Lazy Caturday Reads

Happy Caturday!!

There’s not a lot of exciting political news today, so I’m going to share a bit about the apparent solving of a high-profile cold case crime. After that, some articles about Ron DeSantis and what he’s done to Florida.

Police in Long Island announced yesterday that they have identified the man popularly known as the Long Island serial killer.

I wrote a post in April, 2011, about the series of bodies that had been found on Long Island. The women were identified as working in the sex trade. I have often argued that the massive number of murders and rapes of women in the U.S. should be a political issue. Often the women who are targeted are seen by both the criminal and the police as throwaways–poor women, women of color, and sex workers. In that post I quoted from a Salon article: Why do serial killers target sex workers?

A report was released last month finding that 70 percent of known victims of serial killers are women (consider that only 22 percent of homicide victims in general are female); and it turns out sex workers are 18 times more likely than “normal” women to be murdered. Why might this be? Well, in the words of the Green River Killer, who targeted prostitutes:

“I picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without being noticed. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.”

Since they’re doing illegal work, sex workers have to be secretive and discreet. They often work in isolated and industrial areas. They get in cars with strangers. There are rarely detailed records of transactions. Many are drug addicts and estranged from their families, so they are less likely to be reported missing. Anyone who knows anything about a girl’s whereabouts is likely involved in the trade themselves, so they aren’t super eager to speak with police. What’s more, as we saw with the Robert Pickton case in Vancouver, police sometimes discount tips from working girls (all the more reason to not risk talking to them in the first place).

The Long Island serial killer turned out to be a seemingly “respectable” man–married with a daughter and stepson, he worked as an architect. From The New York Times: Suspect Arrested in Serial Killings of Women Near Gilgo Beach.

The bodies were unearthed near remote Gilgo Beach on Long Island’s South Shore more than a decade ago, terrifying residents and leaving the victims’ families bereft. In all, the remains of nine women, a man and a toddler were discovered.

Since then, investigators have tried to determine whether the killings had been committed by one person or by multiple attackers. But for more than a decade the cases went unsolved.

Then Rex Heuermann, an architect who had lived most of his life in Nassau County and worked in Manhattan, was taken into custody on Thursday, accused of killing three women and is suspected in the murder of a fourth. Before his arrest, investigators had sifted through clues as simple as a monogrammed belt wrapped around one of the victims and as sophisticated as the electronic signals of disposable mobile phones.

Mr. Heuermann was charged with three counts of first degree murder and three counts of second degree murder in the killings of Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy, whose bodies were found wrapped in hunting camouflage burlap within a quarter mile of each other on a stretch of beach. All had been in their 20s, petite and working as escorts. They disappeared between 2009 and 2010.

The remains of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who went missing in July 2007, were also found alongside their bodies and buried in a similar way.

Mr. Heuermann was not charged with the killing of Ms. Brainard-Barnes, but he “is the prime suspect in her death,” according to the bail application filed by Allen Bode, the chief assistant district attorney in Suffolk County. The evidence in her case “fits the modus operandi of the defendant.”

Investigators identified Heuermann using DNA from the crime scenes and cell phone technology.

Investigators said they linked Mr. Heuermann to the killings using not only DNA, but technology that pinpointed the locations of disposable cellular phones they believed the killer used to contact the victims in the hours before they disappeared….

Prosecutors laid out an intricate investigation that saw a break in March 2022 when investigators discovered that Mr. Heuermann had owned a Chevrolet Avalanche truck at the time of the killings. A witness had seen an Avalanche parked in one of the murdered women’s driveways shortly before she disappeared, Mr. Bode, the prosecutor, wrote in his filing.

By the time detectives learned of the truck, they had already narrowed their search to several men who were in a small area of Massapequa Park where cell-site information had led them to believe that the killer lived, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Investigators learned that the killer had used burner phones to contact victims in the hours before they disappeared. Using mapping technology, they found that the calls to the victims originated from two key locations connected to Mr. Heuermann: near his home on First Avenue in Massapequa Park and parts of Midtown Manhattan near his office at Fifth Avenue and 36th Street.

It was near that office that a series of “taunting” calls was made to Ms. Barthelemy’s family, using her phone, according to the court filing. One came in July 2009 to Ms. Barthelemy’s sister, Amanda.

