Man accused of being the ‘Gilgo Beach Killer’ to appear in court Wednesday

Ariel Harmer
·3 min read
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney speaks at a news conference to announce the identity of a victim investigators had called the “Jane Doe No. 7,” as Karen Vergata, Friday, Aug. 4, 2023, in Hauppauge, New York. Law enforcement authorities said Friday they have identified a woman whose remains were found as far back as 1996 in different spots along the Long Island coast, some of them near the Gilgo Beach locations of bodies investigators believe were left by a serial killer.

The man at the center of last Friday’s “Dateline” episode, “The Hunt for the Gilgo Beach Killer,” is set to appear in court on Wednesday, per the Long Island Press.

The hunt for the Gilgo Beach serial killer started in 2010 when police began searching for a missing Long Island woman along a stretch of Gilgo Beach, New York, and found 11 sets of human remains, per NBC. In July of this year, New York architect Rex Heuermann was arrested and charged with the murders of three of the women.

Who is Rex Heuermann?

Heuermann, 59, is a Long Island resident. He has denied any involvement in the murders.

Prosecutors previously announced that DNA evidence recovered from one of the bodies was a match to Heuermann, per ABC.

Heuermann’s next court date is set for Wednesday, Nov. 15.

Who are the ‘Gilgo Four’?

When 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert went missing in Long Island in 2010, investigators began searching for her and found the remains of 24-year old Melissa Barthelemy in the brush along Gilgo Beach, per ABC. They soon found three other bodies: 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 22-year-old Megan Waterman and 27-year-old Amber Lynn Costello.

Investigators determined the women had been killed by the same person, according to ABC. Over the next few months, they continued to search Gilgo Beach and found a total of 11 victims, including Gilbert.

Who are the Long Island serial killer victims?

Although 11 sets of human remains were found in investigators’ search of Gilgo Beach, not all have been identified. Heuermann has been linked to several of the identified women, although he has not been charged in all of their deaths.

Heuermann has been charged with the murders of three of the “Gilgo Four” women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, per NBC.

Heuermann is a suspect in the ongoing investigation of the murder of Brainard-Barnes, the last of the “Gilgo Four.” NBC reports he has also been linked to the murders of Shannan Gilbert, 24-year-old Valerie Mack and 34-year-old Karen Vergata, who were also discovered on Gilgo Beach.

Where does the case stand now?

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison announced in a press conference included in the “Dateline” episode that new witnesses have stepped forward. Police are continuing to investigate the deaths of each of the 11 people found on Gilgo Beach.

“We are not done with this investigation, I want to make sure that that’s very clear,” Harrison said.

“The Hunt for the Gilgo Beach Killer” is available for streaming on NBC and Peacock.