Gilgo Beach Killer Rex Heuermann Pleads Guilty to Murdering Eight Women

Standing in Suffolk County Court with his hands shackled behind his back, Rex Heuermann admitted Wednesday that he strangled eight women and discarded their remains across Long Island over three decades, entering guilty pleas that forced a public reckoning with murders that investigators failed to solve for nearly two decades.

The 62-year-old Massapequa architect, who operated a firm in Manhattan, pleaded guilty to seven murders and admitted in open court to intentionally causing the death of an eighth victim, Karen Vergata, known for nearly 30 years as the "Fire Island Jane Doe." Vergata, a 34-year-old Manhattan woman who disappeared in 1996 and was believed to be working as an escort, was identified only after her legs were discovered in a plastic bag. Heuermann was not formally charged with her killing but acknowledged it as part of the plea agreement, and waived his right to appeal as a condition of the deal.

His killing spree stretched from 1993 to 2010, targeting primarily sex workers. The seven women he formally pleaded guilty to murdering were Sandra Costilla, killed in 1993; Valerie Mack, killed in 2000; Jessica Taylor, killed in 2003; and the four women collectively known as the "Gilgo Four": Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. The Gilgo Four's remains were found in burlap sacks along a remote stretch of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in December 2010, a discovery set in motion by the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker whose case drew investigators to comb the area.

Those 2010 discoveries produced no arrest. The cases went cold for nearly two decades until Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney reopened the investigation in 2022. That same year, investigators flagged a Chevrolet Avalanche registered to Heuermann, matching a vehicle described in an old witness tip connected to Amber Costello's disappearance. The Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force then began surveillance, and in January 2023, detectives tailed Heuermann in Manhattan and watched as he discarded the remains of a box of pizza crusts into a sidewalk garbage can. DNA extracted from those crusts matched a hair recovered from the burlap used to wrap some of the victims' remains, cracking a case that had defied resolution for more than a decade.

Investigators also obtained billing records for burner phones Heuermann allegedly used to arrange meetings with victims. His internet search history revealed searches for sadistic and violent material, child pornography, and images of the victims and their relatives. He was arrested in July 2023 and initially pleaded not guilty. The plea entered Wednesday averted a September 2026 trial and concluded a 15-year investigation.

Under the sentencing agreement, Heuermann faces three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole for the killings of Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello, followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 years to life. No deal was struck with the DA's office in exchange for the plea itself. Sentencing is scheduled for June 17, 2026, before Judge Timothy Mazzei.

Several relatives of the victims sobbed quietly and were seen wiping tears during the hearing. DA Tierney held a news conference Wednesday afternoon joined by victims' families and members of the task force. Attorney Gloria Allred, representing most of the victims' families, had declined to comment ahead of the plea. Heuermann's ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, who had been married to him for 27 years and shares a daughter, Victoria, with him, issued a statement after the hearing: "My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Their loss is immeasurable.