Rex A. Heuermann, the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer, has been charged in six killings since his arrest on July 13.
Heuermann, 60, of Massapequa Park, faces charges in the killings of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor.
The Gilgo investigation has spanned 13 years, starting in 2010 with the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert in Oak Beach. In their search for Gilbert, whose body was eventually found more than a year after she went missing, police uncovered the remains of 10 other people, including a toddler, pointing to a possible serial killer.
Here is a timeline of key moments in the investigation since Heuermann’s arrest one year ago:
Rex A. Heuermann, the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer, has been charged in six killings since his arrest on July 13.
Heuermann, 60, of Massapequa Park, faces charges in the killings of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor.
The Gilgo investigation has spanned 13 years, starting in 2010 with the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert in Oak Beach. In their search for Gilbert, whose body was eventually found more than a year after she went missing, police uncovered the remains of 10 other people, including a toddler, pointing to a possible serial killer.
Here is a timeline of key moments in the investigation since Heuermann’s arrest one year ago:
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.
Sandra Costilla, left, and Jessica Taylor. Credit: SCPD: AP
May 20-25
Police search Heuermann's house again
Investigators executed a six-day search warrant at the Massapequa Park home of the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer, which sources later confirmed focused on the basement.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney later said tape taken from the walls of Heuermann’s basement was being analyzed. He told Newsday investigators believe the killings may have taken place at that location.
Suffolk County police and other agencies search the home of Rex Heuermann in Massapequa Park on May 24. Credit: Peter Frutkoff
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.
New York State Police search a wooded area off Halsey Manor Road in Manorville on April 26. Credit: Howard Schnapp
Jan. 16
Heuermann indicted in murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes
A superseding indictment was unsealed charging Heuermann with second-degree murder in the killing of a fourth alleged victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, six months after the Massapequa Park resident was charged with killing three other women whose remains were found alongside Ocean Parkway in 2010.
Heuermann pleaded not guilty. Investigators believe Brainard-Barnes was the first of the “Gilgo Four” to be killed sometime after she disappeared in the summer of 2007.
Prosecutors said they linked Heuermann to Brainard-Barnes’ killing through nuclear DNA analysis.
A hair found on a belt buckle used to bind the feet, ankles and legs of Brainard-Barnes contained a hair that DNA analysis shows is “7.9 trillion more times likely to have come from a person genetically identical to Asa Ellerup’s SNP Genotype file than from an unrelated individual,” prosecutors said in a bail letter, referring to Heuermann's wife.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, of Norwich, Conn., was last seen alive in Manhattan on July 9, 2007, police said. Credit: Handout
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.
This pizza box was sent to the Suffolk County Crime Laboratory for analysis, where a swab was taken from the leftover pizza crust. Credit: Suffolk County Court
July 14-25, 2023
Heuermann's home, storage units searched
Suffolk County authorities executed an 11-day search warrant at Heuermann's Massapequa Park home and two storage units in nearby Amityville in the aftermath of his arrest.
Law enforcement used excavating equipment in the backyard of Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home, digging for evidence during the search.
The police search of Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home was “fruitful” for investigators, law enforcement officials said, with Tierney saying the seized a “massive amount” of potential evidence.
Police remove evidence from the home of Rex Heuermann on July 17, 2023, in Massapequa Park. Credit: Howard Schnapp
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.
Gilgo murder suspect Rex Heuermann is walked out of the 7th precinct in Suffolk County on July 14. Credit: John Roca
July 13, 2023
Gilgo suspect arrested
An architect from Massapequa Park, Heuermann was arrested outside his Manhattan office and charged in the long-unsolved Gilgo Beach serial killer case, partly solving the mystery that has vexed investigators, left heartbroken families and haunted Long Island for over a decade.
The following morning, the public would see his image for the first time and learn his name as he made his first appearance in court.
Rex Heuermann is arrested in Manhattan shortly after leaving work on the night of July 13. Credit: NYPD
More coverage of the Gilgo arrest, 1 year later
- Heuermann has been charged with killing six women but could that list grow?
- How has Heuermann's arrest impacted his wife and children?
- Hear from Massapequa Park and Gilgo Beach residents fed up with the extra attention
- Learn how new DNA techniques could be tested during Heuermann's trial
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
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