Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann was charged on Thursday with the murder of two additional women 10 years apart on Long Island. Heuermann, 60, was indicted on murder charges in the 1993 killing of Sandra Costilla and the 2003 killing of Jessica Taylor; the New York City architect pleaded not guilty to the new murder charges. Heuermann now faces charges in the deaths of six women spanning three decades and multiple Long Island communities after he was indicted on the two new murder charges Thursday.
Costilla’s death was not previously tied to the Gilgo case; body was discovered in a wooded area of North Sea, a hamlet in Southampton. Prosecutors initially suspected Manorville carpenter, John Bittrolff, in her death, and he was later convicted of killing two other women. The Suffolk County district attorney’s office says DNA from hair found near Costilla and Taylor’s remains connect Heuermann to their killings; with ivestigators also stating that evidence showed Heuermann had his Massapequa Park house to himself at the time of their deaths, leaving him with “unfettered time” to carry out the crimes. Prosecutors believe Costilla was killed sometime between Nov. 19 and 20 in 1993, and Taylor was killed between July 21 and July 26 in 2003. The Manorville Pine Barrens are roughly 25 miles west of North Sea, which is on the South Fork on Long Island.
Heuermann was charged in July 2023 with killing four women. The remains of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman were found in burlap bags along Gilgo Beach’s Ocean Parkway in 2010. The new charges on Thursday comce after two recent searches, including a return to Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park last month; with prosecutors released disturbing new details into the ongoing investigation. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Thursday: “It is alleged that the pornographic images that were accessed by Heuermann are consistent with the crime scenes of both Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor. The indictment also includes a photo of a document, which investigators say Heuermann used as a “blueprint” to “plan out his kills with excruciating detail. We allege that this document evinces the defendant’s intent in committing the charged crimes, that his intent was, specifically, to locate these victims, to hunt them down and to bring them under his control and to kill them.”
Heuermann’s defense attorneys have asked for more time to review the new evidence and say he maintains his innocence.
Editorial credit: WoodysPhotos / Shutterstock.com
