RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (Court TV) — A man charged in the deaths of seven women whose bodies were found buried along a stretch of New York’s Gilgo Beach showed no emotion as he entered guilty pleas to multiple charges on Wednesday.
Rex Heuermann appears in court on Friday, March 28, 2025. (James Carbone /Newsday/POOL)
Rex Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to murder in the deaths of Sandra Costilla, 28, Valerie Mack, 24, Jessica Taylor, 20, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. He also pleaded guilty to transporting a body to Suffolk County in the death of an eighth woman, Karen Vergata. He was not charged with Vergata’s murder.
Each of the victims had been in the sex trade when they died and were found buried along a stretch of Gilgo Beach. No charges have been filed in the deaths of several other women whose bodies were found in the same area.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney offered an overview of the evidence against Heuermann at the hearing, saying prosecutors had amassed 120 terabytes of data, including 7,015 pages of evidence. Tierney went through each of the victims, saying that Heuermann admitted to luring the women with promises of money and strangling them to death. As Tierney listed the crimes, Heuermann could be seen saying “yes.”
Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and her daughter, Victoria, arrived at the courthouse just before 9 a.m. on Wednesday. “We’re prepared for whatever’s going to go on in the courtroom today,” Ellerup’s attorney, Bob Macedonio, told reporters as they walked in. “Asa and Victoria both prepared for that, and honestly, we’ve spent the last 33 months preparing for whatever outcome could be. She has said consistently since day one she wants to hear this and see this play out in the courtroom, and that’s what’s going to happen today. She wants to hear the words out of her ex-husband’s mouth.”
Sources close to the case told multiple media outlets last month that Heuermann had changed course and intended to enter a guilty plea. Heuermann’s attorney, Michael J. Brown, offered no comment when asked about the case by Court TV.
Heuermann is scheduled to return to court on June 17 for his sentencing.