“Do you think you’ll ever speak to her again?” a bland, calm voice said to her, according to a person with knowledge of the call.

When she told the caller that she hoped to talk to her sister again, he replied that he had killed her after having sex with her. Several seconds later, the caller hung up.

There’s much more detail about the investigation in the NYT story. Once investigators identified Heuermann as the likely suspect, they keep him under surveillance until one day, he discarded and pizza box with crusts in it and were able to get his DNA and match it to hairs found on the victims.

Read more about Heuermann in this piece at The New York Times: Suspect in Gilgo Beach Killings Led a Life of Chaos and Control.

The question I have is, why did this investigation take so long? Was it because the murdered women were “throwaways?”

This is from Kara Alaimo at CNN: Opinion: The ‘Gilgo Four’ case raises a question we all need to consider.

Following his arrest on Thursday, suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann pleaded not guilty this Friday to six counts of murder in connection with the deaths of three of the four women known as the “Gilgo Four,” whose bodies were found on Long Island in 2010. The women – Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Lynn Costello – as well as Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who Heuermann is also suspected of killing, worked as online escorts. The discovery of their remains, as well as those of seven other people in the same area, was critical in galvanizing public attention to the violence faced by sex workers.

Heuermann, an architect who worked in Manhattan, was arrested out of “public safety” concerns as he had been closely monitoring the investigation, while still patronizing sex workers and using fake IDs and burner phones, according to the Suffolk County district attorney.

Now, as the case moves forward, it’s important for investigators and the public to know whether the victims’ status as escorts was a contributing factor in why it took police over a decade to solve this case – and reconsider how we talk and think about other women who are the victims of unthinkable violence.

The discovery of the remains of these women back in 2010 and all the subsequent intrigue over the cases was a very public reminder of how dangerous sex work can be – and at a time when social media was just taking off, the dangers of meeting anyone on the internet. But, sadly, that doesn’t seem to have radically changed how our society treats women who experience violence.

I lived on Long Island not far from the town where Heuermann lived for many years, and the overwhelming feeling among neighbors and friends I talked to was that the police would have been doing much more to find this serial killer if the victims hadn’t been escorts.

There was also corruption in the police department in charge of the crimes.

In 2016, James Burke, the former Suffolk County police chief in charge of the investigation, was sentenced to 46 months in prison after he violently attacked a man who stole a bag containing pornography and sex toys from his car. The judge in the case said Burke “had corrupted a system” as he spent three years trying to thwart an FBI investigation into his case.  Burke has also been suspected of thwarting the FBI investigation into the Gilgo murders.

So, as the case against Heuermann develops, the public also needs other answers: Did the police and FBI do everything they could from the beginning to get to the bottom of the case? And would the cases have been handled differently if the women worked on Wall Street, or as police officers, for example?

And it’s not just law enforcement who we need to scrutinize. We as a society also need to rethink how we treat women who are victimized by sexual and other crimes. In her book “Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot,” Mikki Kendall argues that our society demands that women prove themselves to be respectable before taking violence against them seriously. “Rape culture, a system that positions some bodies as deserving to be attacked, hinges on ignoring the mistreatment of marginalized women,” Kendall writes. “Because their bodies are seen as available and often disposable, sexual violence is tacitly normalized even as people decry its impact on those with more privilege.”

But it’s not just sex workers who are frequent targets of violence and murder. Murder by a partner is a common cause of death for pregnant women. Now that it’s more difficult for women to get abortions, those numbers will likely increase.

Florida/DeSantis News

There’s quite a bit in the news today about Florida and problems related to Ron DeSantis presidential campaign and his autocratic governance of the state. 

CBS News: AAA pulls back from offering insurance in Florida, following Farmers.

AAA will not renew the auto and home insurance policies for some customers in Florida, joining a growing list of insurers dialing back their presence in the Sunshine State amid a growing risk of natural disasters.

“Unfortunately, Florida’s insurance market has become challenging in recent years,” the company said in a statement emailed to CBS MoneyWatch. “Last year’s catastrophic hurricane season contributed to an unprecedented rise in reinsurance rates, making it more costly for insurance companies to operate.” [….]

The company is the fourth insurer over the last year say it is backing away from insuring Floridians, a sign extreme weather linked to climate change is destabilizing the insurance market. On Tuesday, Farmers Insurance said it will no longer offer coverage in the state, affecting roughly 100,000 customers. 

