Women Called Tip Line to See If Long Island Serial Killer Was Their BF
Suspected serial killer is accused of killing seven women and dumping their bodies in various locations across Long Island, New York, over a horrifying 18-year stretch. He pleaded not guilty to the murders of the seven women whose remains were found scattered on Long Island between 1993 and 2011. Author , who formerly manned the nearby Suffolk Police tip line, exclusively tells In Touch about the phone calls she fielded after the first four women’s bodies were discovered in 2010.
“It just exploded. There were hundreds and hundreds of calls,” Cuti explains to investigative reporter as part of a new true crime video series, In Touch Investigates, revealing many of the callers wondered if the killer was their own boyfriend or husband.
Cuti was hired by the Suffolk Police Department for a public relations position in 2010, where she worked in a tiny room and operated what she said was an “old timey red plastic phone with a curly cord and push buttons.” At the time, she worked alone as she answered a “manageable caseload” of phone calls until women’s bodies were discovered after being dumped in a nearby area called Gilgo Beach on Long Island.
From the initial investigation, police suspected they had a serial killer on their hands and the murder case gripped the entire world. Residents of the suburban towns were fearful after the bodies were found in 2010 and 2011 and as the homicides became more widely known, multiple documentaries and films were released about the killings.
Cuti says the tip line phone calls she was fielding at the time consisted of “anything you could think of.”
“There were a lot of psychics calling. What amazed me most was that so many people were calling about men in their lives. Men they had known,” the former government employee explains, confirming there were women calling in believing their husband or boyfriend should be investigated.
“It was mostly people from their past. I don’t remember anyone saying my current husband, but it was, people would say, I had this crazy ex-boyfriend when I was so-and-so,” she describes. “You guys really have to look into him. And it was not just one call like that.”
Thirteen years later, in July 2023, authorities arrested the New York City architect, 61, outside his office in midtown Manhattan.
Heuermann was charged with the murders of seven women, including Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25 — four of the 11 victims whose remains were discovered near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach.
According to the Suffolk County Police Commissioner, Heuermann’s ex-wife,, and two children were out of town when he allegedly committed the murders. Ellerup filed for divorce from Heuermann in 2023 days after he was arrested.
Although he is now headed to trial, the married father of two continues to insist he’s innocent and denies killing anyone.
When Heuermann was finally jailed in Suffolk County while awaiting trial for the crimes, Cuti admits she was surprised by his arrest. “I was shocked, honestly, to evade capture for that long and then to be captured,” she says. “And I was shocked. I couldn’t believe that they found that they found him.”
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