Rex Heuermann pleads guilty to murder charges and admits he killed 8 women in the Gilgo Beach case

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A Long Island designer who led a concealed beingness arsenic a serial slayer pleaded blameworthy connected Wednesday to murdering 7 women and admitted helium killed an eighth successful a drawstring of long-unsolved crimes known arsenic the Gilgo Beach killings.

Rex Heuermann, 62, entered the pleas successful a courtroom packed with reporters, constabulary and victims’ relatives, immoderate of whom wept arsenic helium elaborate his crimes. He volition beryllium sentenced successful June to beingness successful situation without the anticipation of parole.

Heuermann's blameworthy pleas — to 3 counts of first-degree execution and 4 of intentional execution — bring finality to a lawsuit that bedeviled investigators, tormented victims’ relatives and tantalized a true-crime obsessed nationalist for years. Although helium wasn't charged successful her death, helium besides admitted that helium killed Karen Vergata successful 1996.

Under questioning by Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, Heuermann admitted that helium strangled each 8 victims and dismembered immoderate of them, that helium utilized burner phones to interaction them, and that helium wrapped their bodies successful burlap earlier dumping them.

Wearing a achromatic suit overgarment and achromatic button-down shirt, Heuermann appeared matter-of-fact and unemotional arsenic helium answered questions from Tierney and the judge. He ne'er looked backmost astatine the packed courtroom gallery, keeping his regard fixed consecutive ahead.

The women, galore of them enactment workers, were killed implicit a 17-year span and buried successful distant locations, including on an isolated formation road crossed the bay from wherever helium lived, authorities said.

Prosecutor credits the victims' families and investigators

“This suspect walked among america play acting arsenic a mean suburban dada erstwhile successful reality, each along, helium was obsessively targeting guiltless women for death,” Tierney said astatine a quality league hours aft the hearing.

He thanked relatives of the victims, including immoderate lasting alongside him, for helping bring their loved ones’ stories to life. And helium praised members of the Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force, which cracked the lawsuit with the assistance of clues that included DNA lifted from a discarded pizza crust.

“He thought that by sidesplitting them, helium could soundlessness them everlastingly and get distant with murder,” Tierney said. “But helium was wrong.”

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina, meanwhile, called Heuermann “a sadistic, soulless, murderous monster.”

Killer's ex-wife calls it a ‘difficult time’

Investigators and members of the nationalist packed the hearing. Reporters and camera operators swarmed Heuermann's ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and their girl arsenic they entered and near the courthouse.

“My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families," Ellerup said afterward. "Their nonaccomplishment is immeasurable and the absorption should beryllium connected them astatine this clip and moment. I inquire that you springiness immoderate privateness to my household arsenic they navigate done this precise hard time.”

Ellerup and her daughter, Victoria, had nary cognition of oregon engagement successful the killings, said their lawyer, Robert Macedonio. Ellerup has said she recovered it precise hard to judge her hubby was serial killer, due to the fact that helium ne'er gave disconnected informing signs during their clip together.

Asked astir Heuermann's admissions, his defence lawyer Michael Brown told reporters, “There came a constituent successful this defence wherever Rex said, ‘I privation to plead guilty,'" noting that 1 of Heuermann’s concerns was sparing the victims’ families and his ain household from the ordeal of the lawsuit going to trial.

In effect to a question astir whether Heuermann was sorry, Brown responded, “I would anticipation so. ... I would expect astatine sentencing helium would person thing to say.”

As portion of his blameworthy plea, Heuermann agreed to cooperate afloat with the FBI's behavioral investigation unit.

A shocking find

The lawsuit began successful earnest successful 2010 aft constabulary recovered galore sets of quality remains portion searching for a missing woman, Shannan Gilbert, on Long Island’s South Shore, mounting disconnected a hunt for a imaginable serial slayer that attracted planetary involvement and spawned a Hollywood movie. Although her relatives disputed the finding, authorities yet determined that Gilbert drowned, and Brown said Wednesday that Heuermann "had thing to bash with Shannan Gilbert.”

Investigators utilized DNA investigation and different grounds to place victims. In immoderate cases, they were capable to link them to remains recovered elsewhere connected Long Island years earlier.

Remains of six victims — Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Megan Waterman — were recovered successful the scrub on Ocean Parkway adjacent Gilgo Beach. The remains of different victim, Sandra Costilla, were recovered much than 60 miles (100 kilometers) distant successful the Hamptons.

Police besides identified the remains of Vergata, which were recovered connected Fire Island, much than 20 miles (32 kilometers) west, successful 1996, and adjacent Gilgo Beach successful 2011.

But contempt the attention, including a documentary bid and the 2020 Netflix film, “Lost Girls,” the probe dragged connected for much than a decade, punctuated by fleeting leads and dashed hopes.

A caller look yields results

In 2022, six weeks aft a caller constabulary commissioner formed the Gilgo Beach task force, detectives identified Heuermann arsenic a fishy by utilizing a conveyance registration database to link him to a pickup motortruck that a witnesser reported seeing erstwhile 1 of the victims disappeared successful 2010.

Heuermann lived for decades successful Massapequa Park, astir a 25-minute thrust crossed a causeway spanning South Oyster Bay to the sandy agelong wherever the women’s remains were found. Some of the victims were believed to person disappeared from that assemblage and their cellphones were recovered to person pinged towers successful the area, authorities said.

After the motortruck discovery, a expansive assemblage authorized much than 300 subpoenas and hunt warrants, allowing the task unit to excavation successful to Heuermann’s life.

Detectives collected billing records for burner phones helium allegedly utilized to put meetings with the victims, retested DNA recovered with the bodies and scoured Heuermann’s net hunt history, which showed that helium had viewed convulsive torture pornography and exhibited an aggravated involvement successful the Gilgo Beach killings and the renewed investigation. Cellphone information showed Heuermann was successful interaction with immoderate victims conscionable earlier they disappeared, investigators said.

To get Heuermann’s DNA, a task unit surveillance squad tailed him successful Manhattan, wherever helium worked, and watched arsenic helium threw the remnants of his luncheon — a container of partially eaten pizza crusts — into a sidewalk garbage can.

Investigators rushed in, grabbed the box, and sent it to the transgression lab, which matched DNA from the crust to a antheral hairsbreadth recovered connected burlap utilized to restrain 1 of the victims. He was arrested successful July 2023.

After Heuermann’s arrest, detectives spent much than 12 days searching his gait and home, wherever they recovered a basement vault that contained 279 weapons. On his computer, investigators said, they recovered what they described arsenic a “blueprint” for the killings, including a bid of checklists with reminders to bounds noise, cleanable the bodies and destruct evidence.

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Associated Press writers Philip Marcelo successful New York City, Dave Collins successful Hartford, Connecticut, and Julie Walker successful Riverhead, New York contributed to this report.

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