Rex Heuermann – the Gilgo Beach serial killer – was sentenced to life in prison without parole in a New York court yesterday. The 62-year-old Manhattan architect pleaded guilty to murdering seven women and admitted to the killing of an eighth in April.
The killings are said to have begun in 1993, with women going missing in Long Island, New York, until the 2010s. After a lengthy investigation, detectives finally linked his vehicle to the killings in 2022, and DNA testing of a discarded pizza crust saw him arrested and charged in July 2023.
Heuermann said in court: “Everything that has been said is true. There are no words I can say. The words I would say have no meaning.” Judge Timothy Mazzei gave a scathing response, calling Heuermann a “disgusting and pathetic, small man, if you are a man at all. You are a coward.”
Relatives of women murdered by New York’s Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann confronted him in court before he was sentenced to life without parole. Heuermann, who admitted to killing eight women, was arrested after DNA from a pizza crust linked him to the slayings. pic.twitter.com/xTy7FzIZRi
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) June 17, 2026
But those words were nothing compared to the scorn and fury that came from the victims’ families, who were en masse to see Heuermann face justice.
“You fill me with so much repugnance, I can’t stand it.”
As reported by The Guardian, Kimberly Overstreet, the sister of victim Amber Costello, dubbed him “a raging, murdering sex addict”. Elizabeth Meserve, the aunt of victim Megan Waterman, said, “Begone, you evil demon.” Jasmine Robinson, cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, said, “You fill me with so much repugnance, I can’t stand it. A million years isn’t enough. Nothing will ever make this right.”
Heuermann was also slammed for calling Amanda Funderberg, the sister of victim Melissa Barthelemy, using the dead woman’s phone to taunt her family about the murder. Funderberg, who was reportedly sitting mere feet away from Heuermann, demanded he look her in the eye and said:
“You can look at me when I’m talking to you. It’s been 17 years since we last spoke. The things I’d do to you are worse than what you’ve ever done to anyone. I hope you suffer in the way my sister suffered. Save a spot in hell, I’ll see you there.”
Heuermann is now behind bars for the rest of his life, though investigators believe he “very likely murdered in other states”. John Ray, an attorney representing the family of one of the victims, said “He stalked women in Florida, Virginia, Philadelphia, and possibly, Anchorage, Alaska. These are people who survived him but there may have been people he killed there too.”
Serious questions are also being asked about the competency of the Suffolk County Police Department, as it emerged they’d had a 2010 tip that a man described as an “ogre” connected to the case drove a Chevrolet Avalanche and had not acted upon it. That piece of information, once finally investigated, led to Heuermann’s arrest within weeks.
Published: Jun 18, 2026 07:54 am