Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann sentenced for seven NY murders
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RIVERHEAD, NY – Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann, who admitted to killing eight women between 1993 and 2010, will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Judge Timothy Mazzei sentenced him Wednesday to three consecutive life sentences without parole, followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 to life in prison, the maximum sentence possible under New York law.
Heuermann, 62, spoke in court before being sentenced.
“I am responsible,” he said. “The words I say have no meaning.”
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Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty in court to the murders of eight women during a 17-year murder spree on Long Island. (James Carbone/Newsday)
The families of one of the victims told him to speak up. Mazzei stepped in and said: “I know you’re sorry you got caught. I think you’re sorry for what you did to your wife and children… Are you at least a little sorry for what you did to these eight women?”
Heuermann nodded and said yes.
“If you’re a man, you’re a disgusting and despicable little man,” Mazzei said. “And you’re a coward.”
After giving him the maximum possible sentence, Mazzei told the bailiffs to “get him out of here.”
Heuermann pleaded guilty to seven of the April 8 murders and pleaded not guilty to the eighth.
The victims were found hidden in different parts of Long Island, from the Hamptons to Gilgo Beach. Some were torn apart. They all drowned.
They were identified as 28-year-old Sandra Costilla, found in the North Sea; Karen Vergata, 34, of Fire Island and near Tobay Beach; Valerie Mack, 24, was found in Manorville and on Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach; Jessica Taylor, 20, and the so-called Gilgo Four, found in Manorville and along Ocean Parkway, were found in bushes north of Ocean Parkway, just east of Gilgo Beach. They are Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
Gilgo Beach is about 45 miles east of New York City, where Heuermann worked, and about 25 miles from his former home in Massapequa Park.
Concerns about a serial killer first emerged in late 2010 after 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert, who made a panicked 911 call from the Oak Beach area, disappeared into the surrounding swamp.
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Rex Heuermann’s victims: Sandra Costilla, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Valerie Mack, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor and Karen Vergata. (Attachments: Suffolk County Police Department, Background: Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
While searching for him, police turned up 10 more victims in the area before finding him in December 2011.
Although his death was deemed accidental, evidence about other victims eventually led police to find Heuermann 12 years later.
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It would take more than a decade for police to catch Heuermann as a suspect. They initially accused him of killing three of the Gilgo Four. He was accused of seven murders when he pleaded guilty in April.
Rex Heuermann was taken to the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Complex in Riverhead, NY on Friday, July 14, 2023. (Matt Agudo/Splash for Fox News Digital)
Authorities uncovered damning evidence along the way. Prosecutors alleged that he transferred DNA from his ex-wife and daughter to some of the victims. Detectives recovered a computer file in which Heuermann kept notes on how to get away with crimes, including materials for murder kits, locations of traffic cameras and a reminder to use thumbtacks to hang a cloth instead of tape.
His family is not accused of aiding any crime; They were out of town at the time of each murder, according to court documents.
Shannan Gilbert’s remains were found near Oak Beach, New York, on December 13, 2011. He disappeared in May 2010, prompting a search that uncovered the Gilgo Beach murders. (Gilbert family)
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The other three victims found in the area were not linked to Heuermann.
Florida man Andrew Dykes, 66, is accused of killing 27-year-old Tanya Denise Jackson and their 2-year-old daughter Tatiana Marie Dykes in 1997.
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There is also an unidentified “Asian Doe” whose skeletal remains were found dressed in women’s clothing near Gilgo Beach in 2011 while searching for Gilbert.
He is believed to be of southern Chinese descent and was between 17 and 23 years old at the time of his death; researchers estimate this figure occurred in April 2006 or earlier.
