police with obscene phone calls.

Serial, sexual murderer Rodney Acala got his monicker, “The Dating Game Killer,” for having appeared on the popular 70s television show as a contestant.

Alcala, who attended NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts at one point, was paired with a woman, but she wouldn’t go on a date with him because he was “so weird,” Schlesinger recalls.

Though he was not a lawyer, when it was time for Alcala’s trial, he defended himself so that he could cross-examine the victims’ family members “and gain more sadistic gratification from it,” he said.

There is a reason behind why killers reach out and continue contact with a victim, their family, or others connected to the case, Schlesinger says.

“This is because they’re sadistic,” he said. “They want to torture the family members.”

Because Heuermann is alleged to have said that he raped Barthelemy is not to be taken as truth, Schlesinger says.

“They lie all the time,” he said. “You can’t believe anything they say.”

“I would give it no weight at all – anything he says – unless it’s corroborated,” he added.

In the next part of the series, Schlesinger explains how these cases all come together.

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