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Business Insider
21-06-2025
- Business Insider
See inside Coe Hall, a 65-room mansion built by a Gilded Age businessman who was booked on the Titanic's return voyage
Coe Hall is a 65-room mansion that was built on the Gold Coast of Long Island, New York, in 1921. The home, built by insurance exec William Robertson Coe, is inside the Planting Fields Arboretum. The main house, along with its multiple greenhouses and gardens, is open to the public. In the village of Upper Brookville on Long Island, New York, you can step back 100 years — all you need to do is enter the Planting Fields Arboretum, a 409-acre state park that houses an expansive mansion, multiple greenhouses, gardens, and a tea house straight out of a fairy tale. The mansion, Coe Hall, was built by William Robertson Coe, an executive who succeeded in the insurance and railroad businesses, and his wife, Mai Rogers, an heiress to a fortune built on Standard Oil money. In fact, Coe was the president of the company that brokered the insurance for the hull of what was known as an unsinkable ship: the Titanic. He was even booked on the return voyage of the Titanic from New York City to England, per the Long Island Press. Coe Hall — the second mansion to be built on the property after the original from 1906 burned down in 1918 — looks like it was transplanted from the English countryside and dropped on the Gold Coast, a stretch of Long Island's North Shore that earned its nickname for the opulent estates built by wealthy families around the turn of the 20th century. That's on purpose, as they wanted to make it seem like the home had been there for decades, making them " old money." During my tour of the property this spring, a docent told me some architectural touches didn't match at the time of construction, as if to give the appearance that the home had been remodeled over the years. In addition to the main house, which was designed by the architectural firm Walker & Gillette, the arboretum is home to beautiful landscaping and gardens designed by the famous Olmsted Brothers, who also designed Central Park and Oheka Castle. Here's what it's like to visit one of the largest Gold Coast mansions left on Long Island. The Planting Fields Arboretum is a 409-acre state park on Long Island, New York. The estate was purchased by William Robertson Coe, an insurance and railroad tycoon, in 1913. It's now open for tours. It cost $8 to park there, and another $15 to tour the house. The property was in the Coe family until his death in 1955, when it was given to the state of New York. The centerpiece of the park is Coe Hall, a 65-room Tudor mansion built in 1918. There are personalized touches all over the house's limestone exterior. For example, this ship carved into the house is a nod to Coe's ties to the maritime industry and his love of sailing. The building was modeled after English manor homes to evoke "old money" vibes rather than the "new money" that Coe had made. You get almost a medieval feel from the moment you walk through the entryway. It took three years to complete Coe Hall. There are taxidermied animals throughout the house — Coe was an avid hunter and summered in Wyoming. One of the first rooms you can view is Coe's den. It's covered in dark wood, giving a masculine atmosphere. The shelves were filled with priceless books, like this signed copy of Mark Twain's autobiography. Twain was a close friend of the family. There are photos of Coe and his second wife, Mai Rogers, on display. They had married in 1900. This house was built amid Prohibition. So Coe knew he had to prepare for an alcohol shortage. He built his very own hidden speakeasy in his den. A docent told us he spent millions of dollars in today's money to stockpile alcohol. The docent said Coe and his wife had opposing style tastes and suggested visiting her salon across the hall. He was right. If her husband's taste was English, this parlor was straight out of Versailles. On the way to look at the rest of the home, we passed a small side room that displayed a bison head and one of Coe's hunting rifles. The art in the living room is original to the home. It's certainly not a bad place to spend your weekends. This mezzanine was built as a place for the four Coe children to play and store their toys and musical instruments without getting underfoot. The Great Hall is at the back of the home. It was perfect for the parties of the Roaring '20s. This box on the second floor looks like it was made for people-watching, but it was actually where musicians would play during parties. The craftsmanship throughout the house was impossible to miss. Every detail was intentional. These flowers are a reference to Rogers' love of plants — the property itself became an arboretum. There was another portrait of Coe hanging in the corner. On the left is Rogers, and on the right is their youngest child (and only daughter), Natalie. She was married in this room in 1934. Above the massive fireplace is a portrait of the three Coe