Rex Heuermann, the man behind the chilling Gilgo Beach murders, has confessed to the killing of eight women, a revelation that brings a sense of closure to a case that has haunted Long Island for over thirty years.
In a Suffolk County courtroom on Wednesday, the imposing figure of Heuermann—a professional architect, husband, and father—admitted to seven murders spanning from 1993, and shockingly, to an eighth for which he had not been formally charged.
With a composed demeanor that belied the gravity of his actions, the 62-year-old calmly responded ‘guilty’ as each charge was read. When questioned about the method he used to kill his victims, he replied succinctly: ‘Strangulation.’
This unexpected plea shift marks the first instance of Heuermann acknowledging his role as the notorious serial killer. It also provides the first official confirmation of how the victims met their tragic ends.
As part of the plea agreement, Heuermann has surrendered his right to appeal and will not face further charges related to the eight murders. He is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on June 17, where he potentially faces up to seven life sentences.
The longevity of his activity, the brutality of the killings and the long-term evasion and taunting of law enforcement cement him as one of the country’s most notorious serial killers.
His victims had all been working as sex workers in the New York City and Long Island area when they suddenly vanished. Their remains – some of them mutilated and dismembered – were found dumped in remote areas of Long Island.
After evading capture for decades – during which time he raised a family in Massapequa Park and ran an architecture firm in the heart of Midtown Manhattan – Heuermann was arrested in July 2023.
The victims clockwise from left: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla
In the latest twist, Rex Heuermann also pleaded guilty to the murder of an eighth victim, Karen Vergata
Heuermann has pleaded guilty to the murders of eight women in a reign of terror dating back to 1993
Heuermann was initially charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who together were known as the ‘Gilgo Four.’
Authorities later linked him to the killings of Sandra Costilla, 28, and Valerie Mack, 24, bringing the total to seven women.
For the past three years, he has maintained his innocence, pleading not guilty and fighting tooth and nail against the charges.
But in a sudden reversal, he changed his plea to guilty and admitted to the murder of an eighth victim, 34-year-old Karen Vergata.
Heuermann’s defense attorney, Michael Brown, said after the hearing that his client decided he wanted to accept responsibility and not proceed to trial, though he did not say why.
But Brown admitted that the evidence against them was overwhelming, saying the state ‘did a great job.’
When asked if Heuermann was sorry, Brown replied: ‘I would hope so.’ Brown said he believes it was a ‘sense of relief’ for Heuermann to plead guilty today and he expects the serial killer will make a statement at his sentencing.
Brown explained that the deal not to bring more prosecutions only includes the eight women, not other potential victims out there yet to be found.
There have been other victims linked to the Gilgo Beach murders but Heuermann claims he has no other victims.
Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and their daughter, Victoria, briefly addressed reporters outside the courthouse following the hearing.
She read a statement that described the ‘immeasurable’ pain her husband caused to his victims’ families. She then turned to her daughter and refused to take questions, asking reporters to respect her family’s privacy.
Bob Macedonio, Asa and Victoria’s lawyer, said that the family were out of town every time the murders took place.
He added that Asa ‘never wanted to believe the man she was married to for 27 years, the father of Victoria, was capable of such heinous acts.’
Earlier, Asa was seen leaning forward in her chair anxiously as her husband of 20 years was led into the courtroom.
As he entered each guilty plea, she clutched the seat in front of her. She and Victoria shared a tender moment holding hands as Heuermann was escorted back out of the court.
Fears of a serial killer first emerged back in 2010 when the remains of the first of 11 bodies were discovered along the remote stretch of Ocean Parkway, close to Gilgo Beach.
The harrowing discovery came during a search for 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert, who had made a chilling 911 call and then disappeared following a visit to a client’s house in nearby Oak Park that May.
That December, Barthelemy’s remains were the first to be found. Within days, Brainard-Barnes, Waterman and Costello were found close by.
By the spring of 2011, 10 victims had been found in the area. The final victim found was Gilbert, who, to this day, investigators maintain died by accident and is not linked to the serial killer case.
Asa Ellerup, the estranged wife of Heuermann, and their daughter Victoria, outside Suffolk County Court this morning ahead of the hearing
The family’s attorney said their lives had been ‘destroyed’ by Heuermann’s actions
Another 13 years would pass before a suspect fell on investigators’ radar, as the case was notoriously hampered by the actions of disgraced, corrupt former Suffolk County Police Commissioner James Burke.
Heuermann was ultimately tied to the serial killings through a witness tip about his pickup truck as well as damning cellphone evidence.
The serial killer had used a trove of different burner phones to contact some of the victims, with location data placing the user near both Heuermann’s family home in Massapequa Park and his office in Midtown Manhattan.
