Who Were Maureen And Melissa Before Rex Heuermann Took Their Lives?
About this episode
The episode explores the lives of Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Melissa Barthelemy before their tragic murders by Rex Heuermann.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was a songwriter. Her sister said she never got to show the world how talented she was. She was twenty-five, a mother of two, facing eviction and fighting for custody when she rode the train from Connecticut to Manhattan in July 2007 because she had run out of options. Her daughter Nicolette was seven. Nicolette would later stand at the indictment hearing and speak publicly about growing up without her mother. Three years after Maureen disappeared, her remains were found in burlap along Ocean Parkway. Melissa Barthelemy graduated from cosmetology school in Buffalo and moved to New York to do hair. She dreamed of owning her own salon. The city was expensive. The salon work was slow. She ended up in a basement apartment in the Bronx, working escort ads that were supposed to be temporary. On July 12, 2009, she told a friend she was going to meet a man. Five weeks of calls followed — from someone using Melissa's phone to terrorize her fifteen-year-old sister Amanda with details no child should ever have to hear. Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty to both murders. He confirmed strangulation in each case. The evidence — burner phones tracing his commute, DNA on…
People in this episode
Host: True Crime Today
Topics covered
- victims' stories
- true crime
- murder investigation
- personal struggles
- family impact
- New York City
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