It was a case that shocked Long Islanders, garnered international media attention, was the subject of books and documentaries, and — most importantly — left grieving families wishing for answers.
On July 14, 2023, the biggest break in the Gilgo Beach serial killer case since 2010 occurred when Rex A. Heuermann, of Massapequa Park, was arrested in connection with the murders of three women — Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, and Megan Waterman — and suspected in the murder of a fourth, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
The newly-formed Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force, which included Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and then-Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison, identified Heuermann as a suspect in spring of 2022.
It was known for years that the killer had taunted his victims’ families using their cell phones, including that of Brainard-Barnes. Her phone pinged two cell phone towers in New York City, and then stopped at Massapequa — perfectly in line with Heuermann’s commute to and from midtown Manhattan, where he worked as an architect.
But it was ultimately a witness who brought Heuermann down. Dave Schaller, roommate of Amber Lynn Costello, remembered seeing her get into the vehicle of a man he believed to be her killer. He described the man as an “ogre,” and described a dark truck. Heuermann is 6-feet, 6-inches tall and owned a dark green Chevrolet Avalanche.
Police investigated Heuermann, and eventually recovered his DNA from a discarded Little Caesar’s pizza box in Manhattan. That DNA was matched to a hair found on Waterman. Additionally, a female hair recovered from Costello matched that of his wife, Asa Ellerup, who filed for divorce shortly after his arrest near his office in midtown Manhattan.
Prosecutors have repeatedly said Ellerup and the couple’s two children, Victoria Heuermann and Christopher Sheridan, were out of town when the murders allegedly took place, and were not considered suspects.
Just two weeks after his arrest, Fire Island Jane Doe, whose legs were found near Davis Park in 1996 and whose skull was found on Tobay Beach in 2011, was publicly identified as Karen Vergata. Heuermann has not been charged in her murder.
Heuermann was officially charged with the murder of Brainard-Barnes in January 2024. However, Tierney announced that that same grand jury would be investigating other murders connected to the case.
This appeared to come to fruition in April, when police conducted a multi-agency search of the Manorville woods, using cadaver dogs. Two victims, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack, had been found partially in Manorville in 2003 and 2000, respectively, before both being found near Gilgo Beach in 2011. This search also expanded to North Sea in Southampton, where Sandra Costilla – who was considered a possible victim of convicted murderer John Bittrolff — was found dead in 1993.
Following the Manorville search, police once again searched Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home in May.
On June 6, Heuermann was charged with the murders of Taylor and Costilla. Male hair recovered from both victims matched that of Heuermann’s, and a witness in Manorville had also seen a dark truck driving in the area the night before Taylor’s remains were found in 2003. Heuermann was also named a suspect in Mack’s murder.
Questions still remain in the case. Three victims remain unidentified — “Peaches,” a woman whose torso was found at Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997 and then on Jones Beach in 2011, her toddler daughter “Baby Doe” who was found near Gilgo Beach in 2011, and “Asian Male Doe,” who was found on Gilgo Beach in 2011. There have neither been charges for those three nor Vergata nor Mack.
Additionally, questions remain as to whether there are more victims not traditionally associated with the case.
They include Shannan Gilbert, went missing on Oak Beach in May 2010, and police were searching for when they found 10 sets of remains along Ocean Parkway. She was found dead in a nearby marsh in 2011. Her cause of death remains a mystery. The torso of Andre Jamal Isaac, a drag performer known professionally as “Sugar Bear,” was found in Far Rockaway in 2002, and his skull was found in Center Moriches in 2003. His case appears on a hidden page of gilgonews.com, a website managed by the Suffolk County Police Department.
There are others as well. Heuermann is due back in court on July 30.
