After nearly three years of maintaining his innocence, Rex Heuermann has admitted he is the Gilgo Beach serial killer — confessing to strangling eight women whose bodies he dumped along a Long Island highway over a span of 17 years. The guilty plea reshapes a case that Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney called one of the most significant criminal investigations in the region’s history.
Heuermann, 62, a former architect, changed his plea on April 8, 2026, inside a Riverhead courtroom while his ex-wife and daughter watched from the gallery.
Everything to know about the case, below.
What Did Rex Heuermann Plead Guilty To?
Heuermann admitted to killing eight women between 1993 and 2010. Their bodies were found dumped near Gilgo Beach. The victims were Valerie Mack, 24, Jessica Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Sandra Costilla, 28, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Karen Vergata, 34.
Under questioning by Tierney, Heuermann admitted to strangling his victims in the basement of his Massapequa home. He also acknowledged dismembering some of them. When asked how he killed the eight women, he offered one word: “Strangulation.” An eye witness inside the courtroom confirmed to Luxury Handbag Shopping he showed no emotion.
As part of his plea agreement, Heuermann will be sentenced to three consecutive life sentences plus 100 years. He has also agreed to cooperate with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit.
How Was Rex Heuermann Caught?
Heuermann was arrested in July 2023 outside his Manhattan office. Prosecutors said they used DNA from his discarded pizza crust to help link him to the 2007 killing of Brainard-Barnes and six other deaths.
His defense team argued that taking the DNA violated his constitutional right to privacy. “We all heard about them going in our garbage, taking our pizza crust,” defense attorney Danielle Coysh said. “Rex Heuermann may have abandoned his pizza crust, but he never abandoned all that personal information that is now our DNA.”
A judge ruled the advanced DNA testing could be used.
Prosecutors also revealed Heuermann’s extensive online activity in court filings obtained by ABC New York. He allegedly registered burner phones and a Tinder account under the aliases “Andrew Roberts” and “Thomas Hawk” to contact sex workers hundreds of times. A Gmail account was used to conduct “thousands” of searches related to violent content and more than 100 searches about the Gilgo Beach killings — including “Why hasn’t the long island serial killer been caught.”
Prosecutors argued the evidence showed Heuermann is a “sexual sadist” and that his pattern of contacting sex workers through burner phones reflected a “consistent pattern spanning over 15 years.”
What Happened Inside the Riverhead Courtroom?
Heuermann hobbled into the courtroom and smiled at his ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and daughter Victoria Heuermann. The women were accompanied by civil rights attorney Gloria Allred.
“The court has been made aware that the defendant may enter a guilty plea today, which was probably the worst kept secret in this building,” Judge Timothy P. Mazzei said from the bench.
News of the plea deal had surfaced weeks earlier when relatives of some victims informed Long Island daily Newsday that an April 8 hearing had been scheduled. Both Tierney and defense attorney Michael J. Brown had declined to comment at the time.
What Has Rex Heuermann’s Family Said?
Ellerup filed for divorce weeks after Heuermann’s arrest. In a Peacock documentary released earlier this year called The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, executive produced by rapper 50 Cent, she expressed disbelief about the allegations.
“Nobody deserves what they got. But Rex was not seeing [sex workers]. He’s a family man. He didn’t do this,” Ellerup said. “I would need to hear it from Rex face to face that he killed these girls for me to believe it. My husband never kept me out of anything.”
After the April 8 hearing, reporters followed Ellerup and Victoria into the court parking lot. Ellerup reportedly told reporters she felt bad for the victims but would not speak beyond that.
What Happens Next in the Gilgo Beach Case?
On April 6, 2026, lawyer John Ray filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Heuermann, Ellerup and their children on behalf of Benjamin Torres, the only child of Mack. The civil filing contends Mack’s death deprived Torres of his “mother’s care, guidance, protection, nurture, society and economic support.”
Investigators spent weeks going through Heuermann’s house after his arrest, collecting evidence and discovering a stockpile of guns in the basement. They are still trying to connect Heuermann to two other bodies found at Gilgo Beach.
