Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann admitted in a Long Island court Wednesday to murdering eight young women during a nearly two-decade spree — after having adamantly denied the charges against him ever since his arrest in 2023.
Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to slaying seven victims before State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei at the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court Complex in Riverhead, L.I., short after 11 a.m. He admitted to also killing an eighth victim he had not been charged with.
When asked by the judge if he was pleading guilty voluntarily and of his own free will, Heuermann, wearing a dark suit, white shirt and a blue patterned tie, replied, “Yes,” while nodding his head.
He faces life in prison without the possibility of parole and will be sentenced on June 17.
Several of the victims’ family members sitting in the packed courtroom wept as Heuermann detailed his crimes.
Under questioning by Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, Heuermann admitted that he strangled all eight victims and dismembered some of them, that he used burner phones to contact them, and that he wrapped their bodies in burlap before dumping them.
Heuermann appeared unemotional as he answered questions, staring straight ahead and never looking back at the gallery.
Following the hearing, Heuermann’s attorney, Michael Brown, told reporters the guilty pleas — to three counts of first-degree murder and four of second-degree murder— was a decision Heuermann made on his own.
“There came a point in this defense where Rex said, ‘I want to plead guilty,’” he said, adding that one of Heuermann’s concerns was sparing his own family and the victims’ families from the ordeal of the case going to trial.
In response to a question about whether Heuermann was sorry, Brown responded, “I would hope so … I would expect at sentencing he would have something to say.”
As part of his plea deal, Heuermann agreed to cooperate fully with the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit.
Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup and daughter, Victoria, were in the courtroom for the plea.
“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families,” Ellerup said after the hearing. “Their loss is immeasurable, and the focus should be on them at this time and moment. I ask that you give some privacy to my family as they navigate through this very difficult time.”
Bob Macedonio, a lawyer who reps Ellerup, told reporters that the long-unsolved string of murders have been “traumatizing Long Island for over three decades” and “nothing said here can lessen that pain.”
He added that Ellerup “never wanted to believe … the man she was married to for 27 years, the father of Victoria, was capable of such heinous acts.”
In addition to the seven women Heuermann had already been charged with murdering, he admitted killing an eighth victim — 34-year-old mother of two, Karen Vergata, whose remains were initially found on Fire Island in April 1996, with additional remains found in April 2011 near Gilgo Beach.
Vergata, who is believed to have been working as an escort in Manhattan at the time of her disappearance on Valentine’s Day 1996, struggled with addiction and was estranged from her family. As the years went by and no one heard from her they became increasingly worried.
Advances in DNA testing allowed investigators to finally identify her remains, previously known only as “Fire Island Jane Doe” in 2022 using a genetic genealogy review.
“You never know when it’s going to be the last time you see someone,” her step-sister Brenda said after the remains were identified. “We wondered what happened to her. But she had a habit of just not being in contact. We just assumed [she was dead]. No one heard from her in 20 years.”
Tierney, speaking at a press conference after the court appearance, took the time to thank victims’ family members one by one for their help solving the case and to say “sorry” to each of them.
“When we started, the victims were nothing but names on a blotter, black-and-white writing on investigative reports. But once we spoke to the victims’ [families] they provided us with the color of these women,” he said.
“We got to know them as the wonderful mothers, sisters, friends and daughters that they were. And that inspired us even more to close this case.”
Tierney also thanked the many members of law enforcement who worked on the investigation.
“It was so many different pieces, from so many different people, starting back in 1993 and culminating all the way through 2021,” he said.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina, speaking to reporters, said the “calm, serene, almost grandfatherly image” Heuermann had portrayed since his arrest was “a lie” and “an insult to both law enforcement but more importantly the families that had to endure that during every court appearance over the last two and a half years.”
“Today he was exposed for exactly what he is, a sadistic, soulless, murderous monster,” Catalina said.
Attorney Gloria Allred, who reps several of the victims’ families, spoke of the hardships the victims faced, many being young mothers at the time they were killed.
“Because many did not have the funds to go to college or get a decent job that would help them to provide adequate support for their children, they turned to sex work in order to help their families. It wasn’t what they wanted to do but it was what they felt forced to do,” she said.
“Little did they know, Rex Heuermann did not care about their hopes and dreams or that they had families and friends who loved them. He appeared to care only for himself.”
Victim Maureen Brainard-Barnes sister Melissa Cann said the plea brought her “solace” and “a sense of relief.”
“Nineteen years, I lived in the space between heartbreak and hope. Throughout these years I searched for answers, for truth, for justice. There were moments when the weight felt unbearable but I never gave up,” she said. “Maureen was never forgotten, not for a single moment. From the day she went missing until today, she has been carried in every breath, every memory, every fight for answers.”
“Justice has finally found its way to you,” she added. “This moment is not the end but a reminder that love endures, truth prevails and hope never fades. Because even in the darkest moments, justice will find its way.”
The hulking serial killer, who lives in Massapequa Park, L.I., had maintained his innocence since his arrest in Midtown Manhattan on July 13, 2023, for the slayings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
The three women were part of who investigators designated the ‘Gilgo Four’— the first four bodies found in December 2010, wrapped in burlap within a quarter-mile of each other along Ocean Parkway.
Police said it was a Long Island pimp — and pizza crust DNA — that steered investigators toward Heuermann, a husband and father who had been living quietly in the suburbs and commuting to Manhattan, where he worked as an architect.
The pimp described the suspect’s vehicle as a green Chevrolet Avalanche during a spring 2022 meeting with investigators.
Cops retrieved DNA from a pizza crust found in a Manhattan trash can near Heuermann’s work office and matched it with a hair found on Waterman’s body.
In January 2024, Heuermann was charged with the death of the final “Gilgo Four” victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who was 25 when she died. Brainard-Barnes, who worked as a sex worker, was reported missing in July 2007 after arranging to meet with a customer.
Heuermann murdered the Connecticut mother while his wife, Asa Ellerup, and children were vacationing in Atlantic City, according to court records.
Brainard-Barnes’ daughter remembers her as a sweet woman who read to her every night before bed.
“I was only 7 years old when my mother was murdered,” Nicolette Brainard-Barnes said at a 2024 news conference. “There are countless times I needed her and she was not there. I wish she was here today, but she was taken from us.”
Heuermann was later additionally charged with killing 20-year-old Jessica Taylor, 28-year-old Sandra Costilla and 24-year-old Valerie Mack.
When Heuermann was indicted for murdering Mack in December 2024, he defiantly denied it in court.
“Your Honor, I am not guilty of any of these charges,” Heuermann blurted out, shaking his head.
With News Wire Services
