Where Is Rex Heuermann Now? All About the Suspected Long Island Serial Killer, Accused of Murdering at Least 4 Women (Exclusive)

Rex Heuermann "doesn't congregate" with other prisoners "because of the crimes he's accused of," Suffolk County Sheriff Dr. Errol D. Toulon Jr. tells PEOPLE

It’s been almost a year since Rex Heuermann’s life went from purported Long Island family man to alleged serial killer.

Today, the former architect sits in a 60-square foot cell with a bunk, toilet, sink, and a plastic mirror at the Riverhead Correctional Facility in Suffolk County where he is awaiting trial on accusations he murdered four women he allegedly met on Craigslist before dumping their bodies along a half-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway in Long Island, N.Y.

Suffolk County Sheriff Dr. Errol D. Toulon Jr. tells PEOPLE the Long Island Serial Killer suspect, 60, has “become more acclimated with jail life,” since arriving at the facility last July.

“For the most part, it just seems like this is a new way of life for him,” Toulon tells PEOPLE. “In the beginning he was a little bit more starry-eyed as to his surroundings. Life has transformed over the last several months. He receives visits, he makes phone calls, and he doesn't congregate with the rest of the population because of the crimes he's accused of.”

“I think his hobbies right now are reading books, reading his discovery, sleeping and watching TV inside of his cell,” says Toulon. "And he's been very compliant. There haven’t been any issues.”

Touten tells PEOPLE that Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup has been visiting him around once a week. “Within the first three or four months [of his incarceration] she did not visit him,” says Toulon. “Maybe in the last two months she started visiting more frequently.”

According to Ellerup's attorney Bob Macedonio, Ellerup, who has filed for divorce and is participating in a multi-part documentary following her over Heuermann’s future trial, still has a "very difficult time believing that the Rex, who she was married to for 27 years, is capable of committing these homicides."

About visiting him weekly, Macedonio says, "A lot of that, I think — and I'm not going to speak for her professionally, psychologically — but a lot of that I think is therapeutic for her and to get whatever kind of grasp on the situation she possibly can. I don't want to use the word closure. We don't know where it's going yet."

Related: Rex Heuermann's Wife Participating in Documentary on Gilgo Beach Killings, Deceased Woman's Sister Reacts

Heuermann was charged in July 2023 with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and Megan Waterman. He was later accused by authorities of murdering Maureen Brainard-Barnes. All four women had worked as online escorts and had been missing between 2007 and 2010.

Heuermann was allegedly linked to the killings through DNA evidence as well as by burner phones used to rendezvous with the victims, as well as by a piece of his hair allegedly found at the bottom of a burlap bag used to wrap Waterman’s body.

He was also traced to a Chevrolet Avalanche that was registered to him and was allegedly seen at the time of Costello's disappearance.

Authorities said investigators also found evidence that Heuermann was allegedly obsessed with the case and searched for articles about the task force that was formed to investigate the killings.

As to his life now, Toulon says that for the most part, Heuermann spends the bulk of his time in his cell, which is monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week by a corrections officer posted nearby.

Heuermann, Toulon says, is separated from the other inmates but “not isolated.”

“One of the things that we're very committed to is to ensure that justice is served in the courts and not in our jails,” Toulon says. “When Mr. Heuermann has to move throughout our facility, we will stop all inmate movement because we don't want someone that may want to bring up their own street credibility or someone that may want to hurt him because they ... may know a sex worker or just do not like people that commit crimes against women and may take it into their own hands.”

Related: Rex Heuermann Allegedly Linked to 2 More Gilgo Beach Victims by Witness Testimony: Lawyer

Heuermann, Toulon says, has not been attacked by an inmate. “The only ones that he will see when he moves from his cell to whatever area he's going to will be corrections staff,” he says. “For his safety, as long as he's in our custody, we will keep the same protocols in place.”

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As far as connecting with the outside world, Heuermann is allowed as many phone calls as he wants depending on how much money he has in his jail account.

“He can make as many phone calls as he has money in his commissary to make those calls,” he says. “We don't notice any unusual activity. He does speak to his attorney and I'm sure he speaks to loved ones. I don't know who he's speaking to, but he is authorized to speak to call people and talk to him.”

Toulon says he doesn’t know who puts money in his commissary.

He is also allowed one hour of exercise in the yard. “For the most part, all he does is walk around the yard,” he says. “He does have that availability to run or do sprints, shoot a basketball, do some pushups, some pull-ups, some dips. But for the most part he just walks around.”

Last week, ABC7 reported that the multi-agency Homicide Task Force that captured Heuermann and began investigating the unsolved murders of others including a mother found along Ocean Parkway on Long Island is expanding and plans to look at other unsolved cold case killings.

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