Gilgo Beach killings: Rex Heuermann charged in seventh death

On By Littum

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — The New York architect accused of murder in a series of deaths known as Gilgo Beach murder was charged on Tuesday in the death of a seventh woman.

Rex Heuermann pleaded not guilty to killing Valerie Mack, whose remains were first found on Long Island in 2000. Mack, 24, had worked as an escort in Philadelphia and was last seen by her family that year in New Jersey.

AP Correspondent Julie Walker reports that the suspect in the Gilgo Beach serial killings has been charged in the death of a seventh woman.

Some of Mack’s skeletal remains were originally discovered in Manorville, New York; authorities found more of her remains about 50 miles west at Gilgo Beach more than 10 years later. They were unidentified until genetic testing revealed her identity in 2020.

Human hair found with Mack’s remains was sent for testing earlier this year and was found to be a likely match to Heuermann’s daughter’s genetic profile, prosecutors said in court papers. His daughter is not charged with any wrongdoing and would have been 3 or 4 years old when Mack died.

Heuermann, 61, is charged with killing six other women whose remains were found on Long Island. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

“These women’s lives matter. We understand that as investigators. Nobody understands that more than the families,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said at a news conference with Mack’s parents and other victims’ relatives.

The investigation into the Gilgo Beach murders dates back to 2010, when police searching for a missing woman found 10 sets of human remains in scrub along a barrier island parkway, prompting fears of a serial killer.

Over the years, investigators used DNA analysis and other clues to identify the victims, many of whom were sex workers. In some cases, authorities linked them to remains found elsewhere on Long Island years earlier. Police also began investigating other unsolved murders of women found dead on Long Island.

The case has dragged on through five police commissioners, more than 1,000 tips and doubts about whether there was a serial killer at all.

Heuermann, who lived with his wife and two children in Massapequa Park, Long Island and commuted to an architectural office in Manhattan, was arrested on July 13, 2023. At the time, he was accused of murdering Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Bartholomew.

Earlier this year, he was charged in the deaths of three other women – Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor.

In a lawsuit in June, prosecutors said they had recovered a file on a hard drive in Heuermann’s basement that he used to “methodically plan” his killings — including checklists of tasks to be crossed off before, during and after, as well as lessons for “next time.”

In court papers Tuesday, prosecutors said the document, which was created the same year as Mack’s murder, contains details consistent with her case.

For example, it names “Mill Road” — a road near where Mack’s first remains were found — under the heading “DS,” which investigators believe stands for “dump site.”

The document also lists “foam drain cleaner” under “Consumables”. Prosecutors say that on Oct. 3, 2000, Heuermann’s phone records appear to show him making two calls to a Long Island plumbing company, and he paid another company the following month to check his main drain.

In recent searches of Heuermann’s home and office, authorities say they found old magazines and newspapers with articles about the Gilgo Beach murders and investigation, which prosecutors believe he kept as “souvenirs” or “memorials.” Among them was a copy of the July 29, 2003, New York Post that contained an article about the disappearance and death of Mack and Taylor.

The prosecutor is also investigating the death Karen Vergatawhose remains were first discovered in 1996 and finally identified in 2022 after a new DNA analysis.

In September authorities released new renderings of an unidentified victim found in 2011. Officials said the victim, whom they had identified for years as a man, may have appeared outwardly as a woman and died in 2006.

___ Associated Press writer Jennifer Peltz contributed from New York.