Northeast
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect allegedly has more victims, hunting grounds than police first imagined
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. – Suspected Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann returned to a New York courthouse Thursday to be charged with killing two more women.
Heuermann was indicted on two new murder charges in the deaths of Jessica Taylor in July 2003 and Sandra Costilla in November 1993.
Authorities also revealed in court records that during their investigation they found a document on Heuermann’s computer they believe was a “planning document” he used to “methodically blueprint and ‘plan out’ his ‘kills,’” with sections about things to remember, problems, supplies, prep work, dump sites and targets.
Police arrested the 59-year-old New York City architect last year in connection with three cold case murders and prosecutors secured an indictment for a fourth victim months later. He made a brief appearance in court Thursday in a suit and handcuffs, and is due back on July 30.
REX HEUERMANN’S FAMILY KEPT GRUESOME PIECE OF EVIDENCE, SOURCE SAYS
Rex Heuermann, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)
The Gilgo Beach murders went unsolved for more than a decade. And the case is broadening.
A task force with state and local investigators pieced together evidence that led them to their “ogre” suspect: an eyewitness description of his green Chevy Avalanche, records from a slew of burner phones, crime scene DNA and a discarded pizza crust.
Rex Heuermann, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)
Rex Heuermann, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)
Taylor’s body was discovered in Manorville, Suffolk County, on July 26, 2003, with her head decapitated, her arms severed, and a tattoo mutilated. Her other remains were found on March 29, 2011, along Ocean Parkway, just east of Gilgo Beach, near where the other Gilgo victims’ remains had been found.
Costilla’s remains were found on Nov. 20, 1993, in a wooded area of Southampton.
An evidence photo shows Rex Heuermann’s personal copy of “The Cases That Haunt Us,” a book detailing several famous serial murder cases, in his home office. According to court documents, the book was discovered during authorities’ initial search warrant execution in July 2023. (Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office)
In July 2023, police arrested Heuermann outside his Manhattan office and spent nearly two weeks scouring through his home in Massapequa Park, about 20 minutes from where police found the bodies of Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; and Amber Costello, 27, in 2010.
Prosecutors later tacked on charges for the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, whose remains they found near the others.
The “Gilgo Four” clockwise from top left: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. The background shows a wooden cross in the marsh next to Gilgo Beach, New York, where their remains were found in the brush just yards from Ocean Parkway. (Suffolk County Police Department/Mega for Fox News Digital)
Collectively, those women are known as the Gilgo Four because they were found close together and under similar circumstances.
SUSPECTED SERIAL KILLER REX HEUERMANN’S HOME SEARCHED AGAIN
Shannan Gilbert’s remains were found near Oak Beach, New York on December 13, 2011. (The family of Shannan Gilbert)
Police uncovered their remains in the brush along Ocean Parkway after another woman, Shannan Gilbert, vanished into the night after placing a panicked 911 call begging for help.
Police found seven other bodies further east along the highway. Most of the deaths remain under investigation. Gilbert was the last one in 2011.
Rex Heuermann, charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings on Long Island, appears for a hearing at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Heuermann was charged Thursday in the deaths of two more, after prosecutors said they gathered new DNA evidence and found a computer document he had used to “blueprint” his crimes. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)
John Ray, attorney for Gilbert’s family, said after Thursday’s court appearance that Heuermann’s notes mentioned Stockholm syndrome, which suggests he held his alleged victims for some unknown time.
“How long did he keep them alive is the big question,” Ray said.
Ray, who said he has evidence that ties Heuermann to Gilbert, said he does not think that any of things listed in the planning document would ever be found.
Rex Heuermann’s attorney Michael Brown, right, arrives to the courtroom in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Police said in 2020 that Gilbert’s death appeared to be an accidental drowning, although her official cause of death is undetermined and a private autopsy conducted by Dr. Michael Baden found evidence of “homicidal strangulation.”
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An evidence photo depicts phone call records from Rex Heuermann’s Massapequa Park address to the Vermont address his family was visiting in July 2003. (Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office)
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Another Long Island homicide victim is Valerie Mack, who was dismembered and dumped.
Additional remains of hers were uncovered near the Gilgo victims.
Jessica Taylor, left, and Valerie Mack, right, were both murdered and dismembered. Suffolk County police discovered partial remains of each victim in both Manorville, N.Y., and along a stretch of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. (Suffolk County Police Department/Handout)
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K-9 units conducted a search in Manorville in April and then served a second search warrant on Heuermann’s house in May.
The prime suspect in Costilla’s death was previously another serial killer, former Manorville carpenter John Bittrolff, who is currently in prison for two other murders.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney arrives to the courthouse in Riverhead, N.Y., Thursday, June 6, 2024. Rex Heuermann, the New York architect accused of killing four women and leaving their bodies near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, has been accused in the deaths of two more women. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
If Heuermann is responsible for any of the deaths out east, his suspected killing spree would have started years earlier than previously known.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in connection with the Gilgo Four.
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New York
Read the judge’s decision on evidence in the Luigi Mangione state murder trial.
searched in the detainee’s presence, where possible. Once she quickly found the gun, she moved the backpack to a separate area, as required by APD protocol — that the search be moved out of the detainee’s presence if a weapon were recovered.
