Who Is the Long Island Serial Killer? What to Know About Gilgo Beach Killer Suspect Rex Heuermann and His Alleged Victims
The Long Island serial killer (also called the Gilgo Beach killer) may be caught, but the full extent of his alleged crimes remains to be seen.
Rex Heuermann has been arrested and charged with the murders of three women and is the suspect in the murder of a fourth. (Heuermann pleaded not guilty.)
The cases went unsolved for more than a decade, with many pointing to the fact that the Gilgo Beach murder victims were sex workers—making them, tragically, of little importance to law enforcement. But these women were important and are important to the people who loved them—to their mothers, to their children, to their siblings, to their friends—and hopefully, their loved ones will gain some comfort and closure if Heuermann is convicted.
Please be advised that there are highly disturbing and potentially triggering details ahead.
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Did they ever find the Long Island serial killer?
In a word: Possibly.
In July 2023, Long Island-based architect Rex Heuermann was arrested and charged with the slayings of three out of 10 victims of the Gilgo Beach murders, but it's important to remember that Heuermann is innocent until proven guilty and has not yet faced trial in a court of law.
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Who are the victims of the Long Island serial killer?
There are at least 10 murder victims linked to the Long Island serial killer, but authorities have previously expressed doubt that they're all victims of a single murderer. That said, the victims suspected to have been murdered by the Long Island serial killer include:
Karen Vergata, 34, a longtime "Jane Doe" whose partial remains were discovered in April 1996
An unknown woman nicknamed "Peaches," whose partial remains were found in June 1997, and her toddler daughter
Valerie Mack, a 24-year-old escort from Philadelphia last seen in Port Republic, N.J.
Jessica Taylor, 20, an escort working out of New York City
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, a 25-year-old former blackjack dealer and grocery clerk and mother of two from Norwich, Conn., working as an escort, who traveled to New York City for work
Melissa Barthelemy, a 24-year-old sex worker from the Bronx who reportedly dreamed of one day opening her own beauty salon
Megan Waterman, a 22-year-old who traveled to New York City from Maine for sex work to support her young daughter
Amber Lynn Costello, a 27-year-old sex worker from West Babylon, Long Island, N.Y., who struggled with addiction
Another woman, aspiring actress Shannan Gilbert, was determined by investigators to have accidentally drowned, but her family suspects she was murdered as well.
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What is the Lifetime movie about the Long Island serial killer?
A Lifetime movie called The Gilgo Beach Killer recently aired on Sunday, Aug. 6, 2023. It was previously titled The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice.
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Where were Long Island serial killer bodies found?
Vergata's remains were found on Fire Island, while "Peaches'" were discovered in a plastic tub in a state park in West Hempstead, New York, according to the Associated Press. Some of Taylor and Mack's remains were found in the woods in Manorville, N.Y. Barthelemy, Brainard-Barnes, Costello and Waterman's remains, as well as some more of Mack, Taylor and Vergata's, were all discovered within the same quarter-mile band of Long Island's Ocean Parkway. The remains of "Peaches" and a toddler girl, believed to be her daughter, were also discovered in the same Ocean Parkway stretch.
Gilbert's remains were found in a marsh near Oak Beach, Long Island, but investigators believe she accidentally drowned. Her family commissioned a private autopsy that they say points to her being murdered—and in her final moments known to be alive, she reportedly approached strangers for help and called 911, frantically saying that someone was trying to kill her.
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Was the Gilgo Beach Killer ever found?
Rex Heuermann was arrested in July 2023 and is suspected of being the Gilgo Beach Killer. He was charged with three murders and is a suspect in the fourth, but has denied the allegations.
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Who is the suspect in the Gilgo Beach Killer?
Rex Heuermann, an architect who lives in Long Island, is the main suspect in the Gilgo Beach Killer case. He has been charged with three of the murders and is a suspect in a fourth; Heuermann maintains his innocence.
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What movie is based on the Gilgo Beach Murders?
A Lifetime movie called The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice, later retitled The Gilgo Beach Killer, was based on the Gilgo Beach murders. Another film, Lost Girls, was based on the Gilgo Beach slayings and released on Netflix in 2020. It stars Amy Ryan (of The Office and Only Murders In the Building) and was directed by Emmy winner Liz Garbus.
