ACCUSED Long Island Serial Killer Rex Heuermann is an "evil chameleon" who made a fatal mistake when he allegedly disposed of his victims' bodies along Gilgo Beach, a criminal profiler says.

Heuermann, 59, was arrested on July 13 and charged with the murders of three women whose remains were found dumped and wrapped in burlap on Long Island, New York, in late 2010.

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The married architect is expected to soon be charged in the murder of a fourth woman found dead in the same area.

And numerous police departments across the country - including in Las Vegas, South Carolina, and New Jersey - are currently combing back through cold cases to see if Heuermann may have been responsible for other killings.

As those investigations continue, veteran criminal profiler John Kelly told The U.S. Sun that he believes Heuermann was completely blindsided by his arrest and likely believed he'd never get caught.

Kelly said serial killers almost always believe they're smarter than everyone else and Heuermann, like the Ted Bundys and John Wayne Gacys before him, is no exception.

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That false perception of superior intelligence can also often be their undoing, he said.

"We see that with these guys and we see that here as well," said Kelly.

"They always do think they're smarter than everyone else and really that's what gets them tripped up in a crime.

"With Heuermann it was the burlap bags. He was putting these bodies in these camouflage bags to try and hide them, but as he's doing that there's DNA and other things on it, for instance, his wife's hair, which was found on three of the victims, and his hair [which was found on one].

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"And by using those burlap bags, he actually protected that DNA from the environment. And that's one piece that led to his downfall.

"He really outsmarted himself there, because if that hair wasn't in a protected environment, it would've just disintegrated long, long ago.

"With the wind, and the rain, and everything else, that DNA would've been destroyed if not for that bag."

STUNNING BREAKTHROUGH

Until two weeks ago, Heuermann was living a quiet and seemingly unremarkable life in the peaceful enclave of Massapequa Park, in Oyster Bay, Long Island, with his wife and two adult children.

But on July 13, Heuermann was detained by a swarm of officers moments after leaving his midtown Manhattan office at around 8.30pm.

He was charged the following morning with three counts of first and second-degree murder in connection to the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello.

Investigators also believe he may be responsible for the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes and are "confident" of soon filing charges.

Known collectively as the Gilgo Four, all of the women were sex workers in their 20s whose remains were found wrapped in burlap and dumped within a quarter-mile of each other near Gilgo Beach, on Long Island, in late 2010.

Numerous other bodies would be discovered in the same area by April 2011.

It's very hard for me to believe that the Gilgo Four were his last victims because with serial killers, even though they can have cooling-off periods, 13 years is a very long time.

John KellyCriminal Profiler

Within an hour of his arrest, a large police presence descended upon Heuermann's family home to inform his wife and children of the allegations.

Authorities searched the property for 12 days straight, describing the process as "fruitful."

A walk-in vault was discovered in the basement and officers seized 276 guns from the home. It's currently unclear what else was found.

Heuermann first landed on the radar of investigators last year, just weeks after the Suffolk County Sheriff's Office launched a new task force to investigate the Gilgo murders.

He was partly linked to the murders by DNA recovered from a discarded pizza crust that was positively matched to DNA left on the body of Waterman.

Prosecutors said hair belonging to Heuermann's wife was found with the remains of three women. One of his hairs was also found on one victim.

Various calls made from a burner phone - including to one victim's sister - were traced back to his office, home, and a Tinder profile of his operated under a fake name.

Additionally, prosecutors said that Heuermann made a series of strange and incriminating internet searches.

Among the searches listed in the document are: "Why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the Long Island Serial Killer" and "Why hasn't the Long Island Serial Killer been caught."

He also made a series of disturbing searches for child pornography and explicit videos depicting rape, prosecutors said.

'EVIL CHAMELEON'

Kelly said he believes Heuermann is a "sexual sadist" and a narcissist who fits the archetypal mold of a serial killer.

He also called him an "evil chameleon" akin to Ted Bundy, for how adept he was at seemingly leading a complete double life and hiding his alleged violent urges and fantasies from his family.

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"I call it the evil chameleon complex because they are chameleons. I mean, they can come across like they have it all together, they're charming certainly. Rarely friends and family will think they're serial killers or capable of anything like it.

"The house his family lives in - bearing in mind he's an architect and it looks dilapidated and run-down - is interesting, and you can interpret the psychology of that in a lot of ways.

"We know he has a lot of unpaid taxes, his business isn't supposedly doing so well. But he has 200 guns in his basement? That's a lot of money. He has property in Vegas and South Carolina.

"To me, he doesn't care what society thinks of him. So what gives him self-gratification is the guns, owning properties, being on the hunt [for more victims], violent pornos, torture, and murder, that's what matters to him - not what his home looks like.

"He doesn't care what society thinks about him and that's a social personality disorder that pretty much all these guys have: they don't care what you think.

"And with narcissism as well, all that's important is what they want and what's going to make them feel good or give them a high.

"That's all they care about."

MORE VICTIMS 'LIKELY'

Since his arrest two weeks ago, Heuermann has had no visitors in jail.

An attorney for his wife, Asa Ellerup, told The U.S. Sun last week that the family's lives have been turned completely upside down.

Police said when they were informed of the allegations against Heuermann they were shocked, appalled, and incredibly upset.

Ellerup and her two children were out of town when police believe the murders took place.

She filed for divorce from Heuermann less than a week after his arrest.

"Obviously this has been a shocking time for them and a pretty difficult time to comprehend," her attorney, Bob Macedonio, said.

"As with any family, it's extremely upsetting and they're totally shocked and caught off guard."

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Kelly believes the tumult facing Ellerup and her children could worsen yet still, as he believes Heuermann's body count may rise in the coming months as police departments across New York and elsewhere in the country comb back through unsolved murders in search of a link to the Gilgo case.

"This killer, Rex Heuermann, pretty much dots the i's and crosses the t's. Most of the time he's on his game, and I wouldn't put anything past him.

"He's been in Vegas and South Carolina that we know of and I'm sure authorities will be looking closely to see where his travels have taken him lover the last few decades.

"It's very hard for me to believe that the Gilgo Four were his last victims because with serial killers, even though they can have cooling-off periods, 13 years is a very long time.

"They could be right down the street, they could be wrapped in burlap somewhere across the country, but I believe there are more victims out there."

SERIAL KILLER TRAITS

Kelly believes Heuermann may also have other victims predating the Gilgo Four.

This belief stems from the FBI's serial killer profile method which states that serial killers will traditionally start murdering in their early 20s to early 30s.

Heuermann would've been in his mid-forties when the Giglo Four were killed.

It would be incredibly unusual for him to commit serial murder at that age for the first time, and then simply stop killing, Kelly said.

"I don't believe someone just starts in their 40s. That's just not the MO. I have never really seen that.

"Unfortunately, when you do catch a serial killer and you can tie in some victims, but you never have them all. Usually, there are other victims, earlier victims and you have no clue about.

"I believe that could be the case here. He would've started early, especially for someone that has the fantasies he has.

"We can see he has a sexual addiction to a violent kind of porn, so he's been entertaining these fantasies for a long, long time - and at some point, he started to move on them.

"And I'm sure he wasn't waiting until he was in his 40s to move on them."

Rex Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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He will next appear in court on August 1.