The Gilgo Beach serial killings were a series of murders on Long Island, New York, between 1993 and 2010. The case gained national attention in late 2010 and 2011, when police searching for a missing woman, Shannan Gilbert, discovered the remains of ten victims along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach and in nearby areas of Suffolk and Nassau counties. Four of these victims—Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard‑Barnes, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello—were found in December 2010 in close proximity and became known as the "Gilgo Four". Six additional sets of remains were located in March and April 2011, several of which were later connected to earlier unsolved cases.
Gilbert's disappearance in May 2010 prompted the initial search, though her cause of death remains disputed and is not conclusively linked to the other victims. Between 2023 and 2024, Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan architectural consultant and resident of Massapequa Park, was charged with seven of the murders; those of the Gilgo Four as well as the killings of Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, and Jessica Taylor. In April 2026, Heuermann pleaded guilty to seven murders and admitted to an eighth, that of Karen Vergata. In June 2026, Heuermann was sentenced to life in prison without parole. He is currently incarcerated at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville, New York.
Perpetrator
Background Rex Andrew Heuermann was born on September 13, 1963, in Massapequa Park, New York, a village on the South Shore of Long Island, to Theodore and Dolores Heuermann. Childhood acquaintances of Heuermann recalled him as being a "momma's boy" who was extremely close to his mother, whom they characterized as controlling. His father, a former Merrick resident, World War II veteran and former second lieutenant in the United States Air Force, died in 1975, when Heuermann was twelve years old. Heuermann purchased his childhood home from his mother in 1994 for $170,000 and continued living in the residence until his arrest in 2023.Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann was ‘momma’s boy’: sources. Matthew Sedacca and Dean Balsamini. New York Post. 22 July 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2026. Neighbors commented on the house's increasingly dilapidated appearance during the intervening years, in comparison to more upscale surrounding homes.Can the Gilgo Beach Suspect's House Become a 'Nice Starter Home'? Corey Kilgannon. The New York Times. 23 November 2024. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
Heuermann graduated in 1981 from Berner High School in Massapequa Park, where another member of his senior class was actor William Baldwin.Billy Baldwin says Gilgo Beach murders suspect was his high school classmate: "Mind-boggling". Li Cohen. CBS News. 14 July 2023. Retrieved 10 April 2026. He studied architecture at the New York Institute of Technology and, by 1987, was working for an architectural firm in Manhattan.
Heuermann married his first wife on September 29, 1990, in New Brunswick, New Jersey; the marriage ended in divorce in 1994. He married his second wife, Asa Ellerup, in April 1996 and lived with her and their two children prior to his arrest; Ellerup filed for divorce in 2023.
Investigation Authorities began to consider Heuermann a suspect in March 2022 after determining that a dark green first‑generation Chevrolet Avalanche registered in his name matched a vehicle described by a witness in one of the killings.
Investigators stated that Heuermann's cellphone records showed contact with three of the four victims, and an email account linked to him had been used to search for information about the investigation. Court records also indicated that he had searched online for "sadistic materials, child pornography, [and] images of the victims and their relatives".
DNA testing showed a potential match between DNA recovered from a discarded pizza crust and DNA found on hair collected from burlap used to wrap one of the victims. A potential match to Heuermann's wife was also identified, when comparing hair found on or near three victims to samples taken from bottles recovered from the trash outside the Heuermann residence. Investigators stated that Heuermann's wife and children were out of state during each of the periods when the killings are believed to have occurred.
Charges On July 13, 2023, Heuermann was arrested and charged with three counts of first‑degree murder and three counts of second‑degree murder in connection with the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy (24, killed 2009), Megan Waterman (22, killed 2010), and Amber Costello (27, killed 2010).
In January 2024, Heuermann was charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard‑Barnes, 25, who disappeared in 2007.
On June 6, 2024, Heuermann was arraigned and charged with the murders of Jessica Taylor (20, killed 2003) and Sandra Costilla (28, killed 1993). Costilla's murder had not previously been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killings.Who Are Sandra Costilla And Jessica Taylor? Gilgo Beach Victims Revealed, Newsweek, Monica Sager, June 6, 2024. Retrieved June 6, 2024. This development extended the timeline of the case back to the early 1990s, much earlier than previously believed by investigators.
Plea and court proceedings On April 8, 2026, Heuermann pleaded guilty to the seven murders with which he had been charged (Melissa Barthelemy, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and Sandra Costilla) and admitted to committing an eighth murder: that of Karen Vergata. On June 17, 2026, Heuermann was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Heuermann was not charged with the disappearance and death of Shannan Gilbert, whose search by investigators led to the discovery of the remains of the Gilgo Beach homicide victims.
Victims Sandra Costilla Sandra Costilla was a 28-year-old woman from Trinidad and Tobago who was killed on November 19 or 20 in 1993. In December 2024, 31 years after her death, Heuermann was charged with her murder. DNA from hairs found on her body matched Heuermann's.
Costilla was living in New York City at the time of her disappearance. Her body was discovered in November 1993 by hunters in a wooded area in North Sea, Long Island, approximately northeast of Gilgo Beach. She is the earliest known victim included in the murder charges against Heuermann, suggesting that he allegedly began killing in the 1990s or earlier and that he disposed of bodies in locations beyond the Gilgo Beach area.
The Gilgo Four: victims discovered in December 2010 Maureen Brainard-Barnes Maureen Brainard-Barnes of Norwich, Connecticut, was 25 when she disappeared. She was last seen on July 9, 2007, saying she planned "to spend the day in New York City." She was not seen again., Norwichbulletin.com; retrieved April 27, 2011. Brainard-Barnes worked as a seasonal telemarketer and turned to sex work when unable to find other employment. A mother of two, she advertised as a sex worker on Craigslist to pay her mortgage. She had been out of the sex industry for seven months but returned after receiving an eviction notice. Her body was found in December 2010. She had been restrained with three leather belts, and DNA found on one of the belts matched the wife of Heuermann.
Shortly after her disappearance, her friend Sara Karnes received a call from a man using a blocked number. He claimed he had seen Brainard-Barnes and that she was alive and staying at a "whorehouse in Queens". He refused to identify himself or provide the location. Karnes asked him to call back from an identifiable number so police could act on the information; he said he would but never called again. Karnes reported that the man had no discernible regional accent.
At the time she disappeared, Brainard-Barnes was working from a Super 8 motel in Manhattan. On the night of July 9, 2007, she called a friend in Connecticut and said she planned to meet a client outside the motel. Like many of the victims, she was very petite, at and .
Melissa Barthelemy Melissa Barthelemy, 24, of Erie County, New York, went missing on July 12, 2009. She had been living in the Bronx and working as a sex worker through Craigslist. She was known to use the alias "Chloe". On the night she disappeared, she met with a client, deposited $900 in her bank account, and attempted to call an ex‑boyfriend but did not reach him. Beginning one week later and continuing for five weeks, her 15‑year‑old sister received a series of "vulgar, mocking, and insulting" calls from a man—possibly the killer—using Barthelemy's phone.
The calls escalated and culminated in the caller telling her sister that Barthelemy was dead and that he was going to "watch her rot". Police traced some calls to Madison Square Garden, Midtown Manhattan, and Massapequa but were unable to identify the caller. Barthelemy's mother noted that there were "a lot of calls to Manorville" from her daughter's phone around the time she disappeared. Barthelemy was and . Her remains were the first discovered during the search for Shannan Gilbert.
Megan Waterman Megan Waterman, 22, of Scarborough, Maine, went missing on June 6, 2010, after posting escort advertisements on Craigslist. The previous day, she told her boyfriend she was going out and would call him later. At the time, she was staying at a motel in Hauppauge, New York, northeast of Gilgo Beach. Waterman was reported missing on June 8, 2010, after failing to check in on her three‑year‑old daughter, whom she had left with family. Her body was recovered in December 2010.
Waterman was a victim of sex trafficking. Her boyfriend was arrested on sex trafficking charges on April 11, 2012; he is not believed to be connected to her disappearance or death.
Amber Lynn Costello Amber Lynn Costello, 27, of West Babylon, New York, went missing on September 2, 2010, after leaving to meet a stranger who had called her several times and offered $2,500 for her services."Terror on Long Island" Her Newsweek; retrieved April 27, 2011. Her remains were later found on December 13, 2010. Before moving to West Babylon, Costello lived with her second husband in Clearwater, Florida, and worked as a waitress. She had been a strong student but became addicted to drugs as a teenager. She had been sexually assaulted by a neighbor at age six. Costello was and weighed approximately . Her family believed she was in a residential drug rehabilitation center at the time she went missing. They did not immediately report her missing when she stopped responding to messages and calls.
Costello's roommate provided police with a description of the unknown client and the first‑generation Chevrolet Avalanche he was driving. More than a decade later, this information helped lead investigators to Heuermann as a suspect. Born in Charlotte and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, Costello was living in West Babylon with several other heroin users when she disappeared.
Additional six victims discovered in March and April 2011 Four additional sets of remains were discovered on March 29 and April 4, 2011. All were found in another area off the parkway near Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach, within east of the remains located in December 2010. These victims were Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Tanya Jackson, and Jackson's daughter, Tatiana Dykes. Suffolk County Police Department subsequently expanded the search area to the Nassau County border in an effort to locate more victims. Mack was not identified until 2020, and Jackson and Dykes were not identified until 2024.