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What did they find in Rex Heuermann's house?
According The New York Times, a stash of 279 weapons (mostly firearms) were found in Heuermann's home in a basement vault that was locked behind a metal door. Authorities noted that he had licenses for 92 guns.
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Who is Rex Heuermann's wife?
Heuermann's estranged wife of 25 years is Asa Ellerup. She said she was "blindsided" by the allegations against Heuermann and filed for divorce from him almost immediately after his arrest. She told The New York Post that she's filled with "anxiety" following the search into the home she shared with Heuermann, explaining, “My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep."
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What is Rex Heuermann charged with?
Heuermann is charged with first degree murder for the killings of Barthelemy, Costello and Waterman. He is also the prime suspect in the homicide of Brainard-Barnes, but has not yet been formally charged in her slaying as of this writing. Heuermann pleaded not guilty to his current charges.
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Where is Rex Heuermann held?
According to ABC 7 New York, Heurmann is being held at Suffolk County Correctional Facility. He is reportedly on suicide watch.
Who is Rex Heuermann?
Heuermann is an architect and architectural consultant who lived in Massapequa Park in Long Island, New York. He is charged with three of the Gilgo Beach murders and suspected of a fourth.
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How tall is Rex Heuermann?
One of Heuermann's neighbors described him as being 6'5" tall. Another witness described him as being between 6'4" and 6'6" tall.
Where does Rex Heuermann live?
Heuermann lived in Massapequa Park, Long Island, New York, with his now-estranged wife, adult stepson and adult daughter, in a one-story home.
How did Rex Heuermann get caught?
A number of details reportedly led to Heuermann's arrest.
In spring 2022, Costello's pimp, who posed as her boyfriend when she first met with Heuermann at her home before she went missing in 2010, told police that "they may want to look at" a man in a green Chevrolet Avalanche. He didn't know anything else about Heuermann nor his identity at the time. When authorities looked up registrations for the make and model, Heuermann's name turned up.
According to The Independent, what ultimately did Heuermann in in terms of the investigation was his use—or, rather, misuse—of burner phones. While many people use burner phones to hide their activities, he made some big mistakes: They always pinged off of the same cell towers as his personal cellphone, specifically off of the cell towers closest to his office in Manhattan and his home in Massapequa Park, with records reportedly showing the two phones were always in the same place at the same time.
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Heuermann is also accused of taking Brainard-Barnes and Barthelemy's cellphones after their murders and using Barthelemy's to call and taunt her loved ones and checking Brainard-Barnes' voicemails. Barthelemy's cellphone locations were documented in his neighborhood.
Investigators claim Heuermann used his actual photo in several dating profiles with fake names and used the same burner phones to solicit sex workers. He also allegedly searched for graphic violent pornographic images, including of children being abused.
His other searches reportedly included "why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the long island serial killer" and "why hasn't the long island serial killer been caught."
In terms of forensics, Heuermann's wife's hair was actually found on several of the victims, including on a belt used to subdue Brainard-Barnes. (The belt, depending on how it's held, either has the initials "WH" or "HM;" Heuermann's grandfather's name is William, leading investigators to believe it may have been an antique.) Investigators matched the hair to some found in Heuermann's trash, and other DNA found on the victims matched up with Heuermann's—which authorities got from pizza crusts in his trash.
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The investigation as a whole gained steam thanks to Mari Gilbert, Shannan Gilbert's mother. An attorney for the Gilbert family said that it was the now-deceased Mari's efforts to find Shannan, who first went missing in 2010, that made police take the investigation more seriously. Shannan's remains were discovered in December 2011, and while investigators said she likely drowned accidentally, her family commissioned a private autopsy, which they claim pointed to Shannan being asphyxiated or strangled.
"Mari understood that one way of finding at least a shred of meaning in the loss of her daughter was that her disappearance led to the discovery of those four women several months later, and that without Shannan there would be no case, there would be no search for the killer," Robert Kolker, author Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery, told CBS News. "She understood that very well, and I believe she found some redemption in that idea: that Shannan's loss helped others learn the truth."
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