Rex H. is said to have murdered several women: Pizza puts the police on the trail of a serial killer

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A pizza as decisive evidence to arrest a suspected serial killer: The architect Rex H.* (59) is strongly suspected of the brutal murder of at least three women, all prostitutes, on New York’s Long Island more than a decade ago .

For a long time the police groped in the dark. The gruesome murders occupy an entire region. Now a car, cell phone records and a half-eaten pizza led to an investigative coup.

When H. threw a pizza box into a garbage can in Manhattan in March, he probably had no idea that this action would trigger the police. Officials compared the DNA on the leftover pizza to a hair sample found on the ankles of one of the victims, the New York Post reported Saturday.

The comparison promptly produced a hit. The 59-year-old was arrested Thursday at his home in Massapequa, New York.

Suspect googled serial killers on Long Island

To the outside world, the father of two presented himself as a conservative citizen. Internally it seems to have been different. According to the New York Post, the suspect used cell phones to contact the women to learn about child pornography and tortuous sexual practices. He later googled the Long Island serial killer.

Thanks to an anonymous tip from a witness, a suspicious pickup truck could finally be linked to the suspect. Court documents show that detectives were able to reconcile the details of the discarded cell phones and their exact locations with witness statements and descriptions of the perpetrators. So H. increasingly became the focus of a task force specially set up in 2022 to solve the case. At the start of the study, this exact limitation was not yet possible, reports the American television channel CNN.

The responsible police chief Rodney Harrison chose drastic words after the arrest: “Rex H. is a demon that walks among us, a predator that has ruined families.”

After his arrest, H. was immediately brought before the investigating judge and charged with the murder of three women. He is the prime suspect in the fourth murder. His lawyer pleads “not guilty”. According to the defense lawyer, H. would have said to him: “I didn’t do that.”

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In 2010 and 2011, a total of nine female bodies were found on Gilgo Beach, Long Island. Maureen B.*, Melissa B.*, Megan W.* and Amber C.* disappeared between 2007 and 2010. H. is suspected of the murder of these four women. The locations where the bodies were found were only a few hundred meters apart. The bodies were wrapped in burlap at the time of the discovery. The murders form the basis of the 2020 Netflix movie Lost Girls.

Prosecutor Ray Tierney said Friday that the investigation is ongoing. “The case isn’t over yet, it’s just beginning.” Police Chief Harrison also stressed that the investigation into the other murders is continuing. (A)

*Name known

Source: Blick