Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon has come face to face with everyone from mob boss John Gotti to killer gangbangers and cold-blooded cop-killers — but none creep him out like Rex Heuermann.
Toulon, who’s been guarding dangerous inmates for 44 years, is now in charge of keeping tabs on the twisted Long Island serial killer until he gets shipped to state prison in June, and told The Post there’s just something different about the hulking, 6-foot-4 psychopath.
Serial killer Rex Heuermann’s “calculating” stare makes him one of the region’s creepiest inmates. via REUTERS
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon said John Gotti was “polite” when he was an inmate at Rikers Island. Kypros via Getty Images“I have seen so many people,” Toulon said. “When you talk about John Gotti, [cop-killer] Larry Davis, the four people that killed Eddie Burns, [accused subway vigilante] Bernhard Goetz. You know, all these people, [disgraced lawyer] Joel Steinberg, [Preppy Killer] Robert Chambers.
“I was able to look these men in their eyes,” the sheriff said. “And there is just something different about this guy. I feel like he’s very calculating. That is the best word. He’s talking to you but I feel like he’s very calculating. He’s sizing you up. Each and every time. Each and every time I walked in there.”
Toulon said Heuermann spends much of his time at the Suffolk County jail in his cell.
He said the Massapequa Park killer is kept in “voluntary isolation” to prevent other inmates from seeking “jailhouse justice” — killing him to make a name for themselves behind bars.
Heuermann, who strangled and dismembered eight sex workers between 1993 and 2010, takes solitary walks around the jailhouse yard and routinely checks out books from the law library at the lockup, and also gets mental health and religious faith visits while in the jail — but nothing more, Toulon said.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon said Rex Heuermann appears to always be “sizing you up.” Brigitte Stelzer for NY Post“I never seen anything like this, where he would sit on his bunk or he would lay on his bunk so calmly,” he said. “You know, sometimes you get some hardcore gang members that want to try and prove that they’re tough. You know, been-there-done-that guys. But definitely I’ve never seen a look like this in my 44 years.”
Toulon started his career in 1982 as a New York City correction officer, and has kept tabs on a who’s who of famous bad boys over the years, including the Gambino “Teflon Don.”
“You know, they’re all polite,” he said. “Gotti was very polite.”
But asked if he was scared of Heuermann, Toulon shot back, “Hell no!
“He’s different, but I’ve had some tough battles and fights on Rikers,” he said. “I don’t think this guy wants to fight a guy. I really don’t. He just likes to abuse women.”