boys: William, Robert, and Henry. A docent told us it took $1.7 million annually — in 1927 dollars — to maintain Coe Hall. That's around $31 million today. There was another reading room set off the great hall. The shelves were filled with antiques and old books. The last viewable room on the first floor was this formal dining room. The main staircase felt straight out of a castle. This hallway led to three guest bedrooms and the Coes' suites; there are nine bedrooms total. This was the only guest room open for visitors. Each room has a walk-in closet and its own bathroom. At the end of the hall were Coe and Rogers' bedrooms and bathrooms. This was Rogers' bedroom. Like her salon downstairs, it is bright and airy. And no, that's not wallpaper. This design was hand-painted onto the wall. The windows gave her a view of the gardens she painstakingly designed. This is her bathroom. Once again, it's very French. In addition to a bathtub, she had a needle bath. Jets of water came out from different points on the cage-like contraption. Across the hall is her husband's bathroom, where he had his own interesting contraption: an electric light cabinet, similar to an infrared sauna. Down the other hallway were the kids' bedrooms. They were all closed, though, because Netflix filmed season three of "The Diplomat" at Coe Hall, and these rooms were used as storage. Coming back down the stairs, I got another look at just how intricate and intentional every detail in the house was. Now it was time to check out the much-revered grounds. Right off the bat, this fountain caught my eye. I also enjoyed this courtyard. The landscaping was by the Olmsted Brothers, who also designed Central Park and Oheka Castle. Near the house, there's a small pond and a bench off a hidden path. It's the perfect spot for quiet contemplation. But the main draws of the backyard are the Blue Pool Garden and the Tea House. Before the pool was here, this area was a tennis court. It took 16 workers to dig out 16,000 square yards of soil to build the sunken pool. At the end of the garden is the Tea House, which was built in 1906. The exterior makes the Tea House look like something out of a fairytale. Can't you just hear someone saying, "Once upon a time…"? Rogers entertained her friends in the Tea House on nice days. It looks like the inside of a Tiffany's box. The other structure in this area of the park is the Playhouse, which was built so Natalie, the Coes' daughter, could have a place to play house. As we continued walking around the park, we came to this archway made of pine trees. Walking through it felt like walking through a storybook. On the other side of the archway is the Main Greenhouse, built in 1914. This was originally called the Hibiscus House, but now it's a mixture of tropical plants. One corner of the building was anchored by this giant palm tree. There were plenty of paths to walk down to get the full experience. We then walked the Azalea Walk, one of 13 trails at the Planting Fields. That led us to the other greenhouse on-site, the Camellia Greenhouse, built in 1917. It has the largest collection of camellias under glass in the northeast. However, camellia season is in January, so we missed it. But there were still plenty of flowers and plants to check out in this greenhouse. There are many more gardens to see at Coe Hall, including a rose garden, a hydrangea collection, and a dahlia garden. Walking around Planting Fields and Coe Hall felt like stepping back in time and revealed the remarkable wealth of Gilded Age families. Any history buff should pay it a visit, if they can.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
What Happened to Suspected Serial Killer Rex Heuermann's Wife & Kids
Originally appeared on E! Online The arrest of Rex Heuermann in 2023 may have been a step forward for the families of a number of murdered women whose cases had grown increasingly cold over the course of two decades. Prosecutors allege Heuermann, a New York architect who lived with his family in Massapequa Park, is a serial killer whose crimes date back to at least 1993, when the body of 28-year-old Sandra Costilla was discovered in a wooded area on the east side of Long Island. Since his arrest, he has been charged with murdering seven women, and he has pleaded not guilty on all counts. The 61-year-old remains in custody at Riverhead Correctional Facility in Suffolk County awaiting trial. Also caught up in the fallout of the investigation, detailed in Netflix's Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, was Heuermann's own family, particularly his wife Asa Ellerup and their two children, Christopher Sheridan (Ellerup's son from a previous relationship) and Virginia Heuermann. Though some people described Heuermann as unfriendly and at times creepy—"We would cross the street," neighbor Nicholas Ferchaw told the New York Times following his arrest. "He was somebody you don't want to approach"—he still appeared to be living a normal life. "The family is very to themselves, quiet,' neighbor Frankie Musto told the Long Island Press. 