Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann is expected to plead guilty at his next court appearance in April.
Family members of the women he is accused of killing told Newsday they had been informed of the expected plea.
The 62-year-old former Manhattan architect has been charged with the deaths of seven sex workers who vanished between 1993 and 2010 — including the so-called “Gilgo 4,” four women who were found dead along a secluded stretch of Gilgo Beach, as CrimeOnline reported. The deaths of Valerie Mack, 24; Jessica Taylor, 20; Megan Waterman, 22; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Sandra Costilla, 28; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27, remained unsolved until the case was reopened in 2022.
Heuermann was arrested in July 2023 and charged with the deaths of three of the Gilgo 4 — Waterman, Barthelemy, and Costello. The fourth, Brainerd-Barnes, was added shortly afterward, and later still Taylor and Costilla. Finally, Mack was added to the list.
He has so far publicly denied any connection with the murders, and his trial was expected to begin in September.
Newsday did not obtain any details of a possible plea deal, and it could fall apart by Heuermann’s April 8 court date — or the judge could decline to sign off on it.
The Gilgo 4 women all disappeared between 2007 and 2009, and their remains found near Gilgo Beach in December 2010. Mack disappeared in 2000 and Taylor in 2003; their bodies were found near one another in the woodlands near Manorville. Costilla’s body was found in North Sea in 1993. The bodies of those three women were all found within days of their disappearances.
Among the evidence against him was DNA that linked him to six of the seven women. The DNA belonged to Heuermann, his wife, and his daughter — and in the case of Costilla, to his wife at the time of Costilla’s killing.
Prosecutors also revealed a “planning document” they found during a search of Heuermann’s Massapaqua home that provided details on how to carry out the killings and avoid capture.
The April 8 hearing has been scheduled for a defense motion filed in the case. If Heuermann does change his plea at that time, the judge will set a date for sentencing.
For the latest true crime and justice news, subscribe to the ‘Crime Stories with Nancy Grace’ podcast.
[Featured image: Rex Heuermann, center, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing with is attorney Michael J. Brown, left, July 30, 2024. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)]