Farmers said the move will affect only company-branded policies, which make up about 30% of its policies sold in the state.

Bankers Insurance and Lexington Insurance, a subsidiary of AIG, left Florida last year, saying recent natural disasters have made it too expensive to insure residents. Hurricanes Ian and Nicole devastated Florida in 2022, causing billions of dollars in damage and killing a total about about 150 people.

This is a political issue, because the state leadership has not dealt with climate change.

Remember that private “state guard” that De Santis wanted? Tampa Bay Times: Veterans quit DeSantis’ Florida State Guard over militialike training.

Over 30 days in June, teenagers out of high school and retired military veterans came to Camp Blanding, the National Guard base near Jacksonville.

Many were told they would volunteer for a revived State Guard with a nonmilitary mission: help Floridians in times of need or disaster.

Instead, the state’s National Guard trained the volunteers for combat. Khakis and polos were replaced by camouflaged uniforms. Volunteers assured they could keep their facial hair were ordered to shave. And they were drilled onhow to rappel with ropes, navigate through the woods and respond to incidentsunder military command.

When DeSantis announced in 2021 that he wanted to revive the long-dormant State Guard, he vowed it would help Floridians during emergencies. But in the year since its launch, key personnel and a defined mission remain elusive. The state is looking for the program’s third leader in eight months. According to records reviewed by the Times/Heraldand interviews with program volunteers, a number of recruits quit after the first training class last month because they feared it was becoming too militaristic.

Weeks into that inaugural June training, one volunteer, a disabled retired Marine Corps captain, called the local sheriff’s office to report he was battered by Florida National Guard instructors when they forcibly shoved him into a van after he questioned the program and its leadership.

DeSantis’ office referred questions to Maj. Gen. John D. Haas, Florida’s adjutant general overseeing the Florida National Guard.

In a statement, Haassaid the State Guard was a “military organization” that will be used not just for emergencies but for “aiding law enforcement with riots and illegal immigration.”

Now that is creepy, but not surprising from DeSantis.

This is an opinion piece by Jennifer Rubin at The Washington Post: Florida might pay for MAGA cruelty and know-nothingism.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and his obedient Republican legislature have made bullying and attacking the vulnerable the hallmarks of their governance. Whether it is “don’t say gay” legislation (and retribution against Disney for supporting inclusion), denying medical care to transgender youths, muzzling teachers and professors who address systemic racism in the United States, firing a county prosecutor who dared object to DeSantis’s refusal to protect women’s bodily autonomy, or shipping unwary immigrants to other states, Florida has become not where “woke” died but rather where empathy, decency and kindness go to die.

DeSantis’s stunts frequently fail in court and cost taxpayers money. But his MAGA war on diversity and tolerance might be negatively impacting the state in other ways.

DeSantis likes to brag that more people are moving to Florida than ever. Not so fast. “An estimated 674,740 people reported that their permanent address changed from Florida to another state in 2021. That’s more than any other state, including New York or California, the two states that have received the most attention for outbound migration during the pandemic,” according to the American Community Survey released in June tracking state-by-state migration.

Moreover, Florida already is one of the states with the oldest average populations, and the MAGA culture wars risk alienating young people and the diverse workforce the state needs. In February, USA Today reported, “Florida may be the most moved to state in the country, but not when it comes to Gen Z. They are the only generation that chose to exit Florida, with an outflux of 8,000 young adults, while every other generation moved in.”

Rubin writes that DeSantis policies are also driving a “brain drain” in the state’s universities, and more businesses who are avoiding holding conventions in Florida because of the “political climate.”

More Stories to Check Out, Links Only:

The New York Times: Trump Employee Warned of Charges in Classified Documents Case.

CNN: Trump asks courts to throw out evidence and disqualify DA in Georgia probe of 2020 election aftermath.

The Washington Post: Pence raises less than $1.2 million, leaving questions about debate eligibility.

The Washington Post: 5th Circuit pauses order restricting Biden administration’s tech contacts.

Amanda Marcotte at Salon: GOP war on the FBI: Republican attacks on Chris Wray echo ideology of OKC bomber Timothy McVeigh.

Tim Carman at The Washington Post: A gay couple ran a rural restaurant in peace. Then new neighbors arrived.

I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend, and hug your pets if you are fortunate enough to have them.