In the case that haunted Long Island, New York, a serial killer pleads guilty to eight murders.

 

In court on Wedneday, dressed in a black suit, Heuermann stood alongside his attorney and pleaded guilty to the murders of eight women (Image: getty Images)

On Wednesday, a six-foot-four man in a black suit and blue tie stood across from a judge and admitted to the horrifying details of the murders of eight women, bringing an end to a decades-long saga. Rex Heuermann appeared expressionless as he confirmed to Judge Timothy Mazzei that he had strangled and bound them each in the same manner before dropping their remains along Long Island's remote beaches.

 He gave mostly "Yes" answers to each of the judge's questions about his crimes without looking back at the crowd of victims' families in the courtroom, some of whom suppressed their cries. Because it took years for investigators to solve the murders that had haunted many Long Islanders, the women's families had to wait for over a decade. Sandra Symon, a high school classmate of Heuermann's, told the BBC that "a lot of people would talk about it - it was not taboo." "Everyone had an idea." Those theories ended in 2023, when police arrested Heuermann, a married father-of-two living in Massapequa Park, a quiet Long Island suburb, in a run-down house where he spent his childhood.

 The 62-year-old architect was arrested by Suffolk County police who swarmed his Midtown Manhattan office after tying him to the murders with DNA from a pizza box.

 Heuermann was initially accused of killing seven women, but on Wednesday, he pleaded guilty to killing another woman in 1996. The case came to light in 2010 when four sets of remains were discovered on Gilgo Beach within a quarter mile of each other, despite the fact that many of his victims had been missing for years.

READ MORE: Gilgo Beach serial killings suspect charged with seventh murder

Heuermann eventually pleaded guilty to the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Costello, 27, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Jessica Taylor, 20, Valerie Mack, 24, Sandra Costilla, 28, and Karen Vergata, 34, after initially pleading not guilty. Heuermann's victims are all believed to be sex workers at the time of their death, some of them contacted by him through their advertisements on Craigslist.

 Heuermann only confirmed to the judge on Wednesday that he lured the victims with the promise of money, then killed and dismembered them before dumping their bodies on the beach. Heuermann provided few new details about the killings in court. When asked how he killed them, he only said "strangulation" and "guilty" when asked to enter his new pleas. "There wasn't a jot of remorse in that man's face," John Ray, an attorney for the victims' families said after the hearing.  "He was as cold as ice."

 On June 17, he will be formally sentenced to a number of life terms. Asa Ellerup, his ex-wife, watched the brief hearing from the back of the room, dressed in black and without expression, along with Heuermann's daughter, who was holding tissues. Outside court, Ellerup said her thoughts were with the victims' families, calling their loss "immeasurable".

On the eve before Heuermann was expected to plead guilty, news cameras appeared to be filming a documentary with his family in the backyard (Image: BBC)

American flags line the streets of the tiny Long Island village of Massapequa Park, which has 18,000 residents, bordering dozens of well-kept homes, some of which have boats parked in their driveways. But to many in the neighbourhood, one house always stood out: The dilapidated red-shuttered house with green-lined windows is just a block away from Joe, who moved into the neighbourhood with his then-wife in 1995.

 "It doesn't fit in the neighbourhood, but what are you going to do?"  Joe said, refusing to reveal his last name for privacy's sake. "You don't even care about it." Once a neighbourhood eyesore, Heuermann's childhood home now draws the media and true crime obsessives.  The evening before Heuermann's scheduled plea hearing, it was swarmed once more by reporters as his ex-wife Ellerup and their children, along with their attorney, responded to a wrongful death lawsuit that a victim's relative had filed against them. Heuermann remained at home with his wife and two children after he was sentenced, even grilling on the front porch in front of curious onlookers. The rest of the town, however, was eager to move on as the date of Heuermann's plea hearing approached. The BBC was told by residents that, with the exception of the occasional news story, they no longer think about the serial killer who once lived in their neighborhood. Joe stated, "It's not headlines anymore." "American society has a short memory for things."

Sandra Symon went to high school with Heuermann, whom she described as a "loner" (Image: BBC)

A plea after years of silence

Even though the women's friends and family were relieved by Heuermann's guilty plea on Wednesday, many believe it should have been given years ago. Police had been looking into the deaths for more than a decade and had a tip that, if taken care of, would have led them to the killer in a matter of weeks. Due to officers' frequent emphasis that the women were "prostitutes," family members of the victims have alleged that the police did not exert any effort because the women who were killed were sex workers. Some Long Island residents agreed, saying they were horrified by how long it took to get justice.

 Ellen Munoz, a neighboring town resident who attended Heuermann's hearing, stated, "They're not less than because they did what they had to do."

In the beginning, the Suffolk County Police Department did not involve federal investigators in the investigation, and the investigation's leaders were involved in separate scandals. Former Police Chief James Burke, who oversaw the case, was arrested in 2015 and later convicted on charges including obstruction of justice.  That case also brought down Thomas Spota, Suffolk district attorney from 2002 to 2017, who also led the Gilgo Beach investigation.

 With new leadership, Suffolk County Police established a task force in 2022 to investigate the murders, bringing in federal and local authorities, and within six weeks, they found Heuermann. After Amber Costello's roommate had an altercation with a client in 2010, the police used a suspect description that she had provided. Dave Schaller, the roommate, said that the client was a big man who looked like "an ogre" and drove a one-of-a-kind Chevrolet Avalanche. That tip later helped investigators track down Heuermann.  From there, they looked at the victims' burned-in phones, cell tower data, and hair on their bodies that was similar to the pizza he had thrown away. The police claim that they discovered additional evidence in his basement, including instructions he wrote on his computer for carrying out the murders.

Despite Heuermann's admission of the homicides, many questions remain for the families of the victims and the public.

 The four women's bodies were found as authorities searched for the remains of another woman - Shannan Gilbert - who called police late one night in May 2010 screaming that "they" were trying to kill her.

 Eileen Coletti Edwards appeared in court on Wednesday on behalf of her father, who allowed Gilbert into his Oak Beach home on the night she vanished after knocking on his door. Gilbert fled when he attempted to call the police. According to Coletti Edwards, whose father passed away prior to Heuermann's arrest, "he was holding out hope that she had escaped and was hiding." Police have said they do not believe Heuermann killed Gilbert and that her death was likely an accident from drowning or other dangerous conditions in the marsh where she was found.

 Benjamin Torres, Valerie Mack's son, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Heuermann and his family in an effort to recover the money the family is making from the documentary they are working on. Ray, Torres's lawyer, noted that Ellerup called her husband her "hero", after he was arrested, even as they divorced.  According to police, they do not believe that his family was involved. Ellerup's attorney stated once more that they were not involved on Tuesday outside their house in Massapequa Park. Some residents wonder if Long Island's land holds still more secrets.

 In the summer, Symon is among the boaters who head out every Sunday to Hemlock Cove, a popular anchor spot near where Heuermann discarded the remains of his victims.

 Using binoculars to see if additional bodies are lurking in the nearby marsh is sometimes joked about. Symon constantly considers the women they discovered there. "How did you not consider them?" She stated. "What a terrible, terrifying event that was."

Source: BBC