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Rex Heuermann, infamously known as the Gilgo Beach serial killer, has confessed to the murders of eight women, bringing a long-awaited sense of closure to the victims’ families.
The 62-year-old former architect admitted guilt to seven murder charges and acknowledged his role in the death of an eighth victim, Karen Vergata, during a heavily attended court session in Suffolk County on April 8. This information was confirmed by a statement from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
As part of an agreement with the prosecutors, Heuermann will not face charges relating to the 1996 death of Vergata.
In the courtroom, Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and his daughter, Victoria Heuermann, observed the proceedings from the back row. According to NBC News, Heuermann recounted the grisly details of the murders, committed over a decade, often when his family was away.
Clad in a dark suit with a white shirt and blue tie, Heuermann addressed the court and affirmed that pleading guilty was in his best interest. He admitted to strangling each victim as Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney read their names, reported by The New York Times.
The 62-year-old admitted to hiring the women as escorts, per the news outlet, using burner phones to make contact and then killing them and then dumping the bodies along Ocean Parkway.
Who Were the Victims of the Gilgo Beach Serial Killer?
For years, his crimes remained undetected until escort Shannan Gilbert placed a frantic call to 911 in May of 2010 to ask for help. During the search for Gilbert—who was never linked to Heuermann’s case—investigators stumbled on the bodies of four women in Gilgo Beach, all of whom had been wrapped in burlap.
As the investigation into the Long Island murders went on, the remains of as many as 16 people were recovered, according to The New York Times; however, investigators don’t believe that the same person was responsible for all the deaths.
Heuermann was first charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello in July 2023 after he was arrested outside his office in Manhattan. Police linked him to the crime, The New York Post reported at the time, through DNA obtained from a discarded pizza crust.
Months later, prosecutors also charged him in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, a sex worker and mother of two who vanished in 2007.
As the investigation continued, prosecutors added additional murder charges for the deaths of Valerie Mack, Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor. Costilla—Heuermann’s the earliest known victim—was killed in 1993. Her body was found that same year by a group of hunters.
“At the time of her death,” prosecutors said, “Ms. Costilla was just 28 years old and survived by her son, who was approximately five years old.”
Along with the DNA evidence, Heuermann was also linked to the crimes through his Chevrolet Avalanche—which was spotted by a witness in Costello’s case—and cell phone records.
Rex Heuermann to be Sentenced in June
Heuermann’s family spoke out in 2025 about his shocking arrest in the Peacock docuseries The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets. Victoria, who worked alongside her father at his architecture firm, told producers she “never would have imagined” that her dad was a killer.
Although she expressed conflicting emotions throughout the three-part series—which brought viewers inside Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home and gave an intimate look at his family life—she ultimately told producers she believed her dad was “most likely the Gilgo Beach killer,” according to title card at the end of the final episode.
Heuermann is slated to be sentenced for the crimes on June 17. According to prosecutors, he is expected to be sentenced to three consecutive sentences of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole for killing Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello, along with sentences of 100 years to life for the deaths of Brainard-Barnes, Taylor, Costilla and Mack.