Gilgo serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann pleads not guilty to 7th murder charge — as lawyers claim he slaughtered victims in his basement
Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann was charged with a seventh murder Tuesday — as prosecutors revealed that all of the grisly slayings were carried out in his Massapequa Park basement.
The stunning new detail emerged as Heuermann was accused of killing Valerie Mack in November 2000, the latest butchered sex worker murder linked to the hulking 60-year-old architect.
Prosecutors said the accused killer allegedly followed the instructions he outlined in a grotesque “planning document” to pull off all the murders — including using “push pins” and tarps inside his family home.
“We don’t have to specifically prove where they happened,” Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney told reporters after Heuermann was arraigned in a Riverhead courtroom. “We have other elements that we need to prove.
“But if you look at this case, if you look at the planning document,” he said, “all of that is consistent with the commission of those murders occurring at the home.”
Inside the courtroom, Heuerman denied wrongdoing.
“Your honor, I am not guilty of any of these charges,” he told Judge Tim Mazzei, shaking his head back and forth.
One of Mack’s family members could be heard scoffing as he spoke.
The parents of Mack, whose remains were found in Gilgo Beach and Manorville, were in court Tuesday morning when Heuermann was arraigned.
Tierney told reporters that Mack’s parents — who were greeted and given flowers by relatives of other victims on Tuesday — “are very grateful for the small bit of closure” the new charges provide.
According to a superseding indictment unsealed in court, a hair linked to the wife or daughter of Heuermann was found near the left wrist of Mack.
Who were the Gilgo Beach victims?
Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann — a New York City architect and married dad of two — was arrested in connection with the long-unsolved Gilgo Beach murders. The arrest is tied to the so-called “Gilgo Four,” women found wrapped in burlap within days of each other in late 2010.
The years-long investigation that led to the arrest revolved around the discovery of more than 10 sets of human remains along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in Suffolk County between December 2010 and April 2011.
Most victims were petite female sex workers with green or hazel eyes. But there were also two exceptions: a 2-year-old girl and a young Asian man.
Melissa Barthelemy, 24
- Barthelemy was a sex worker who lived in the Unionport section of the Bronx and dreamed of one day opening her own beauty salon. She was last seen alive in her basement apartment on Underhill Avenue on July 12, 2009. Heuermann was charged for Barthelemy’s murder in July 2023.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25
- Brainard-Barnes was living in Norwich, Connecticut. She went missing after taking an Amtrak train from New London, Connecticut, to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on July 6, 2007. Her remains were found in December 2010. Heuermann was charged for Brainard-Barnes’ murder in January 2024.
Amber Lynn Costello, 27
- Costello, 27, was a sex worker and heroin addict who lived in West Babylon, New York, at a home with a woman and two men. She advertised on Craigslist and Backpage to support her and her roommates’ drug habits. Costello was found on December 13, 2010, after having been last seen leaving her home September 2, 2010. Heuermann was charged for Costello’s murder in July 2023.
Megan Waterman, 22
- Waterman, a 22-year-old mom of one, was last seen on June 6, 2010. She lived in Scarborough, Maine, and earned a living as an escort. She was last seen by her family boarding a New York-bound Concord Trailways bus in Maine. Her body was found on December 13, 2010, on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach. Heuermann was charged for Waterman’s murder in July 2023.
Jessica Taylor, 20
- Remains belonging to Jessica Taylor, a 20-year-old woman working as an escort in New York City, were found in a wooded area in Manorville on July 26, 2003. Her additional remains — initially labeled “Jane Doe No. 5” — were discovered on March 29, 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
Valerie Mack, 24
- Valerie Mack was 24 years old and living in Philadelphia when she went missing. She worked as an escort, using the alias “Melissa Taylor.” Relatives last saw Mack in the spring or summer of 2000 in Port Republic, New Jersey, but she was never reported as missing to the police. Her partial skeletal remains were found in Manorville in September 2000 but were initially known as “Jane Doe No. 6.” More bones were found on April 4, 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
Unidentified Asian man
- The skeletal remains of a yet-to-be-identified Asian man were found along Ocean Parkway on April 4, 2011. It is estimated that the man was between 17 and 23 years old at the time of his death. He was approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall with bad teeth.
