Long Island architect Rex Heuermann pleads guilty to murdering seven women, admits to killing eighth
Michael R. Sisak And Philip Marcelo
New York: A Long Island architect who led a secret life as a serial killer has pleaded guilty to killing seven women and confessed to killing the eighth in a long string of unsolved crimes known as the Gilgo Beach murders.
Rex Heuermann, 62, made his defense on Wednesday (US time) in a courtroom packed with reporters, police and victims’ relatives; some cried as they detailed their crimes to the court.
He will be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole at a later date.
Heuermann’s guilty plea – three counts of first-degree murder and four of premeditated murder – brings finality to a case that has baffled investigators, agonized victims’ relatives and frustrated the true-crime-obsessed public for years. He also admitted to killing Karen Vergata in 1996, although he was not charged with her death.
Authorities said Heuermann strangled women, many of them sex workers, for 17 years and buried their remains in remote locations, including an isolated coastal road across the bay from where he lived.
The Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force solved the case with the help of clues that included DNA from a discarded pizza crust.
While interest in the case was intense, reporters, investigators and citizens filled the hearing. Reporters and camera operators surrounded Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and their daughter as they entered the building.
“It’s a tough day,” said Ellerup’s attorney, Robert Macedonio. “No one in their life could ever imagine being here in a courthouse, surrounded by the media, with their ex-husband being accused of seven, possibly eight, murders. It’s unimaginable. There’s no way to prepare for that.”
About half of the courtroom seats were blocked off to victims’ family members and law enforcement.
Wearing a black jacket and white button-up shirt, Heuermann gave brief answers when asked by Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney if he understood and accepted the charges to which he pleaded guilty. He never turned to look at the packed courtroom gallery, keeping his gaze fixed directly ahead.
The Gilgo Beach investigation began in earnest in 2010 after police found numerous human remains on a remote beach highway on Long Island’s South Shore, launching a search for a potential serial killer that attracted global attention and spawned a Hollywood movie.
Investigators used DNA analysis and other evidence to identify the victims. In some cases, they were able to link them to remains found years earlier elsewhere on Long Island.
The remains of the six victims – Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Megan Waterman – were found in brush along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. The remains of another victim, Sandra Costilla, were found more than 100 miles away in the Hamptons.
Police also identified an eighth woman, Karen Vergata, whose remains were found in 1996 on Fire Island, 232 kilometers to the west, and in 2011 near Gilgo Beach.
But despite attention including a docuseries and 2020 Netflix movie, Lost Girlsthe investigation lasted more than ten years; punctuated by fleeting hints and dashed hopes.
In 2022, six weeks after a new police commissioner created the Gilgo Beach task force, detectives identified Heuermann as a suspect by using a vehicle registration database to tie him to a pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when one of the victims went missing in 2010.
Heuermann lived for decades in Massapequa Park, about a 25-minute drive from the gorge spanning South Oyster Bay to the sandy area where the women’s remains were found. Some of the victims were believed to have disappeared from that community, and their cellphones were found to be sending signals to towers in the area, officials said.
After the truck was found, the grand jury authorized the issuance of more than 300 subpoenas and search warrants, allowing the task force to delve deeper into Heuermann’s life.
Detectives collected billing records for burner phones he allegedly used to arrange meetings with the victims, retested DNA found on the bodies, and combed Heuermann’s internet search history, which showed he had viewed violent torture pornography and showed a keen interest in the Gilgo Beach murders and the renewed investigation. Investigators said cell phone data showed Heuermann was in contact with some of the victims just before he disappeared.
To obtain Heuermann’s DNA, a task force surveillance team followed him around Manhattan, where he worked, and watched him throw the remains of his lunch (a partially eaten box of pizza crusts) into a sidewalk trash can.
Investigators rushed in, took the box, and sent it to the crime lab; where DNA from the shell matched male hair found on the sack used to restrain one of the victims. He was arrested in July 2023.
After Heuermann’s arrest, detectives searched his yard and home for more than 12 days, where they found a basement containing 279 guns. Investigators said they found what they described as a “blueprint” for the murders on his computer, including a series of checklists with reminders to limit noise, clean bodies and destroy evidence.
Last year, a judge rejected Heuermann’s bid to exclude DNA evidence obtained through advanced techniques that prosecutors said proved he was the killer.
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