The accused killer in the infamous Gilgo murders, architect Rex Heuermann, has been charged in the deaths of two more women, bringing the total to six in an investigation that unearthed clues dating back three decades.
A special team headed by Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney connected remains found in the heavy brush along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo, Manorville, and Southampton Town to Heuermann. In announcing the new charges, Tierney released a disturbing murder manifesto found on the suspect’s computer outlining grisly notes he says pertain to Heuermann’s alleged killing spree.
Held without bail at the Suffolk jail in Riverhead since July, Heuermann was arraigned in the 2003 dismemberment death of Jessica Taylor and the 1993 murder of Sandra Costilla, who prosecutors long believed had been killed by someone else. The 60-year-old suspect was 30 when Costilla’s remains were found on Cove Road in the South Fork hamlet of North Sea. More than a decade had passed before the next murder charged to the Massapequa Park resident, who is married and the father of two.
Part of the voluminous evidence Tierney turned over to the defense was travel records showing Heuermann’s family was out of town when some of the murders took place, leading to speculation that the crimes may have taken place in his residence. The Gilgo team also produced phone records linking him to the victims and DNA samples found with the bodies that match the suspect and members of his family. An eyewitness report has a victim getting into a vehicle traced to Heuermann the day she disappeared.
Other evidence disclosed by Tierney was the book, “Mind Hunter,” by retired FBI agent John Douglas. In his murder document, Heuermann referred to specific pages about personality types of serial killers and profiles of those who use mutilation and sexual violence. Investigators also noted Heuermann's significant collection of bondage, torture, and violent pornography dating back to 1994.
Jessica Taylor’s torso was found off Halsey Manor Road in Manorville days after she disappeared, while her head, forearm, and hands were found eight years later along Ocean Parkway near Cedar Beach. Charging documents revealed that a tattoo was mutilated to hamper her identification.
The case sprang back into the headlines in April when search teams using cadaver dogs combed through the wooded areas where Taylor and Costilla’s remains were recovered. Costilla’s death was previously linked to Manorville resident John Bitroff, who is in jail while his appeal in the murder conviction of two other women, Colleen McNamee and Rita Tangredi, is pending. Investigators previously said that while DNA connects Bittrolff to the other two victims, there was none linking him to Costilla, who had suffered multiple stab wounds.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all of the charges brought against him, including the alleged murders of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose bodies were found near Gilgo in a series of discoveries that shocked Long Island.
Tierney, who prioritized cracking the case when he took office in 2022, turned over nearly 400 leads, more than 7,000 other persons of interest, and other evidence to the defense amassed during the 13-year investigation.
Also discovered near Gilgo were a two-year-old girl and a young Asian man. The bodies were found during a search for Shannan Gilbert, who disappeared after leaving a nearby home. Her body was discovered in a marsh years later.
Asked if investigators were working to tie Heuermann to another victim, Valerie Mack, whose remains were found near Taylor’s, Tierney said, "I think that would be fair to say,” adding that investigators are looking back at over 30 years of crime in Suffolk and beyond to possibly connect to Heuermann.