‘Peaches’ and her daughter
- An African American woman’s partial remains were discovered in Hempstead Lake State Park back in 1997, and she had become known as “Peaches” because of a bitten tattoo of a peach on her left breast. On April 4, 2011, police uncovered the remains of a toddler, who was about 2 years old at the time of her death. DNA testing confirmed that one of the skeletons was that of the 2-year-old girl’s mother, “Peaches.”
Karen Vergata
- A victim previously referred to as Jane Doe No. 7 has been identified as 34-year-old Manhattan woman Karen Vergata. Vergata is believed to have disappeared around Feb. 14, 1996; two months later, her legs were found in a plastic bag at a park near Fire Island’s Blue Point Beach. At the time of her disappearance, Vergata was believed to have been working as an escort. Two sets of Vergata’s remains were identified in August 2023.
Shannan Gilbert, 23
- Gilbert was a Craigslist escort who lived in Jersey City, traveled with her driver Michael Pak from Manhattan to meet a client, Joseph Brewer, at his home in the Oak Beach Association on the morning of May 1, 2010. She spoke with two neighbors before disappearing. Her body was discovered in a marsh near Oak Beach — about half a mile from where she was last seen alive — on December 13, 2011.
Jessica Taylor, 20
- Taylor, a 20-year-old woman working as an escort in New York City, were found in a wooded area in Manorville on July 26, 2003. Her additional remains — initially labeled “Jane Doe No. 5” — were discovered on March 29, 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
Sandra Costilla
- Costilla was murdered in 1993 but had not been included among the so-called Gilgo Beach victims — until now. Investigators suspected convicted serial killer John Bittrolff in Costilla’s death, but he was never charged in her slaying — which remains one of several unsolved Long Island murders.
Heuermann’s daughter would have been 3 or 4 at the time of her killing, and his estranged wife has not been considered a suspect in any of the murders.
The father of two followed extreme planning measures when plotting the murders, and noted “small is good” in a planning document he made ahead of the murder, according to Tuesday’s indictment.
The planning sheet also included a slew of “problems” he might face including “blood stains,” “fingerprints,” “witnesses” and “DNA,” according to court documents.
The meticulously detailed planning document also listed out supplies Heuermann might need, including “lie/acid,” “bags/tape” and “medical gloves,” among other things.
Under a section labeled “notes,” Heuermann allegedly wrote, “The more you do the more clues you give,” the docs revealed.
The sick how-to document, allegedly found hidden on Heuermann’s computer, also included a “body prep” section that had a reminder to “remove ID marks[Tatoos],” prosecutors said.
Mack, who was a teen mom at 17, had her son’s name tattooed on her left ankle, which prosecutors said explains why her foot was cut off.
Mack, who also went by Melissa Taylor, worked as an escort in Philadelphia when she went missing.
She was last seen by her family in the area of Port Republic, New Jersey, when she was 24 years old, police previously said.
In the year she went missing, some of her then-unidentified remains were found in a wooded area in Manorville.
The rest of her remains were found 11 years later near Gilgo Beach, along with the remains of other female victims authorities believe were also targeted by Heuermann.
Mack’s remains, however, were only identified by authorities in 2020.
Heuermann is now accused of killing seven Long Island sex workers — Mack, Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Sandra Costilla, 28, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
Hairs found on the bodies tied to Heuermann through DNA matches.
Prosecutors also revealed that the accused killer saved news articles about the slayings — including a July 2003 report by The Post found in his bedroom — as “mementos” and to keep tabs on the investigation.
The sick library of news clippings, which were uncovered during two police searches of the Massapequa Park home, also included reports from Newsday, People magazine and New York magazine, the new filing shows.
Heuermann, a New York City architect and father of two, pleaded not guilty to charges stemming from the murders of six women whose remains were discovered near Gilgo Beach and other parts of eastern Long Island.
His lawyer, Michael Brown, told reporters outside the courthouse Tuesday that he planned to file a request that the charges be separated at trial.
“The first indictment had four ladies, four victims,” he said. “Then we had two additional ones, then we have a seventh. So, yes, we will be filing a motion to separate, especially the first four from the next two and then from the seventh.
“And listen,” Brown added. “I’m saying this today. I don’t know what else the prosecution has in store. I don’t know if they’re going to come back with another charge or set of charges. I have no idea.”
Heuermann is next due in court on Jan. 15.
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