Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann has been convicted of seven murders in New York
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RIVERHEAD, NY — Rex Heuermann, the Long Island serial killer who pleaded guilty to murdering eight women between 1993 and 2010, will spend the rest of his life in prison.
Judge Timothy Mazzei on Wednesday imposed three consecutive life sentences without parole followed by four consecutive 25-life sentences – the maximum possible under New York law.
Heuermann, 62, spoke in court before he was sentenced.
“I’m guilty,” he said. “The words I’m about to say mean nothing.”
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Rex Heuermann pleads guilty in court to killing eight women during a 17-year spree on Long Island. (James Carbone/Newsday)
One of the victims’ families told him to speak. Mazzei interjected: “I know you’re sorry that you got caught. I think you’re sorry for what you did to your wife and your children…Are you a little sorry for what you did to these eight women?”
Heuermann nodded yes and said he was.
“You’re a disgusting and despicable little man, if you’re a man,” Mazzei said. “And he is a coward.”
After giving him the maximum sentence, Mazzei told court staff to “get him out of here.”
Heuermann pleaded guilty to seven counts of murder on April 8 and pleaded guilty to an eighth that has not yet been charged.
The victims were found hiding in various locations on Long Island, from the Hamptons to Gilgo Beach. Some were mutilated. They were all strangled.
They were identified as Sandra Costilla, 28, found in the North Sea; Karen Vergata, 34, was found on Fire Island near Tobay Beach; Valerie Mack, 24, was found at Manorville and Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach; Jessica Taylor, 20, was found at Manorville and Ocean Parkway – along with the so-called Gilgo Four, all found east of Gilgo Beach on the north side of Ocean Parkway. They were Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
Gilgo Beach, about 45 miles east of New York City, where Heuermann works, and about 15 miles from his former home in Massapequa Park.
Concerns of a serial killer first surfaced in late 2010 after the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, a 23-year-old woman who made panicked calls to 911 from the Oak Beach community before disappearing into the surrounding waters.
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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. (Images: Suffolk County Police Department, Background: Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
During the police search, they found 10 other victims in the area before they found him in December 2011.
While his death was ruled an accident, evidence surrounding other victims eventually led police to Heuermann 12 years later.
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It would be ten years before the police closed in on Heuermann as a suspect. They first accused him of killing three of the Gilgo Four. When he pleaded guilty in April, he was charged with seven counts of murder.
Rex Heuermann is led into the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Complex in Riverhead, NY, Friday, July 14, 2023. (Matt Agudo/Splash for Fox News Digital)
Authorities found shocking evidence along the way. Prosecutors say he transferred the DNA from his ex-wife and daughter to some of the victims. Detectives found a computer file where Heuermann kept notes on how to get away with crime, including his murder outfits, the locations of traffic cameras and a reminder to use pegs to hang a tarp, instead of tape.
His family has never been accused of helping with any of the crimes — they were out of town at the time of the murder, according to court documents.
Shannan Gilbert’s remains were found near Oak Beach, NY, on Dec. 13, 2011. He disappeared in May 2010, and began a search that unearthed the Gilgo Beach massacre. (Gilbert Family)
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Three other victims found in the area have not been linked to Heuermann.
Andrew Dykes, a 66-year-old from Florida, has been charged with murdering Tanya Denise Jackson, 27, and their two-year-old daughter, Tatiana Marie Dykes, in 1997.
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There is also an unidentified “Asian Doe” whose remains were found dressed in women’s clothing near Gilgo Beach in 2011 during the search for Gilbert.
He is believed to be of southern Chinese descent and was between 17 and 23 at the time of his death, which investigators estimate was in April 2006 or earlier.
