Missing SC woman could be connected to suspected NY serial killer

SUMTER COUNTY, S.C. — A missing South Carolina woman may be connected to the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer, investigators said.

Julia Ann Bean was reported missing in Sumter County back on May 31, 2017.

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The sheriff’s office said on Aug. 20 of this year, a person claiming to be her friend told investigators Bean had a possible connection to Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann.

Investigators contacted the FBI and are looking into whether the two ever met. The sheriff’s office said Bean’s daughter remembered seeing someone with her mother who could possibly be Heuermann.

So far, nothing is confirmed.

Channel 9 has been looking into the case and Heuermann’s connections to the Carolinas.

Gilgo Beach Murders Suspect Rex Heuermann Appears In Suffolk County Court For Hearing CENTRAL ISLIP, NEW YORK - AUGUST 1: Rex A. Heuermann appears before Judge Timothy P. Mazzei in Suffolk County Court on August 1, 2023 in Central Islip, New York. Heuermann's arrest comes more than a decade after the disappearance of four women whose bodies were found within a quarter mile of each other wrapped in hunting camouflage burlap along remote Gilgo Beach on Long Island's South Shore. Beside the three women Heuermann is charged with killing, he is a suspect in the fourth, according to public reports citing the Suffolk County district attorney's office. (Photo by James Carbone-Pool/Getty Images) (Pool/Getty Images)

Heuermann, 59, is accused of killing three women, including Amber Costello from Charlotte.

In July, Channel 9 learned Heuermann bought property in Chester County.

Channel 9 was also at the Chester County Sheriff’s Office last month when detectives towed a Chevy Avalanche. Investigators said the vehicle is a key piece of evidence in Costello’s death.

(WATCH PREVIOUS: ‘Gilgo Beach murders’: Truck seized in SC connected to Long Island investigation)