Map: The motel where Maureen Brainard-Barnes was last seen

Last cell phone activity

Brainard-Barnes was picked up outside the Super 8 motel shortly before midnight on July 9th, 2007. Her last cellphone activity occurred near the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge (59th Street Bridge).

Brainard-Barnes' remains

In December 2010, investigators discovered Brainard-Barnes' remains in these bushes off Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach.

By that point, she had been missing for three and a half years.

Her killer had restrained her using three leather belts, one of which had been tied around her legs. One of the belt buckles contained a single strand of female hair that did not belong to the victim.

This hair was later proven to have the same DNA profile as Rex Heuermann's wife, Asa Ellerup. The police believe that the belt buckle picked up Ellerup's hair while it was inside the couple's residence.

Brainard-Barnes was dumped in the same spot as three missing sex workers called Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Lynn Costello. The women are referred to as the "Gilgo Four" because they were all found in close proximity to one another.

Heuermann was charged with the murders of Waterman, Barthelemy, and Costello on July 14th, 2023. However, a further six months passed before he was charged with Brainard-Barnes' death.

This delay was due to the fact that she disappeared two years before the second Gilgo Four victim (Barthelemy in July 2009). By the time the task force locked onto Heuermann as a suspect, many important records had already been deleted.

Brainard-Barnes' apartment

Maureen Brainard-Barnes was born on June 14th, 1982.

At the time of her death, she was living in an apartment at 180 Prospect Street in Norwich, Connecticut.

The 25-year-old was petite, standing at only 4 feet 11 inches.

Before she became an escort, she originally went to New York City with hopes of becoming a model.

She stopped working as an escort for a couple of months before she went missing. However, she decided to start again shortly after receiving an eviction notice.

Three days before her disappearance, she and another sex worker named Sara Karnes traveled to Manhattan by train. Although they were planning on working out of their rooms at the Super 8 motel, they soon learned that their ads on Craigslist had either been suspended or demoted.

Consequently, they were unable to advertise their services.

In an effort to turn the trip into something positive, they decided to hire a photographer and update their escort pictures. They also spent time wandering around the city together.

On July 8th, Karnes returned to Connecticut, while Brainard-Barnes decided to stay behind.

Cellphone data indicates that LISK started calling Brainard-Barnes on July 6th, which was the Friday that she traveled to Manhattan. This means that he may have spotted her ad and initiated contact before it was demoted or suspended.

Considering they had 16 separate interactions over that weekend period, it seems likely that they were haggling over the particulars of an outcall. It is also possible that this outcall was the sole reason that she decided to remain behind by herself while her friend returned home.

In the case of Amber Lynn Costello, the killer offered a sum of money that was markedly higher than the usual rate. Therefore, he may have employed a similar strategy while communicating with Brainard-Barnes.

For obvious reasons, sex workers are often hesitant about doing outcalls with clients they have never met before. However, the promise of a large fee at a time when she was desperate for money may have been enough to convince her to throw caution to the wind.