'My daughter went to school with their daughter, but we never saw anything suspicious." Here is what to know about Heuermann's wife Ellerup and their kids since he was charged with multiple murders: More from E! Online Denzel Washington Gets Into Confrontation After Being Grabbed by Photographer at Cannes Police Investigating Death of TikToker Emilie Kiser's 3-Year-Old Son Influencer Emilie Kiser's 3-Year-Old Son Dies After Being Found Unconscious in Pool Though some people described Heuermann as unfriendly and at times creepy—"We would cross the street," neighbor Nicholas Ferchaw told the New York Times following his arrest. "He was somebody you don't want to approach"—he still appeared to be living a normal life. "The family is very to themselves, quiet,' neighbor Frankie Musto told the Long Island Press. 'My daughter went to school with their daughter, but we never saw anything suspicious." Here is what to know about Heuermann's wife Ellerup and their kids since he was charged with multiple murders: Heuermann was arrested July 13, 2023—more than a year after the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office formed a special task force to solve the unsolved killings often referred to as the Gilgo Beach Murders, a reference to where the remains of at least 10 people were found in 2010 and 2011. (Three sets of remains have not yet been identified, according to Suffolk County authorities.) Six days after Heuermann was taken into custody, Ellerup filed for divorce after 27 years of marriage. 'If you ask me, I don't believe, that they knew about this double life that Mr. Heuermann was living," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CNN in July 2023, referring to the suspect's wife and kids. But, he added, authorities were still investigating "to see if the family might have known exactly what Mr. Heuermann was up to." Harrison said Ellerup and her daughter "were shocked, they were disgusted, they were embarrassed" when they found out the charges against Heuermann. Ellerup and her kids "are going through a devastating time in their lives," her attorney Robert Macedonio told NBC News in a statement at the time. 'The sensitive nature of her husband's arrest is taking an emotional toll on the immediate and extended family, especially their elderly family members." Before Heuermann's arrest, investigators conducted a 12-day search of the Massapequa Park home he shared with Ellerup and their two grown kids. 'I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering,' Ellerup told the New York Post several weeks later. 'Anxiety." Ellerup said their son Christopher has "developmental disabilities" and he "cried himself to sleep" after his father was arrested. Daughter Virginia told the NY Post she felt "not human" amid the investigation, with their attorney Macdeonio explaining to the publication she meant that what authorities had "done to them and the family is not even human. They were just complete animals [to investigators]. They treated them like animals." But what was important was that she and the kids were together, Ellerup noted. "That's really what matters right now," she said. "That you and me are sitting here together and we will get through this." While authorities have said time and again that they don't believe Ellerup knew about Heuermann's alleged crimes—and that she was out of town when the murders he's been charged with were committed—she unwittingly played a key role in his arrest. DNA testing showed that female human hair found on or near four victims' remains belonged to the defendant's wife, according to prosecutors' 2023 bail application (which did not refer to Ellerup by name at the time). Prosecutors said in the filing that travel records put his wife in Iceland when alleged Heuermann victim Melissa Barthelemy was killed in 2009, and cell phone data indicated she was out of the state when Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello were killed in 2010, leading them to determine that the hairs came from his family's residence or were transferred from his clothing. Heuermann was first charged with the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello in July 2023 and named a suspect in the 2010 killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. He was charged in that case in January 2024, then charged with the murders of Costilla (in 1993) and Jessica Taylor (2003) in June 2024 and of Valerie Mack (2000) in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to all seven. Days later, her attorney shared that Ellerup had been battling breast cancer and skin cancer for several years. "Emotionally, she's recovering each day not only dealing with the cancer," Macedonio said during an Aug. 11, 2023, news conference, "but this newfound life that she has to come to terms with protecting herself and children." At the time, Macedonio said Ellerup was undergoing a course of treatment that would last 12 to 18 months, and that her health insurance was attached to her husband's and was set to