Alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer on crutches after mystery health issues in prison: lawyer

The Long Island architect accused of killing seven sex workers in the Gilgo Beach murders is hobbling around in crutches behind bars with mysterious “health issues,” his lawyer said Tuesday.Defense attorney Michael Brown said accused serial killer Rex Heuermann skipped his latest Suffolk County court appearance because of the undisclosed ailment that has the hulking Massapequa Park resident temporarily sidelined as he awaits trial.“He’s been on crutches for a month or so.” Brown told Judge Tim Mazzei in court.

“He has some health issues, so that’s what we’re dealing with.”Asked for details, the lawyer said he was “not at liberty to say.”Suffolk County corrections officials declined to provide details citing medical confidentially laws.Brown said he agreed to have Heuermann sit out Tuesday’s hearings, which was scheduled for the defense to submit motions and answers to prosecution filings in advance of a trial.Heuermann, 62, is charged with killing seven sex workers whose mutilated bodies were dumped along desolate stretches of Long Island between 1993 and 2010.The gruesome killings remained unsolved for decades before Suffolk County authorities reopened the cold cases, which led to Heuermann’s arrest outside his Midtown Manhattan offices in July 2023.The accused killer was initially charged with three of the murders — part of the so-called “Gilgo Four” victims — but was later linked to seven bodies through high-tech DNA matches.Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney has linked Heuermann to Valerie Mack, 24, Jessica Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Marueen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Sandra Costilla, 28.All of the victims peddled sex through online ads in the metro area before disappearing....