RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (Court TV) — The man who confessed to killing eight women and discarding their bodies along a stretch of New York’s Gilgo Beach had few words to say at his sentencing on Wednesday.
Rex Heuermann appears in court for his sentencing hearing on June 17, 2026. (James Carbone/Newsday/Pool)
Rex Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to seven counts of 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, at a hearing in April. The victims were all working in the sex trade at the time of their deaths. While Heuermann only pleaded guilty to seven charges of murder, his allocution included his admission that he also killed Karen Vergata, 34.
Heuermann killed his victims from 1993 to 2010; their remains weren’t found or identified for years. Heuermann was arrested in 2023 and was initially only charged with three of the murders to which he had initially been linked by DNA. At the time of his arrest, Heuermann was a married father of two who lived on Long Island and worked as an architect in Manhattan.
Investigators said they tracked Heuermann down by linking him to a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche that a witness to Costello’s disappearance had seen. That discovery led to a trove of cellphone records linking burner phones used to arrange meetings to taunting calls made to a victim’s relative and other calls to Brainard-Barnes’ phone after her disappearance. Heuermann’s cellphone records and American Express records lined up with the locations where the burner phones were used, prosecutors said.
Speaking after the sentencing on Wednesday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney revealed that they were able to trace Heuermann’s burner phone usage back to 2007; at the time of his arrest, he had one of the phones in his pocket and another was found at his office.
Heuermann was interrupted as he began to address the court at his sentencing; Judge Timothy Mazzei ordered him to stand as he addressed the Court. “There are no words I can say,” Heuermann said without any expression or inflection. “I am responsible for what was said in this room today. The words I would say have no meaning, and I’m going to leave it there at this time.”
Judge Timothy Mazzei became emotional while listening to victim impact statements at Rex Heuermann’s sentencing. (James Carbone/Newsday/Pool)
Addressing the defendant, Mazzei responded, “I know that you’re sorry you got caught. I assume you’re sorry for what you’ve done to your wife and children. Are you a little bit sorry for what you did to these poor, innocent women? Eight women that you strangled to death? At least eight that we know of. Are you at least a little bit sorry for that? Yes?” Heuermann responded, “Yes, I am.” Unimpressed, Mazzei returned, “You know what? You’ve been described as a very big man. But you’re a disgusting and despicable small man, if you’re a man at all. And you’re a coward!”
Heuermann was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole for three counts of first-degree murder; he was sentenced to four consecutive sentences of 25 years to life for four counts of second-degree murder. When the time came to remove Heuermann from court, Mazzei ordered deputies to “Get him out of here!” as the courtroom erupted in applause and cheers.
Following the hearing, Heuermann’s attorney, Mike Brown, spoke to the media outside the courthouse. “There’s two parts of Rex,” he said. “These acts were horrific … That’s the Rex Heuermann that’s responsible for the eight murders. The person that I’ve been dealing with from the inception in July 2023 is as normal as they come when I’m talking to him and having conversations.”
