A suspect has been indicted in the Long Island serial killer investigation, according to Suffolk County police. The remains of 10 victims — most of them sex workers — were found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach over a decade ago.
Rex Heuermann, 59, of Massapequa Park, has been charged with first-degree murder for the deaths of three women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello.
Heuermann, an architect who worked in midtown Manhattan, pleaded not guilty.
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison announced on Friday the investigation is ongoing.
“Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks among us; a predator that ruined families,” Harrison said. “If not for the members of this task force, he would still be on the streets today. However, even with this arrest, we're not done."
These young women went missing between July 2007 and September 2010.
In December 2010, police were searching for Shannan Gilbert, a missing sex worker from New Jersey, when they discovered 10 sets of human remains near Gilgo Beach.
It’s not yet clear if additional victims will be connected to Heuermann now that he is in custody, but investigators have suggested over the years that the area may have been used as a dumping ground by more than one killer.
In early 2022, an interagency task force combed over a decade of research and leads — eventually tapping a database that turned up Heuermann by March of that year.
“I think that there was a tension in the task force,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said, “because there's a tension between getting the evidence necessary to charge somebody, but also keeping the public safe.”
Investigators convened a grand jury to pursue approximately 300 subpoenas and search warrants to look into his background, which included violent pornography, cellphone tower and GPS location, and possession of materials key to allegedly linking Heuermann to the murders.
"It was always in a very controlled manner,” Tierney said. “And it was always with the control purpose” in revealing small details in the media.
“We did that because we knew we were playing before an audience of one person."
Michael Brown, an attorney representing Heuermann, said in a statement that his client denies any wrongdoing. Heuermann lives in Massapequa Park with his wife and his two children — across the bay from where the remains were found.
