This article contains graphic descriptions of murder. Please take care while reading.
Rex Heuermann, the accused Long Island Serial Killer suspected of killing at least four women in Long Island’s Gilgo Beach area, has now been charged with two more murders. And Heuermann is now accused of killing one woman whose remains were not recovered near Gilgo Beach.
In the summer of 2023, Heuermann — a Manhattan architect — was arrested in connection with the Gilgo Beach murders, or 11 sets of remains found on Gilgo Beach beginning in 2010, near Massapequa Park, where Heuermann lived. Those cases remained unsolved for years, as some suspected that a serial killer dubbed the Long Island Serial Killer, or LISK was responsible.
Authorities arrested and charged Heuermann over DNA evidence and other clues linking him to the deaths of at least three women whose remains were found near Gilgo Beach: Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman, and Melissa Barthelemy, and declared him a “prime suspect” and later charged him with murder in connection to another Gilgo Beach victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes‘ death.
Heuermann’s new charges
As well as the four victims mentioned, on June 6, 2024, Rex Heuermann was charged with the 2003 murder of Jessica Taylor, whose skull was found in the Gilgo Beach area in 2011, and long suspected to be a LISK victim, CBS News reported. Taylor — a sex worker, like many of Heuermann’s alleged victims — was 20 years old when she died, and other parts of her body were found in 2003 in a wooded area in Manorville, Long Island, not far from Massapequa Park.
Sandra Costilla, meanwhile, who was 28 when she died in 1993, had not been previously linked to LISK. Her remains were found that year, also in the Manorville area, and now that Heuermann has been charged with Costilla’s murder, authorities now think he may have been killing women much longer than once thought. Authorities said Heuermann’s DNA likely matched DNA taken from hair recovered near both Costilla and Taylor’s bodies.
The Heuermann murder “blueprint”
At the same time Rex Heuermann’s new charges were announced, authorities said they found a digital “planning document” or “blueprint” for murder in a recent search of his house. Included were chilling details of how he planned and executed his killings, with reminders for what to do next time, including to sleep well before the next attack.
In the all-caps document, Heuermann referred to a murder’s aftermath as “playtime,” and the level of callous detail included in the document has helped authorities connect Heuermann to the murders of all six women, based on similarities to how their remains were found, according to the Associated Press.
In 2000, Valerie Mack’s remains were also discovered in the Manorville area, near where Costilla and Taylor’s body parts were recovered, and based on an entry in the “planning document,” Heuermann is now linked to her death. When asked if he was a “suspect,” District Attorney Ray Tierney responded, “That’s fair to say.” Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges.