Man accused in Gilgo Beach serial killings is expected to plead guilty,
sources say
[March 27, 2026]
By PHILIP MARCELO
NEW YORK (AP) — The man accused in Long Island’s infamous Gilgo Beach
serial killings intends to plead guilty in the case next month,
according to two people familiar with his decision.
Rex Heuermann, a former architect charged with murdering seven women
over 17 years, is set to change his plea from not guilty at his next
scheduled court hearing on April 8, they said.
The two people, who have both been involved in the case, spoke to The
Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the plea has yet to
be entered in court. One of the people said the victims' families and
Heuermann's own family have already been notified of the decision.
Lawyers for Heuermann didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking
comment.
Still, much can happen before the court date. Heuermann simply can
change his mind, and any guilty plea would also have to be accepted by a
judge.
Heuermann, 62, had been scheduled to go on trial in September. He has
been in custody since his arrest in July 2023 and had previously told
the court he wasn't guilty. His plan to change his plea was first
reported by Newsday.
Prosecutors have said DNA evidence, cellphone data and evidence found in
a search of Heuermann's Massapequa, New York, home connect him to the
victims, who were all young women involved in sex work.
Remains of several victims were found on an isolated stretch of
shoreline parkway, though some remains were scattered in other remote
areas.
The victims include Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber
Lynn Costello, Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Megan
Waterman.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney declined to comment when
reached late Thursday, as did Gloria Allred, a prominent California
lawyer representing some of the families of the victims.
The investigation of a potential Long Island serial killer spilled into
public view in 2010, when police searching for a missing woman
discovered numerous sets of human remains in the scrub along Ocean
Parkway, not far from Gilgo Beach.
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Rex Heuermann, charged in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo
Beach killings, appears in Judge Timothy Mazzei's courtroom at
Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., for a status conference on
Feb. 25, 2025. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, File)
Over the years, investigators used DNA analysis and other clues to
identify the victims. In some cases, they were able to connect them
to remains found elsewhere on Long Island years earlier.
It would take years for investigators to identify Heuermann as a
potential suspect.
A renewed investigation into the cold case first identified him as
the potential culprit in 2022. Detectives linked Heuermann to a
pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when one of the victims
disappeared in 2010.
Then, investigators surveilling Heuermann recovered a pizza crust
he’d discarded in the trash and used it to link him to DNA from a
hair recovered from the one of the victim’s bodies.
Cellphone data additionally showed Heuermann was in contact with
some of the victims just before their disappearances, and a review
of his internet searches revealed a history of viewing violent
torture pornography — and of looking for information about the
investigation into the killings.
Last year, investigators recovered files from Heuermann’s computer
that they described as a "blueprint” for the killings, including a
series of checklists with reminders to limit noise, clean the bodies
and destroy evidence.
In recent months, the judge in the case rejected motions from
Heuermann’s lawyers to exclude certain DNA evidence from the trial
as well as to break up the case into multiple trials.
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