Rex Heuermann pleads responsible in courtroom on Wednesday in Riverhead, New York.
Photograph: James Carbone/Getty Pictures
Rex Heuermann, the suspect within the decades-old Gilgo Seaside murders, has pleaded responsible to the seven killings charged in opposition to him, a marked shift after lengthy sustaining his innocence within the alleged crimes since his arrest practically three years prior. He additionally confessed to an eighth killing of a lady who had not beforehand been related to him.
Throughout a scheduled look in Suffolk County Courtroom on Wednesday morning, 62-year-old Heuermann, a former architect, admitted to the murders of seven girls: Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Amber Lynn Costello, 27; Megan Waterman, 22; Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Sandra Costilla, 28; Jessica Taylor, 20; and Valerie Mack, 24. The Related Press reviews that Heuermann confessed in courtroom to utilizing burner telephones to contact the ladies, strangling all eight of them, even acknowledging that he dismembered a number of the victims earlier than wrapping their our bodies in burlap and dumping them.
Heuermann additionally admitted to his position within the demise of Karen Vergata, a mom of two who went lacking in 1996 and whose stays had been discovered on Hearth Island, west of Gilgo Seaside, per Newsday. He had not been beforehand charged in her killing. Heuermann was set to face trial in September.
As a part of his plea settlement, Heuermann shall be required to cooperate with the FBI, which has additionally been investigating the Gilgo Seaside murders, and can face no extra prosecution past the present prices. Suffolk County district lawyer Ray Tierney is looking for three consecutive life sentences adopted by 4 consecutive sentences of 25 years to life. Heuermann’s sentencing is scheduled for June 17.
In July 2023, Heuermann, a resident of Massapequa Park, was arrested in reference to the deaths of Barthelemy, Costello, and Waterman, all of whom went lacking between 2009 and 2010. He was later charged within the killing of Brainard-Barnes, who disappeared in 2007. In 2010, the stays of the ladies, who turned referred to as the “Gilgo 4,” had been present in shut proximity to one another close to Gilgo Seaside. Heuermann initially pleaded not responsible to the accusations in opposition to him. He maintained that stance as authorities levied extra homicide counts in 2024, implicating him within the deaths of Sandra Costillam, who was killed in 1993; Taylor, who was killed in 2003; and Mack, who was killed in 2000. A lot of the lacking girls had been believed to have been working as intercourse staff on the time of their disappearances.
Within the aftermath of Heuermann’s arrest, authorities carried out searches of his residence and his private units. They found internet searches related to the Gilgo Seaside victims and their murders, a group of violent pornography, and what regulation enforcement known as a “planning doc,” which described potential dump websites and included notes on how one can clear our bodies and evade seize. Investigators had linked Heuermann to the murders by DNA evaluation of hairs left behind on the ladies’s stays. In addition they decided that the timing of the murders lined up with situations when Heuermann’s spouse, Asa Ellerup, and their youngsters weren’t residence.
Ellerup, who was in attendance at Heuermann’s listening to, briefly addressed reporters after the proceedings concluded. “My ideas and prayers are with the victims and their households,” she stated, per NBC Information. “Their loss is immeasurable, and the main focus needs to be on them at the moment.”
