Known as: Gilgo Beach Killer
Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan-based architectural consultant, was arrested in July 2023 after a decade-long investigation into one of the most chilling cold cases in New York history. The Gilgo Beach killings began coming to light in December 2010, when police searching for missing woman Shannan Gilbert stumbled upon a cluster of four bodies wrapped in burlap near Gilgo Beach on Long Island's South Shore. These four victims — Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello — became known as the "Gilgo Four." All were sex workers who had advertised services online.
As the investigation expanded, six more sets of remains were discovered in spring 2011 along Ocean Parkway, along with additional remains in Manorville, NY. The case went cold for years despite the largest law enforcement investigation in Suffolk County history.
A breakthrough came through relentless investigative work by a specialized task force. Heuermann was connected to the killings through cellphone data placing him near victims' last known locations, burner phone records, physical hair evidence from victims matching his family's DNA, and ultimately a discarded pizza crust retrieved from a Manhattan trash can that matched DNA from the crime scenes.
By 2024, charges had expanded to include the murders of Maureen Brainard-Barnes (killed 2007), Sandra Costilla (killed 1993), Jessica Taylor (killed 2003), and Valerie Mack (killed 2000). On April 8, 2026, Heuermann pleaded guilty to murdering eight women, admitting he had met, strangled, and dumped each victim. He was also connected to a ninth victim, Karen Vergata, as part of the plea deal.