Woman who encountered Rex Heuermann days before his arrest recalls his hair-raising comment, ‘I was on high alert'

Hindustan Times

01-06-2025

A woman has recounted how suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann made an unwanted pass at her days before his arrest. Kaylin Morales, on her way home from a dinner date in the Big Apple, was riding a nearly empty Babylon-bound LIRR train on July 1, 2023, when Heuermann sat down beside her. It was around 7:45 pm, and Heuermann chose the seat right next to her even though most other seats were empty.
'I just thought he was this big, fat, ugly white man…I obviously didn't know who he was at the time,' Morales, 21, told the New York Post. 'It was just so weird that the rest of the seats were empty and he had to sit right next to me. I was on high alert at that point.'
Morales recalled that she had her legs stretched out onto the seat across from her own. Recalling the creepy, hair-raising comment Heuermann made while sitting down, Morales said, 'He said, 'Oh, you don't have to move your pretty legs. I won't bother you.''
The 'uncomfortable' Bay Shore resident began secretly taking videos and photos of Heuermann as they pulled out of Penn Station. 'Just in case, for my own safety, I was like, 'Let me just get evidence of who this person is,'' she said.
A Snapchat clip shared by Morales shows Heuermann wearing khaki cargo pants, holding a Miller Lite can. She captioned the video, 'Like why the f–k is there mad open seats and this guy sits right next to me and can't stop talking to me, like i literally can't ever catch a break.'
Another clip shows Heuermann's stubby fingers cracking his second beer. His phone, placed on his right thigh, appears to show a New York Post article. The video is captioned, 'the cracking of a new drink is crazy [crying emoji] i simply cant.'
'I could have moved but I was like, 'Is he going to say something else to me?' Like, I just don't want to interact with this man any further — everything about him was sussing me out. So I thought the best thing to do was ignore him and put my AirPods in and look out of the window,' Morales said, explaining that felt 'boxed in' by Heuermann's 'large body.'
Morales said she could 'see and feel' Heuermann talking to her, but she used the music in her AirPods to deliberately drown his voice out. Another video showed Heuermann exiting the train at Massapequa, where he had been living for several years before his arrest.
Nearly two weeks later, Heuermann was nabbed. 'My heart immediately sank to the floor…it was literally the craziest feeling. I couldn't even believe it,' Morales said, adding that she submitted the videos taken in the train to Suffolk County Crime Stoppers 'in case it could be of use.' A detective on the case interviewed her, and confirmed that the person who sat next to her was indeed Heuermann.
Morales shared her experience on TikTok nearly two years after the encounter. 'I was worried if I posted right after his arrest, if he had a partner, I didn't want them coming after me, so I waited. After I watched the Netflix documentary and see that he did this alone, I felt more comfortable sharing my experience,' she said.
She told the New York Post, 'God was with me that day.'
Heuermann, who is being held in Riverhead Correctional Facility, has pleaded not guilty to killing seven women. He is scheduled to return to Suffolk County Criminal Court on June 17. A trial date for the murders has yet to be set.