Alleged Gilgo Beach Killer Rex Heuermann set to plead guilty

by · UPI

April 8 (UPI) -- A man who allegedly killed seven women and discarded their bodies in the Gilgo Beach area of Long Island is expected to plead guilty to the killings today.

Rex Heuermann, 62, is accused of the murders that happened over 17 years. He is scheduled to appear in Suffolk County Court Wednesday.

A source familiar with the case told CNN that Heuermann is expected to "take responsibility" for all seven murder charges, and there was no deal made with the district attorney's office.

It's unclear why Heuermann decided to plead guilty. He has been in custody since his arrest in July 2023.

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The trial was scheduled to happen in September, but if he pleads guilty, that trial won't go forward. He faces life in prison without parole.

Heuermann is accused of killing seven women believed to be sex workers and whose remains were found in secluded areas near Gilgo Beach and parts of eastern Long Island.

There were 11 slayings found between 2010 and 2011, but police don't believe Heuermann committed all 11.

Heuermann is an architect who was married with children at the time. He was arrested in 2023 and charged with three counts of first-degree murder. The other four charges came later.

He has maintained his innocence.

Heuermann was first charged in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; and Amber Costello, 27. Barthelemy was reported missing in 2009, and Waterman and Costello went missing in 2010.

Then in 2024, he was charged with killing four more: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Jessica Taylor, 20; Sandra Costilla, 28; and Valerie Mack, 24. Brainard-Barnes disappeared in 2007, Taylor went missing in 2003, and Mack in 2000. Costilla's remains were found in a wooded area in Southampton in 1993.

In September, Judge Timothy Mazzei refused to try each case separately, instead charging all the cases as one. On Sept. 3, he also said that DNA evidence is admissible in the trial.

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