Rex Heuermann to plead guilty in the Gilgo Beach killings, ending long search for a serial killer

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A Long Island designer accused successful a drawstring of long-unsolved slayings known arsenic the Gilgo Beach killings is expected to plead blameworthy connected Wednesday, closing a lawsuit that bedeviled investigators, agonized victims’ relatives and tantalized a true-crime obsessed nationalist for years.

Rex Heuermann, 62, is charged with murdering 7 women, galore of them enactment workers, implicit a 17-year span. A blameworthy plea would enactment him successful situation for the remainder of his life.

His determination to plead blameworthy was confirmed by 3 radical acquainted with it. They spoke to The Associated Press connected the information of anonymity due to the fact that the plea has yet to beryllium entered successful court. Heuermann volition beryllium sentenced astatine a aboriginal date.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has scheduled a quality league for Wednesday afternoon, pursuing a greeting tribunal hearing. He volition beryllium joined by members of victims’ families and 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.

A connection seeking remark was near for Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael Brown.

Media and members of the nationalist formed a assemblage extracurricular the courthouse waiting to get successful Wednesday morning. Reporters and camera operators swarmed Heuermann's ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and their girl arsenic they walked into the courthouse.

“It’s a hard day," said Robert Macedonio, an lawyer for Ellerup. "No 1 tin envision ever successful their beingness lasting present successful a courthouse connected a enactment surrounded by media having their ex-husband accused of seven, perchance 8 homicides. It’s unimaginable. There’s nary mode to hole for it.”

In the courtroom, astir fractional the seats were blocked disconnected for victims' household members and instrumentality enforcement officers.

The Gilgo Beach probe began successful earnest successful 2010 aft constabulary recovered galore sets of quality remains on a distant formation road connected Long Island’s South Shore, mounting disconnected a hunt for a imaginable serial slayer that attracted planetary involvement and spawned a Hollywood movie.

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 person besides identified an eighth woman, Karen Vergata, whose remains were recovered connected Fire Island, much than 20 miles (32 kilometers) west, successful 1996, and adjacent Gilgo Beach successful 2011. Heuermann has not been charged successful Vergata's killing.

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.

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.

Last year, a justice rejected Heuermann’s bid to exclude DNA grounds obtained done precocious techniques that prosecutors accidental proves he’s the killer.

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Marcelo reported from New York City.

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