Once Wasser moved the backpack to a hallway area, she continued to sift through it, placing personal items back into the backpack, and putting other evidentiary items in manila envelopes, including items found at the McDonald’s, such as the gun magazine, the cellphone, and the knife, as well as items found at the station, including a silencer, the USB drive, and the red notebook. This was also consistent with APD protocol, that personal items be separated from evidence or contraband. All the items were then moved to Featherstone’s office so there would be more room to complete the inventory.
This initial inventory sufficiently complied with Altoona procedure to be a valid inventory search. See People v. Craddock, 235 AD3d 1105, 1109 (3d Dep’t 2025). Nor does the effort to separate evidence from personal property render the search unlawful. See People v. McCray, 195 AD3d 555, 557 (1st Dep’t 2021) (that one of the requirements of the inventory search was to “remove any contraband” did not render the inventory search invalid). While Wasser did not prepare a written list of the items, APD policies did not require documentation to be simultaneous with the search, and all the items were documented once they were moved to Featherstone’s office and the larger area of the roll-call room. Minor deviations from procedure will not invalidate an inventory search, Keita, 162 AD3d at 610, and courts have upheld inventory searches where there was a delay in documentation. See Douglas, 40 NY3d at 389 (11- hour delay in preparing list): People v. Echevarria, 173 AD3d 638, 639 (1st Dep’t 2019).
Once the items were moved to Featherstone’s office, and then the roll-call room, all items were meticulously documented. Featherstone, Heuston, and eventually Burns, placed each item in an envelope, labeled each envelope, and kept written lists of the items. Heuston and Featherstone also photographed each item, including each loose piece of paper and each page the notebook.
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Thus, it is clear that that the Altoona Police Department had an established inventory search protocol, that the protocol was followed, and that the search produced the “hallmark of an inventory search: a meaningful inventory list.” Johnson, 1 NY3d at 256. And as noted above, any
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Boston, MA
With the World Cup weeks away, Boston and the T clash over Summer Street closure – The Boston Globe
“As we have shared with your team, it is imperative that a limited portion of Summer Street near South Station is closed to traffic,” read the letter sent from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s General Manger Phillip Eng to the city’s interim chief of streets, Nicholas Gove.
The T’s letter, dated May 15, goes on to suggest that the state is moving forward with the plan to close down that stretch of Summer Street with or without the city’s buy-in, with Eng stating that the letter serves “as notice that the MBTA intends to acquire the temporary right to occupy this portion of Summer Street.”
“The MBTA will continue to work with the City to secure a permit, which would allow the MBTA to withdraw this notice,” read the letter.
The city says not so fast, painting the letter as an “eminent domain” power move.
“The City opposes this inappropriate use of eminent domain to bypass the permitting process for roadways under local jurisdiction, and we urge the Commonwealth to withdraw the filing while plans are being reviewed,” said a spokesperson for Mayor Michelle Wu’s administration in a statement.
The city’s agencies, according to the spokesperson, “have extensive experience managing major events of comparable scale, and the City has proposed alternatives to meet the safety and security needs of the World Cup while preserving access to this area for residents, visitors, and local commuters.”
The statement continued, “Full closure of a major route into the City for multiple entire workdays should be undertaken only as a last resort, and the City will continue working toward a resolution.”
The MBTA expects about 20,000 fans to take trains from Boston to Gillette Stadium for each of the local World Cup matches.
“Given the unprecedented number of people who will be coming to the South Station area to attend the World Cup, take their regular commutes or attend fan-related events, the MBTA has elevated its security posture in and around South Station to mirror those in place at [Gillette] Stadium on match days,” said Eng in the letter.
Boston city officials argue that the plan would further snarl traffic in an area that is already heavily congested during rush hour. They worry that planned detours for the closure don’t accurately account for driver behavior and that the proposal is underpinned by old data.
The city also says it has identified alternative plans that would not involve shutting down Summer Street, including utilizing Dewey Square and the Rose Kennedy Greenway as staging areas for passengers.
World Cup matches will be held in Foxborough on June 13, 16, 19, 23, 26, and 29, as well as July 9. The T plans to close down the street for stretches of 10 hours on game days, according to the letter. Previously, the T and the city agreed to shut down a portion of Summer Street for games on June 13 and 19, but Eng declared in the letter that “equal public safety needs exist for the other five matches.”
Summer Street is a busy thoroughfare that stretches from the city’s Financial District into the Seaport and South Boston. The stretch of road that would be shut down for World Cup game days is about a fifth of a mile, from South Station, a central commuting hub home to the Red Line, buses, and commuter rail service, to just before the Fort Point Channel. The intersection of Summer and Dorchester Avenue itself would not be shut down.
The move to close it down comes at the recommendation of State Police and the T’s public safety personnel, and local businesses have been apprised of the plan, according to the T’s letter.
“It is also consistent with steps we collaboratively take during other major events, such as First Night and the Boston Marathon,” said Eng in the letter.
Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him @Danny__McDonald.
Pittsburg, PA
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