Gilgo Beach killer: All Rex Heuermann’s alleged victims, confirmed

Suspected Long Island Serial Killer Rex Heuermann was charged Tuesday with the murder of a seventh woman, Valerie Mack, whose partial remains were recovered in 2000 in Manorville on Long Island, not far from where Heuermann lived.

More of Mack’s remains were found 10 years later, in 2010, on Gilgo Beach, where 11 other suspected Heuermann victims’ bodies have been recovered.

Mack and the other Gilgo Beach murders went unsolved for years, and were long thought to be the work of a previously unknown serial killer called the Long Island Serial Killer, or LISK.

Heuermann, a married father and Manhattan architect, was arrested in July 2023 and charged with murdering three women related to the Gilgo Beach case: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello.

When he was arrested, Heuermann was declared a person of interest in a fourth murder, that of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose body was found on Gilgo Beach in 2010.

Before Heuermann’s arrest, Brainard-Barnes, Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello were known collectively as the “Gilgo Four,” because their bodies were found near each other in quick succession.

Barthelemy, Waterman, Brainard-Barnes, and Costello’s dismembered remains were all found near Gilgo Beach, close to Heuermann’s Nassau County home.

All four women were known sex workers whose cause of death was determined to be homicide.

The Castilla and Taylor indictments

In January this year, Heuermann was officially charged with Brainard-Barnes murder, and in June, he faced two more murder charges, bringing his total number of indictments at that time up to six.

This time, the bodies of the two women Heuermann allegedly killed were not found near Gilgo Beach but in another area close to where Heuermann lived. One woman had not previously been considered a potential LISK victim.

One of the women, Jessica Taylor, disappeared in 2003. Some of her body parts were discovered that year in Manorville on Long Island, and the rest of her body was found near Gilgo Beach eight years later.

Meanwhile, Susan Costilla’s body was recovered in the North Sea, Long Island area in 1993. Costilla’s death predated the earliest known Gilgo Beach murder. Heuermann’s indictment for Costilla’s murder raises the possibility that Heuermann had been active longer than investigators once thought.

Like Heuermann’s other suspected victims, Taylor was a known sex worker when she died. Costilla was born in Trinidad and Tobago, and lived in New York City. Little is known about her life before her death. Costilla had not previously been considered a potential LISK victim.

The Valerie Mack indictment

On Tuesday, Heuermann was officially charged with the murder of Valerie Mack, whose body was discovered in the Manorville area, where Taylor’s remains were found. Mack, known at first as “Jane Doe No. 6” was identified in 2020, and was also a sex worker when she died.

Heuermann was linked to the seven murders through DNA evidence, which included DNA from hair strands linked to Heuermann’s wife and daughter, as well as similarities in how the remains were disposed of and found, and where the body parts were recovered.

Investigators also found evidence recovered in Heuermann’s home, including alleged murder planning documents, and a collection of media coverage related to the Gilgo Beach investigation.

There remain three more victims potentially linked to the Long Island Serial Killer not yet identified: “Peaches,” or “Jane Doe No. 3,” “Baby Doe,” and “Asian Male,” all of whom were found in the Gilgo Beach area. DNA testing determined “Peaches” was the mother of “Baby Doe.”

An eleventh woman, Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker who disappeared near Heuermann’s home on Long Island in 2010, is another possible LISK victim. The Gilbert search led to a series of grisly discoveries that would culminate years later in Heuermann’s arrest.

Another man, Andre Jamal Isaac, from New York, who disappeared in 2002 and whose remains were found on Long Island, is also thought to be a potential LISK victim. Castilla’s 1993 murder, now linked to Heuermann, suggests the suspected murderer’s true number of victims may never be known. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty on all counts.