Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann to be sentenced Wednesday, ending his 3-decade-Long Island terror
The saga of the Gilgo Beach serial murders that haunted Long Island for more than three decades is set to come to a close Wednesday — when confessed killer Rex Heuermann is shipped off to prison for life.Heuermann, a 62-year-old architect from Massapequa Park, is scheduled to be sentenced to three life terms after he pleaded guilty in April to the brutal slayings of eight Long Island sex workers between 1993 and 2010.His sentencing will be the final chapter in one of the most notorious serial-killing cases in the New York metro area.“We’re close,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told The Post on Tuesday.“I’m looking forward to wrapping it up so we can take the resources dedicated to this case and dedicate them to some of our other cases.“The defendant is about to be held responsible for all that he’s done.”For the families of the victims, the sentencing finally gives them closure.“Justice finally found its way to you,” said Melissa Cann, the sister of Gilgo victim Maureen Brainard-Barnes, after Heuermann’s guilty plea.
“Your voice was never silenced.Your story never forgotten, and your life will always mean more than the tragedy that took you,” she said of her tragic sibling.In a newly released mug shot, the killer is seen with a chilling stare that stands in sharp contrast to the sinister smirk he flashed in court as he answered “strangulation” when asked how he killed his victims.The grisly murders remained unsolved for decades.
It wasn’t until 2022 when former NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison took over as Suffolk County police commissioner and reopened the case that cops were able to link Heuerman to the slayings.In April, the 6-foot-4 architect confessed to killing 25-year-old Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, 27; Megan Waterman, 22; and Melissa Barthelemy, 24, who were famously known as the “Gilgo Four” — as well as Valerie Mack, 24; Jessica Taylor, 20; and Sandra Costilla, 28, the first victim killed in 1993...