Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann recently confessed to the Gilgo Beach murders, admitting to killing eight women, including one no one previously knew about. The murders occurred between 1993 and 2010, but they gained national attention in 2010 and 2011. All of the women were found on Gilgo Beach in Long Island.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Heuermann confessed to the murders of Valerie Mack, 24, Jessica Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Sandra Costilla, 28 and Karen Vergata. She was unknown.
The women’s bodies were discovered in December 2010, bound with belts or tape and wrapped in burlap, lying in close proximity along a stretch of Gilgo Beach. Their bodies were also dismembered. Police discovered a large number of guns at his dilapidated house, but Heuermann confessed to strangling the women.
Heuermamnn was arrested on July 13, 2023.
Because the women worked as sexual escorts, many believe police were reluctant to pursue the killer. In fact, a former Suffolk County cop was later found to be the leader of a prostitution ring.
The Suffolk County Police Commissioner who led the task force that arrested Rex A. Heuermann in the Gilgo Beach serial killings case was Rodney Harrison, the former chief of detectives at the NYPD.
Harrison, who served as Suffolk County Police Commissioner from January 2022 until his resignation in late 2023, was at the helm of the investigation when Heuermann was apprehended on July 14, 2023.
Harrison described Heuermann as “a demon that walks among us.”
Harrison resigned from his position leading the Long Island department after nearly two years on the job, which led to Heuremann’s arrest.