A Suffolk County judge sentenced 62-year-old Rex Heuermann, known as the “Gilgo Beach Maniac,” to life in prison without the possibility of parole, the Associated Press (AP) reports. In April, Heuermann confessed to killing eight women, believed to be sex workers. The remains of most of the bodies were found on Gilgo Beach on Long Island, hence the killer's nickname.
NBC News clarifies that Heuermann's sentence includes multiple life sentences. As RTVI.US reported, it was expected that the suspect would be sentenced to four consecutive life terms (the first without the possibility of parole), followed by four consecutive terms ranging from 25 years to life.
“You are a disgusting, despicable and petty person, and you are a coward,” Judge Timothy Mazzei said before handing down the sentence.
The murders to which the defendant admitted were committed between 1993 and 2011. In April, Heuermann testified in court that he met sex workers, strangled them, and then disposed of the bodies in various locations on Long Island, including the Gilgo Beach, Manorville and Southampton areas.
Until the April hearing, he denied guilt for three years from the moment of his arrest.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon told ABC News that while awaiting trial in the Riverhead prison, Heuermann read books about serial killers and corresponded with Keith Jesperson, who, according to investigators, killed eight women between 1990 and 1995 (convicted on six counts). Jesperson is known as the “Happy face killer”. In 1994, he wrote several confessional letters to a newspaper and a district court in Oregon, signing with emoticons.
Decades of investigation
Heuermann was a prestigious architect who worked in a Manhattan office and lived with his wife and two children on Long Island. He was arrested on July 13, 2023, when he walked unsuspectingly along the busy streets of New York. The pizza scraps he left in the trash container helped him identify Heuermann. The DNA on them matched almost 100% with a hair found on the remains of one of the victims. In total, in 2010-2011, investigators found the remains of 11 people on the notorious Gilgo Beach, most of which belonged to young women. Some of these murders remained unsolved for 30 years.
Heuermann was identified thanks to payment documents for his credit cards and phone calls made from different devices. Later, DNA testing confirmed the investigators' guesses. More than 350 electronic devices related to the case were found in Heuermann's home.
The man was initially accused of killing 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy, 22-year-old Megan Waterman and 27-year-old Amber Costello. In January 2024, 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes was added to the number of his alleged victims, and in June of the same year, as RTVI.US reported, 28-year-old Jessica Taylor and 20-year-old Sandra Costilla, whose body was found back in 1993. He was also later charged with a seventh murder, that of 24-year-old Valerie Mack. All the girls were sex workers.
At the April hearing, Heuermann admitted that among his victims was an eighth girl, Karen Vergarata, who disappeared in 1996. As part of a plea deal, Heuermann was not charged with the murder, NBC News reported.
Accused Gilgo Beach, New York, serial killer Rex Heuermann admitted to the murders of eight women in court last week as he changed his plea to guilty.
Here's what we know about his eight victims: https://t.co/s2efcor9DC
— ABC News (@ABC) April 13, 2026
Relatives of the victims spoke at the sentencing hearing.
“A million years is not enough. Nothing will ever fix the situation,” the AP quoted Jasmine Robinson, Jessica Taylor’s cousin, as saying.
Amanda Funderburg, Melissa Barthelemy's sister, called Heuermann a “cannibal,” a “disgusting monster” and a “demon in every sense.”
“You are a coward who preyed on defenseless, innocent women behind a mask, a man without empathy, without a soul, who stalked, tortured and killed women,” NBC quoted Melissa Cann, Maureen Brainard-Barnes' sister, as saying.
Heuermann himself, when asked by the judge, replied that he had nothing to say, since it made no sense, but added that he regretted the crimes committed.
Over the years of investigation, the Long Island murder case has managed to penetrate American pop culture – books have been written about it, documentaries have been made, and the feature film Lost Girls, released by Netflix in 2020, was filmed. In addition, in 2025-2026, the documentary true-crime series “The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets,” produced by rapper 50 Cent, was broadcast on the Peacock streaming service.
In one episode, Asa Ellerup, Heuermann's ex-wife, said that he confessed to her of committing one of the murders just a few days before their wedding in 1996. Ellerup, however, did not hand him over to the police. She divorced Heuermann shortly after his arrest. Ellerup and his and Heuermann's two children refused to attend the sentencing.
