It sounds like one of the victims travelled with a Bible, and police are still looking for it.
So Amber Costello was not involved in a rip-off scam when her roommate interrupted her appointment with the suspect. Thank you for the clarification. Her roommate returned home to find the client threatening Amber.
"On that night, Schaller said he came home to find the stranger threatening Costello, an occasional sex worker, who had locked herself in the bathroom. The two men came to blows, with the hulking intruder eventually leaving in the truck.
Prosecutors say Costello was last seen alive on Sept. 2, 2010, as she left her home to meet that same client. A witness saw a dark-colored truck drive by the house again shortly after she left."
APNews
In the winter of 2010, shortly after police discovered the remains of his roommate and three other women buried on a remote stretch of Long Island shoreline, Dave Schaller provided detectives with a description of the person he believed to be the killer.
More crucially, Schaller told them about his truck.
The man they were looking for was a towering, Frankenstein-like figure with an “empty gaze” who drove a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche, Schaller recalled telling investigators. The man’s size stuck out, as did his unusual pick-up truck, which he’d used to flee the house Schaller shared with Amber Costello.
On that night, Schaller said he came home to find the stranger threatening Costello, an occasional sex worker, who had locked herself in the bathroom. The two men came to blows, with the hulking intruder eventually leaving in the truck.
Prosecutors say Costello was last seen alive on Sept. 2, 2010, as she left her home to meet that same client. A witness saw a dark-colored truck drive by the house again shortly after she left.
“When they told me she was dead, he was the first person who jumped in my head,” Schaller told The Associated Press. “I’ve been picturing his face for 13 years.”
NEW YORK (AP) — In the winter of 2010, shortly after police discovered the remains of his roommate and three other women buried on a remote stretch of Long Island shoreline, Dave Schaller provided …
www.krqe.com
Interesting, because in the early days, I pretty clearly recall DS saying that the night Amber disappeared she walked away from the house and he never saw who picked her up.
Anyone else recall that ?
ETA : I'll try to find the link.
Starts at the 2:51 mark
In terms of Amber Costello's case, I've given up trying to make sense of it until the actual trial or if RH pleads guilty, like
Dennis Raider or
Gary Ridgway
Basically I'm waiting until everyone is under oath at a trial & there's evidence to clarify exactly what happened leading up to her disappearance
The bail application, which I'll quote below, states that there was an actual ruse the night before Amber Costello disappeared.
Right now I'll go by the bail application, not that it can't be wrong, but it is a court document in a very high-profile case that I think is now being handled by a proper taskforce.
The problem for me about the Amber Costello case is that over the years people who were around her before she disappeared seemed to give conflicting info to the media. One of the most heartbreaking things I read was that she was not even reported missing. You can read it here, old article from 2011:
A Serial Killer Terrorizes Long Island
From the bail application, pages 7- 8:
Read Rex Heuermann's redacted and denied bail application due to ‘extreme depravity'
"
The Disappearance and Murder of Amber Costello
Amber Costello was last seen alive on September 2, 2010, leaving her residence at 1112 America Avenue in West Babylon during the late evening hours. At that time, she was believed to be working as a sex worker. On September 1, 2010, the day prior to the disappearance of Amber Costello, Ms. Costello’s cellphone was contacted by a burner cellphone. On September 1, 2010, this burner cellphone had communications with the Costello Phone at approximately 11:33 p.m. and 11:34 p.m. During those communications, the burner cellphone connected to cell site towers in West Amityville and Massapequa Park. Thereafter, the burner cellphone traveled to West Babylon, in proximity to the residence of Amber Costello, and had contact with the Costello Phone at approximately 12:05 a.m. on September 2, 2010.
According to witnesses, around the time of these communications between the burner cellphone and the Costello Phone on September 1-2, 2010, a prostitution client showed up at Ms. Costello’s residence located in West Babylon, New York. After the client entered the home, a ruse was executed on the client whereby a person pretended to be the outraged boyfriend of Amber Costello and the client left from the residence, while Amber Costello retained the money the client had brought to pay for her services. Based upon interviews, that client was described as a large, white male, approximately 6’4’ to 6’6” in height, in his mid-forties, with “dark bushy hair,” and “big oval style 1970’s type eyeglasses.”2 A witness described him to police as appearing like an “ogre.” Furthermore, a witness noticed a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche parked in the driveway of the residence. According to the witness, following the ruse, this client said he was “just her friend,” “tell her I’ll give her a call,” and walked out the front door. Thereafter, at approximately 1:18 a.m., on September 2, after the ruse had been perpetrated, the burner cellphone sent a text message to the Costello Phone, which stated, “That was not nice so do i [sic] credit for next time.” Phone records show that the burner phone was located in Massapequa Park, within two minutes of this text message being sent.
According to a witness, later the next day on September 2, 2010, Ms. Costello was again contacted by the same client that was in the house the night before with the Avalanche. Further, “Amber told us that he wanted to see her again, but he didn’t want to come back to the house because of her boyfriend.”
Thereafter on September 2, 2010, at approximately 9:32 p.m., the same burner cellphone from the previous evening again communicated with the Costello Phone. During this communication, the burner cellphone used a cell site location in Midtown Manhattan. Following this communication and based upon the cell site records, the burner cellphone traveled to Massapequa Park and had contacts with the Costello Phone at approximately 10:39 p.m. and 11:05 p.m. Cell site records for the burner phone indicate that at approximately 11:17 p.m., the phone traveled to West Babylon in proximity to the residence of Amber Costello. Subsequently, Amber Costello left her own cellphone behind, walked out the front door of the residence, and was seen alive for the last time. Shortly after Ms. Costello left the house, a witness observed a dark-colored truck pass the house, specifically coming from the direction Amber had walked towards."
nypost.com
