Gilgo Beach killings: Key moments in the case against suspect Rex Heuermann

June 6

Heuermann charged in two additional killings

Heuermann was indicted on two counts of second-degree murder in the killings of two additional women, including a Queens resident whose remains were found in Southampton Town more than 30 years ago and who had only recently been connected to the Gilgo Beach investigation.

Heuermann pleaded not guilty at his arraignment before State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei in Riverhead in the July 2003 dismemberment death of Jessica Taylor and the November 1993 death of Sandra Costilla, whose killing Suffolk police and prosecutors had long associated with a different suspect. Prosecutors for the first time also linked the killing of Gilgo Beach victim Valerie Mack to Heuermann in court documents, though he has not yet been charged in her death.

Heuermann, who was 30 when Costilla’s remains were found on Cove Road in North Sea on Nov. 20, 1993, had previously not been charged in a killing committed earlier than 2007.

Taylor’s partial remains were found in Manorville days after she disappeared and more remains were later found near Gilgo Beach.

Taylor and Costilla also represent the first alleged victims tied to Heuermann whose remains were discovered somewhere other than Ocean Parkway, expanding the area to which he allegedly dumped bodies by more than 40 miles.

April 22-May 1

Investigators search wooded area in Manorville

Police launched a massive K9 search in wooded areas in Manorville spanning thousands of acres in search of possible human remains and other evidence that could assist the Gilgo Beach investigation.

More than 20 police vehicles, including over a dozen K-9 units, gathered at the Manorville firehouse each day, and the search stretched to portions of Calverton, Ridge and Riverhead. Some of the woods searched were where human remains were found in the past along Halsey Manor and Mill roads, the Upton Ecological and Research Reserve and Robert Cushman Murphy County Park.

On April 26, the search expanded to North Sea, to the area where Costilla was found in 1993, foreshadowing charges to come.

Sept. 28

DNA from pizza box allegedly discarded by Heuermann matches cheek swab

Suffolk prosecutors revealed in court that Heuermann's DNA matches an earlier sample derived from a pizza crust and “used napkin” that prosecutors have said links Heuermann to the remains of one of three women he is charged with killing.

The new DNA evidence, collected under court order Aug. 16, was part of a trove of more than 5,000 documents that prosecutors turned over to Heuermann's defense team, when the Massapequa Park architect appeared briefly in a Riverhead courtroom for the third time since his arrest.

July 14, 2023

Heuermann arraigned on murder charges

Heuermann pleaded not guilty to three counts each of first- and second-degree murder in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello during his arraignment in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.

In a 32-page bail document filed in court, prosecutors detailed the evidence against Heuermann, including DNA lifted from a pizza box he allegedly discarded outside his office that authorities said linked him to one of the victims and cellular phone site data that investigators said also linked his whereabouts to the victims at key times.

Heuermann used seven burner phones over a 14-month period to search more than 200 times about the Gilgo Beach investigation — even visiting the website Suffolk police created in 2020 as a clearinghouse for information and tips — and for photos of the victims and to learn about family members of the victims, including siblings and children, Tierney said. His Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck, which authorities said helped crack the case after a witness described it as being driven by a man who paid for services from Costello the day before she went missing, was recovered by FBI investigators in South Carolina.