Rex Heuermann, a 60-year-old architect charged with killing four women on the South Shore of Long Island, was charged Thursday with killing two more women—one of whom was found near Gilgo Beach and one who was found in the Hamptons—marking the latest victims in an alleged killing spree that seemingly spanned decades.
Rex Heuermann, already the suspect in at least four killings in the Gilgo Beach area, was charged ... [+]
The remains of Sandra Costilla are found in the Hamptons, years before a string of bodies were found in the Gilgo Beach area—Heuermann was charged Thursday with her murder, making her the earliest known victim in what prosecutors now suggest was decades of killings.
Police search for Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker who disappeared after fleeing a client while fearing and being scared for her life, ABC News reported.
The search for Gilbert leads to the remains of Melissa Barthelemy (missing since July 2009), Maureen Brainard-Barnes (missing since 2007), Megan Waterman (missing since June 2010) and Amber Costello (missing since September 2010) all within a quarter-mile of each other in Gilgo Beach, according to multiple reports.
Police find partial skeletal remains of Jessica Taylor, a sex worker—whose remains had also been found in 2003—near where the other four bodies were found.
Police find three more sets of remains—belonging to a sex worker, a toddler and a man—near Ocean Parkway while looking for Gilbert, the Long Island Press reported.
About one week after the other three remains were found, police find two more sets of remains about seven miles from Gilgo Beach; multiple reports said one was identified as the mother of the toddler and one was an unidentified woman.
Police locate Gilbert’s remains and her death was ruled an accidental drowning.
Police identify one of the previously unknown women whose remains were found near a toddler’s remains as Valerie Mack, a 24-year-old who had disappeared in 2000 while working as an escort in Philadelphia, NBC News reported.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's office launches the Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force to focus on the murders of the 10 victims found in the area while looking for Gilbert, the Long Island Press reported.
Heuermann is first identified as a suspect in some of the killings after he was linked to the type of car a witness to one disappearance had described seeing, and cell phone and billing records linked him to some locations, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said after Heuermann was arrested.
Heuermann is arrested, indicted and pleads not guilty to the murders of three women whose bodies were found near Gilgo Beach between 2010 and 2011.
One of the unidentified women who was found between 2010 and 2011 is identified as Karen Vergata, a 34-year-old who went missing in 1996.
Heuermann is charged with, and pleads not guilty to, the 2007 killing of Brainard-Barnes after DNA evidence connected him to the crime.
Heuermann is charged with the killings of two more women: Taylor, whose remains were found in 2011 and 2003, and Costilla, whose remains were found in the Hamptons in 1993 and who had not previously been connected to Heuermann, The New York Times reported.
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Heuermann was indicted on the two additional murders Thursday. The New York Times reported the new charges followed a “flurry of activity” in the case, including a canine search around Manorville, where some remains were found, and another search of Heuermann’s home. Prosecutors also alleged Thursday that Heuermann kept a “blueprint” on his computer—outlining things like the “body prep” checklist, remembering to “have story set” and “get sleep before hunt”—of how to commit his crimes, the Associated Press reported.
The Gilgo Beach murders, known as the “Gilgo Four,” were unsolved for years before the Suffolk County DA launched its task force. In the investigation, police found hairs from a male on burlap sacks but said the DNA was too degraded to get a positive match. But, as DNA technology advanced, investigators were able to tie Heuermann to the hairs and used evidence to connect him to the killings. Shortly after he was charged with the first four murders, prosecutors turned over “a massive amount of material,” including 2,500 pages of documents, autopsy reports, photos, video footage taken at the suspect’s home and hundreds of hours of surveillance footage. Heuermann has remained largely silent while in court and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.