expire in 60 days. Though she quickly filed for divorce, Ellerup later said that she was waiting to see how her husband's case unfolded before casting judgment, while also extending her "heartfelt sympathies" to the victims' families. "Nobody deserves to die in that manner," she said in a March 2024 statement, per NBC New York. "I will listen to all of the evidence and withhold judgment until the end of trial. I have given Rex the benefit of the doubt, as we all deserve." While authorities have said time and again that they don't believe Ellerup knew about Heuermann's alleged crimes—and that she was out of town when the murders he's been charged with were committed—she unwittingly played a key role in his arrest. DNA testing showed that female human hair found on or near four victims' remains belonged to the defendant's wife, according to prosecutors' 2023 bail application (which did not refer to Ellerup by name at the time). Prosecutors said in the filing that travel records put his wife in Iceland when alleged Heuermann victim Melissa Barthelemy was killed in 2009, and cell phone data indicated she was out of the state when Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello were killed in 2010, leading them to determine that the hairs came from his family's residence or were transferred from his clothing. Heuermann was first charged with the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello in July 2023 and named a suspect in the 2010 killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. He was charged in that case in January 2024, then charged with the murders of Costilla (in 1993) and Jessica Taylor (2003) in June 2024 and of Valerie Mack (2000) in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to all seven. Though their house had been torn upside down by investigators, Ellerup told the NY Post in July 2023, "It's the only thing I got." But her attorney Macedonio said in November 2024 that she would be relocating to South Carolina and eventually her kids would join her. Ellerup "lost her attachment to her house of 30 years," the lawyer said in a statement, per NBC New York. "To start the healing process, she wants to move on." The Massapequa Park house, which authorities conducted at least two subsequent searches on after Heuermann's arrest, wasn't yet for sale, Macedonio said at the time, but the plan was to list the property once Ellerup's divorce was finalized. It's unclear if Ellerup has since made the move. E! News reached out to her attorney for comment but has yet to hear back. 'People constantly stop in front of the house, to gawk and point and take pictures,' Macedonio told the New York Times in November. 'She's lost any emotional attachment she had to the premises because of everything that's gone on, and the only way she can start recovering is to move.' As for his kids, Victoria worked for her dad at his NYC firm, which has since shut down. Today, she has struggled to find a job while she and her brother try to keep a low profile. 'Chris can't even walk his dog down the block,' their lawyer Vess Mitev told the NY Times. ' He gets photographed, people stop and take pictures, he's catcalled, the whole thing. They can't even check the mail. That kind of scrutiny is not for my clients. They never asked for it.' For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Yahoo
A new Netflix docuseries explores the case of alleged Long Island serial killer, Rex Heuermann
Netflix's new documentary series, Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, tries to answer why it took police more than a decade to identify a suspect in a series of murders on Long Island. Between 2010 and 2011, the remains of 11 people were discovered along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach on New York's Long Island. Four of the victims were found within a quarter mile of each other and in similar conditions — bound with belts or tape and wrapped in burlap — suggesting to police and the community that there was a serial killer in the area. But it wasn't until July 2023 that police finally arrested 61-year-old Rex Heuermann, a New York City architect living in Nassau County, as a suspect in several of the killings. Heuermann has since been charged with murdering seven women: Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla and Valerie Mack. The three-part series, which airs on Netflix March 31, suggests that the reason it took police so long to arrest Heuermann is because all of his alleged victims were sex workers. 'Police were saying, if you're not a sex worker, you don't have anything to worry about,' Long Island Press reporter Jaclyn Gallucci says in the first episode. 