Gilgo Beach serial murder suspect expected to change plea to guilty
The man charged will killing seven women in a series of murders that rocked Long Island’s Gilgo Beach area is expected to plead guilty, multiple sources report.
New York architect Rex Heuermann has maintained he was not guilty since his arrest in July 2023. He was scheduled to go on trial in September, but now, sources familiar with the matter say he’ll plead guilty during his next court appearance set for April 8.
Heuermann was initially charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. Then in 2024, he was charged in four more killings dating back as far as 1993. Those victims have been identified as Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla and Valerie Mack.
The evidence against Heuermann
Bodies were discovered in Long Island over the span of nearly 20 years, with the most recent discovery in 2011. The cases had long gone cold until in 2022, law enforcement identified a vehicle registered to Heuermann that had been flagged from a witness tip made at the time of Costello’s disappearance in 2010.
Investigators reportedly have cell phone records indicating Heuermann had been in touch with the victims and they say a search of his computer turned up a check-list, described as a blueprint of how to commit the murders and destroy evidence.
They also say DNA taken from a discarded pizza crust linked Heuermann to the murders. In September, a Suffolk County judge ruled that DNA evidence can be used in the trial, after Heuermann’s defense moved to block it.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
