'Happy Face' killer warns fellow serial killer Rex Heuermann could be 'tossed to the wolves' in prison
Keith Jesperson, the "Happy Face" serial killer who has been trading prison letters with Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann, is warning that the hulking former architect could face a reality check when he's shipped upstate this month.
"The problem with Rex is his size — he thinks prison will be a cake walk because of how big his ego is," Jesperson, 71, wrote in a text message to podcaster Keith Rovere. "[I] had to tell him the little guys work out too, to beat up us big guys. He will have some fights, even in protective custody."
The message was shared with Fox News Digital. In it, Jesperson warned that Heuermann, 62, might even be "tossed to the wolves" by prison guards at some point.
"Keith is almost 7 feet tall, and he took a couple beatings," Rovere told Fox News Digital Thursday. "It's a numbers game in prison, no matter how big you are."
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Heuermann remains in custody at the Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead, New York. He will be moved to a state prison after his formal sentencing on June 17.
When asked if he thinks Heuermann may have more victims, Jesperson, who admitted to killing eight himself, declined to answer.
"What l think isn't important," he wrote in a message to Fox News Digital. "We just have to wait and see on the 17th."
Dubbed the "Happy Face Killer" for drawings he included in letters to the media, Jesperson said he'd rekindled a correspondence with Heuermann after the latter pleaded guilty, something Jesperson had urged him to do for years.
"He basically has told me thank you for letting him know about the process in the system dealing with [serial killer] cases," Jesperson told Fox News Digital.
Writing from a prison in Oregon, Jesperson said Heuermann would've had nothing to gain by taking his case to trial given the evidence against him — which includes transferred hair DNA from his then-wife and daughter on some of the victims.
Heuermann's ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, said through her attorney Thursday that she would not be attending his sentencing.
"Ms. Ellerup believes this day should be centered on the victims, their families, and the profound impact these crimes have had on their lives," her attorney, Bob Macedonio, told Fox News Digital. "Out of respect for those who have endured unimaginable loss and suffering, she does not wish her presence to distract from the purpose of these proceedings. Her thoughts remain with the victims and their loved ones as they continue their pursuit of justice, healing, and closure."
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has said investigators do not believe the family was involved in Heuermann's crimes.
"Probably why he pleaded guilty and avoid the trials," Jesperson wrote. "Told him nothing to gain in the trials and everything to lose. Suggested him not to make a statement to the court at sentencing; however, his lawyers might be pushing him to."
Jesperson first reached out to Heuermann within a week of his arrest in July 2023. Since then, he's sent almost 40 more letters, according to a source close to the family.
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"Rex, in New York, has had my letters telling him to deal out to better his placement inside," Jesperson told Fox News Digital in January. "Yet he is letting it play out."
Early on, Heuermann responded just once in a handwritten note that was later shared with Fox News Digital, but Jesperson now says he has received more replies after changing his plea in April.
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Jesperson first shared Heuermann's initial reply with "The Lighter Side of True Crime" podcast host Rovere, who provided a copy to Fox News Digital. In it, Heuermann complained about jail food and exercise conditions and fretted that guards might be reading his mail.
Heuermann's attorney Mike Brown had attempted to have groundbreaking DNA evidence obtained from rootless hair samples thrown out. Shortly after the judge denied his motions and scheduled the trial for September, Heuermann changed his plea and admitted to the killings at a hearing on April 8.
He had been charged with seven murders and agreed to confess to an uncharged eighth as part of the plea deal.
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Heuermann is expected to receive multiple consecutive sentences of life in prison, at least three without the possibility of parole, at his sentencing hearing Wednesday.
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Heuermann, a New York City architect who lived in Massapequa Park on Long Island, has pleaded guilty to the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla and Valerie Mack. He also took responsibility for the uncharged murder of Karen Vergata.
All of the victims were tortured and strangled, according to prosecutors. Some were dismembered.
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As part of the plea deal, he agreed to work with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit and allow federal experts to study his murderous psychology.
The Gilgo Beach murders were exposed in 2010 after a woman named Shannan Gilbert went missing in the area, about 45 miles east of New York City along the sparsely populated Ocean Parkway.
While Suffolk County police ultimately deemed Gilbert's death an accident, they found 10 other sets of remains before they found hers, including several of Heuermann's victims.
He wasn't identified as a suspect until new leadership in Suffolk County created a task force to take a new look at the cold case in 2022. Investigators also linked him to remains found in eastern Long Island.