Gilgo Beach serial killer pleads guilty to killing 8 women, prosecutors say

Rex Heuermann, the Long Island architect accused of killing seven women and hiding their remains in remote stretches of Suffolk County, pleaded guilty Wednesday to seven murders and admitted to killing an eighth woman, bringing to a close one of the most chilling serial murder cases in New York history.

Heuermann, 62, had previously pleaded not guilty to charges that he murdered several women, many of them sex workers, and buried their remains near Gilgo Beach on the island’s South Shore over a period of nearly two decades.

In total, Heuermann pleaded guilty to three counts of murder in the first degree and four counts of murder in the second degree, according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office. He is expected to receive three sentences of life without the possibility of parole for three of the murders and an additional consecutive sentence of 100 years to life for the four other murders, prosecutors said.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney called the case a “painful scar,” during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. He spent much of his remarks not on Heuermann but on the victims and their families.

“ Ultimately this case is really about these victims and their stories,” he said at one point. “It is not about this defendant.”

He thanked each of the victim’s family by name, acknowledging the years they had spent advocating for their loved ones and pushing for answers.

“While we in law enforcement, as well as our Suffolk County citizens, mourn the loss of these victims, we are also grateful to them and to their families,” he said. “Because without them this defendant would’ve never been brought to justice and would still be walking amongst us.”

Heuermann’s arrest came after more than a decade of investigative dead ends. In December 2010, a Suffolk County police officer and his K9 partner found human remains near the beach during a routine training exercise. Soon after, authorities found three more sets of human remains. But investigators struggled for years to identify a suspect, leaving victims’ families without answers.

Prosecutors announced a breakthrough in the case in summer 2023: Heuermann, a Massapequa Park architect and consultant, had been arrested and indicted in connection with three of the unsolved deaths.

Investigators said they relied on a combination of DNA evidence, cellphone records and materials seized from his home and computer to build the case against him.

Among the key pieces of evidence: DNA found on multiple victims closely matched that of the suspect’s wife and daughter, authorities said. Prosecutors also said they found a document on Heuermann’s laptop that contained notes about the killings, dumpsites and preferred victim type. Investigators also used a discarded pizza box to match Heuermann’s DNA to the killings, according to prosecutors.

In the years following his arrest, the death count connected to the investigation continued to rise — including on Wednesday, when Heuermann acknowledged an eighth victim. The DA’s office said Heuermann admitted to the April 1996 murder of Karen Vergata. She was 34 at the time and left behind two sons, according to authorities.

The case has been the subject of numerous documentaries and podcasts, and Netflix and Lifetime productions.

The eight victims are Vergata, Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack. All except Vergata are believed to have been in their 20s at the time of their deaths.

Danielle Coysh, one of Heuermann’s attorneys, said it was the defendant’s choice to plead guilty.

“Rex has chosen to plead guilty and accept the consequences of his actions in order to bring this matter to an end for all concerned,” she said in a statement. “As his attorneys, we were and remain ready to try this case. We believe there are significant issues, some limited to this case and some with broader impact, that would be properly addressed at the trial.”

This story has been updated to include comment from attorneys on both sides of the case.