Rex Heuermann gets life without parole in Gilgo Beach killings
What's new: The Long Island architect admitted killing eight women, though he pleaded guilty to charges in seven deaths.
Rex Heuermann was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole for the Gilgo Beach serial killings, closing a case that haunted Long Island for years. In a courtroom in Riverhead, New York, relatives of the victims confronted Heuermann before the sentence, describing decades of grief and anger.
Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty in April to murdering seven women: Melissa Barthelemy, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Sandra Costilla. He also admitted killing an eighth woman, Karen Vergata, though he was not charged in that death. Prosecutors said he strangled the victims, many of them sex workers, and dismembered some bodies. Heuermann, a Long Island architect, was arrested in 2023.