'You don't want to think that somebody's going around murdering women, and you want to say, 'OK, they put themselves in that situation, this is the reason why this happened to them and this is the reason this could never happen to me.'' The victims' families and friends, who are interviewed throughout the series, also say they felt their loved ones were dismissed by police and the media because they were sex workers. Some say they even gave police information about a man matching Heuermann's description years before he was arrested. Dave Schaller and Bear Brodsky, who both lived with 27-year-old Amber Lynn Costello when she went missing in 2010, recalled an encounter they say they had with Heuermann before Costello's disappearance. According to the former roommates, Costello had called them asking for help because a client of hers was at the house and scaring her. Schaller and Brodsky say they went into the house and told the man to leave. They said they knew Costello took another call from the man in September 2010 and went to see him, saying she was promised $1,500, and then was never seen again. When Costello disappeared, Schaller and Brodsky went to the police and described the man in detail, including the exact car he was driving — a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche. When Heuermann's face was shown on TV after he was arrested, Schaller said it was the same man he and Brodsky had described to police 13 years earlier. Heuermann was also driving a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche at the time of his arrest. '[Police] had their answers for f***ing years,' Schaller said. The series does not feature interviews with any officers who were employed by the Suffolk County Police Department at the time, however, the second episode dives into controversies surrounding former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and former Police Chief James Burke, who supervised the investigation of the Gilgo Beach murders. Spota resigned from office in 2017, was disbarred in 2020 and sentenced to federal prison in 2021 for helping cover up a suspect abuse scandal; Burke stepped down in 2015 and was arrested in 2023 for soliciting a sex worker. Investigative reporter Gus Garcia-Roberts, who covered the case for Newsweek, says that, in retrospect, it seemed like Burke's effort to cover up his own alleged crimes may have affected how much attention was spent on the Gilgo investigation. Neither Spota nor Burke were interviewed for the docuseries. The documentary's final episode seems to support Garcia-Roberts's theory. In it, Ray Tierney, the current Suffolk County district attorney who assumed office in January 2022, says that once a new team of investigators was assigned to the office, it took them six weeks before they identified Heuermann as a suspect. Detectives tracked Heuermann's physical movements as well as his cellphone records for months before they were finally able to match a hair recovered from one of the victims to DNA on a leftover pizza crust Heuermann threw out in January 2023. He was arrested at his Manhattan office seven months later. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him and has requested separate trials for the women he's accused of murdering, but prosecutors have objected to splitting up the cases. A trial date has not yet been set.
Yahoo
07-02-2025
- Yahoo
LI man sentenced to up to 25 years in wrong-way DWI crash that killed 2 teens
A Long Island businessman who admitted to being drunk and high on drugs in a wrong-way crash that killed two teens nearly two years ago has been sentenced to up to 25 years in prison. Amandeep Singh, of Roslyn, pleaded guilty last month to aggravated vehicular manslaughter and related charges in the deaths of eighth graders Ethan Falkowitz and Drew Hassenbein on May 2, 2023. On Friday, Judge Helene Gugerty sentenced him to 8 ⅓ to 25 years in prison. During the hearing, family members delivered emotional impact statements, urging the judge to give Singh the maximum sentence. 'Instead of picking up my son at school, I had to pick him up at the morgue. Instead of watching him use his tennis racket like a magic wand, I had to bury it with him,' Hassenbein's father said, according to the Long Island Press. 'You stole my heart and soul,' said Falkowitz's mother. Singh, a father of two, said he 'would never hurt a child intentionally and yet [he] did,' ABC NY reported. 'I apologize from the bottom of my heart for your loss,' he said when addressing the victims' families. The two teens, described by local media as tennis 'prodigies,' and 'stars,' were driving home from celebrating a high school tennis match win on the night of May 3, 2023, when Singh crashed his pickup truck into their car on North Broadway in Jericho. Prosecutors say the 36-year-old construction executive was driving his 2021 Dodge Ram TRX at approximately 95 miles per hour while intoxicated and high on cocaine when he crossed over the road and continued south in the northbound lane. He then crashed his 2021 Dodge Ram TRX into an Alfa Romeo with four kids inside. Falkowitz and Hassenbein were killed instantly. The two other teens were rushed to an area hospital with multiple injuries. Singh fled the scene but was arrested a short time later. He was found hiding near a dumpster in the parking lot of a nearby shopping center, according to the Nassau County District Attorney's Office.