With a suspect in sight, investigators then obtained crucial DNA evidence from a discarded pizza crust, which proved Heuermann to be the source of a hair found on Waterman’s body.
It later emerged that hairs belonging to his wife, Asa Ellerup, daughter Victoria Heuermann and another individual close to him had been found on six of the seven victims for which he was charged.
Despite this DNA evidence, none of these individuals is believed to be connected to Heuermann’s crimes.
Suffolk County DA Tierney has previously revealed that Ellerup, the couple’s daughter Victoria and Ellerup’s son Christopher Sheridan – who Heuermann raised as his own – were all out of town on vacation at the time of the murders.
Investigators now believe that Heuermann would stay home during family vacations and use that time to commit his crimes.
It is believed that he held his victims inside the basement of the family home – a place where he had spent his childhood before choosing to also raise his own children there – where they were tortured, murdered and, in some cases, dismembered.
The family together before Heuermann’s arrest on suspicion of being a serial killer
Investigators search Heuermann’s home in July 2023, days after his arrest
A disturbing ‘planning document’, found on a hard drive during a search, revealed what prosecutors described as his blueprint for selecting, killing and disposing of victims.
The document included sections titled ‘body prep’ detailing how to clean and dismember bodies and remove tattoos.
Other chilling evidence also emerged, including his sick porn searches for ‘autopsy photos of female,’ ‘tied up fat girl porn,’ ‘skinny white teen crying porn’ and ‘stories of rape audio’ – as well as his online obsession with the Gilgo Beach serial killer case.
Based on Heuermann’s sudden change in plea, his earliest known victim is now believed to be Costilla, a Trinidad and Tobago native living in Queens when she vanished in 1993.
Her body was found days later in a wooded area in North Sea, bearing sharp force injuries to her face and body.
For years, her murder was not believed to be connected to the Gilgo Beach case and another serial killer, John Bittrolf, was eyed as a suspect, until advanced DNA testing recently identified a hair on her body as belonging to Heuermann.
Meanwhile, the killings continued.
Police search a marsh for the remains of Shannan Gilbert in Oak Beach in December 2011 after the remains of several victims were found in the area
Suffolk County Police conduct a search on December 14, 2010, along Gilgo Beach, where four bodies were found
Three years later, in February 1996, Mack – long known as ‘Fire Island Jane Doe’ – was last seen alive in Manhattan while working as an escort.
That April, her dismembered legs were found wrapped in plastic on Fire Island’s Blue Point Beach. In April 2011, her skull was found off Ocean Parkway.
It would take another 12 years before she was finally identified through investigative genetic genealogy.
Mack, a mother-of-one, was then last seen alive in Philadelphia in 2000.
Her dismembered remains were found in two separate locations – Manorville in 2000 and Ocean Parkway in 2011.
Like Vergata, her family only learned she had been murdered years later when she was identified in 2020.
Jessica Taylor’s partial remains were also found close to Mack in both Manorville and Ocean Parkway.
The 20-year-old from Poughkeepsie had been last seen in July 2003 at the Port Authority in New York – a short walk from Heuermann’s office.
Her tattoo had been disfigured, as though to prevent identification – like the ‘planning document’ detailed.
Investigators say these earlier killings predate what became known as the ‘Gilgo Four’ – the cluster of murders that first drew national attention.
The first of those victims to disappear was 25-year-old Brainard-Barnes, who went to meet a client in July 2007 and never returned.
Heuermann had bound her body with three leather belts, one of which contained his wife’s DNA.
Almost exactly two years later – while his family was away on vacation – 24-year-old Barthelemy vanished after going to meet a client.
As her loved ones searched for her, the killer used her phone to make chilling, taunting calls, mocking her family and bragging about the murder.
Heuermann in selfies that were submitted as evidence in the case
Discarded pizza crust was seized for DNA testing. Such evidence later linked Heuermann to the Gilgo Beach case
Map shows the location of Heuermann’s home compared to Gilgo Beach where the remains of several victims were found
The following summer, in June 2010, Waterman was last seen alive leaving a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge to meet a client.
The last known victim was Costello, who left her home to meet a client in September 2010.
Her roommate told police the client was ‘ogre-like’ and driving a distinctive green Chevy Avalanche – the car Heuermann drove at the time.
Three months later, the serial killer’s graveyard was discovered.
The victims’ family members, who have waited years for answers and justice in the case, learned two weeks ago that their loved ones’ killer was changing his plea to guilty, Newsday first reported.
Since the news broke, Mack’s son has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Heuermann, Ellerup and Victoria – paving the way for further potential civil action against the serial killer.
Since his arrest, Heuermann has been held in isolation inside Suffolk County Jail.
Now, he faces life in prison when he is sentenced in the coming weeks.
