SUFFOLK COUNTY, NEW YORK: Rex Heuerman's former classmates said he was a "loner" and was "awkward" in nature and later "really scared" his peers as he "got picked a lot." John Parisi, a graduate of Berner High School spoke of the Gilgo Beach murders suspect and said, "I was really scared of him. He was the type of guy if he snapped, he could really hurt you."
The New York-based architect was arrested on July 13 and was charged with multiple counts of murder in connection to the gruesome deaths of three young women Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Amber Lynn Costello, 22, and Megan Waterman, 27, that took place between 2007 and 2010 and their bodies were found scattered alongside Ocean Parkway, according to Daily Mail.
Was Rex Heuermann bullied as a child?
Speaking to The New York Times, Parisi said Heuermann "was disillusioned and he was misguided. You had to be very careful," and added that he was "everybody’s punching bag." "He got picked on a lot. He would take it and take it and walk away. I have seen him pushed to his limit,” the ex-classmate continued. Recalling a particular incident, Parisis shared the suspect was set upon by his sixth-grade classmates and was "singled out."
Parisi stated that a teacher intervened to stop the physical bullying but Heuermann's peers continued to make fun of him even at high school. Don Ophals, a fellow Burner alum said the suspect "was a recluse, very quiet."
Heuermann had a 'mean streak in him'
John DeMecoli, another former classmate of Heuermann spoke about not being surprised about the suspect's alleged role in the multiple murders. "When I heard they arrested him, I was not surprised at all," said DeMecoli who recalled Heuermann not agreeing to join his friends' street hockey game. "He just didn’t want any part of it, he didn’t want any part of sports. He didn’t want any part of anything," he said. Meanwhile, another classmate, Dan Musto said, Heuermann "didn’t have the social skills to hold a conversation — just a very weird character … he had a mean streak in him. Heuermann was an outcast."
Talking about his former classmate Heuermann, actor Billy Baldwin said "he was a bit shy, a bit insecure, a bit uncomfortable," and added, "I wouldn’t say he was an outcast but he struggled to fit in and to find his crowd." One of Heuermann's female classmates previously accused him of almost killing her during the production of 'Arsenic and Old Lace' in 1980. She claimed that the serial killings suspect allegedly tried murdering her with a misguided prank.
