Gilgo Beach killer suspect hit with new charges, including dismemberment

The 60-year-old will appear before State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei on Thursday morning.

Follow along for live coverage of the hearing.

There is no sign of Rex Heueremann’s estranged wife or daughter in court today.

Robert Macedonio, attorney for Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup, talked to Newsday after inspecting the condition of the Massapequa Park property following the search that preceded today’s expected charges.

“It seems to be that the focus was in the basement,” Macedonio said. “There doesn’t seem to be much disturbance in the bathrooms [and] bedrooms.”

The former Manhattan architect, who was first arrested in July 2023, has already been charged with the 2009 and 2010 murders of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Maureen Brainard-Barnes – collectively known as the “Gilgo Four” – after their remains were found in burlap sacks along Ocean Parkway.

Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann has now been charged with the murders of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla, who were killed over 20 years ago.

It comes just days after Gilgo Beach Task Force investigators completed a second search of Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park and a search of an area of Manorville where the partial remains of Taylor — and Valerie Mack — were found more than two decades ago.

Taylor’s torso was found off Halsey Manor Lane in Manorville about a mile south of where Mack’s remains were discovered near the Long Island Expressway, Newsday reported. However, Mack’s death is not a part of the new indictment, sources told the paper.

Over the course of nine days back in April of this year, Gilgo Beach Task Force investigators searched the area of Manorville where the remains of Taylor and Mack were discovered, as well as Heuermann’s home.

A first search of the house back in July lasted 12 days and turned up more than 200 firearms, including dozens stored in a basement vault. Investigators also tore up a wooden deck, used an excavator to dig up the backyard and scanned for buried objects with specialized equipment.

Attorney John Ray, who represents the victims’ families, said suspect Rex Heuermann operated “in the fantasy that he was untouchable…undiscoverable.”

“He didn’t think that any of these things that he listed would ever be found because they were buried within his electronic devices that he had erased a long time ago,” Ray told reporters on Thursday morning. “What he didn’t recognize is the sophistication of modern electronic data investigation, and that’s what these things turned around.”

”Those women also need representation and there are plenty more of them, you’ll see as time goes on,” Ray said.

Heuermann was charged Thursday with the murders of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla, who were killed over 20 years ago.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney will speak to the media at 11 am local time.

His comments come after charging suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann with the murders of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla, who were killed over 20 years ago.

Suffolk County, New York District Attorney Ray Tierney confirmed to reporters his office has indicted Rex Heuermann on two new murder charges.

“Each and every one of these allegations have got to be proven in court, and we certainly look forward to doing just that,” Tierney said on Thursday morning.

“We don’t ever forget that this case is about the victims and their families and hopefully providing them with that small measure of closure,” he said.

Suffolk County, New York District Attorney Ray Tierney said testing of biological samples found on Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla revealed they likely belonged to suspected Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann, leading his office to an indictment this morning.

A male hair was found on Costilla’s body, which a lab revealed likely matched Heuermann or someone with his DNA profile.

“It was 4.347 times 10 to 332nd power more likely to have come from a person genetically identical to Rex Heuermann than from an unrelated individual,” Tierney said of the results. He called it an “astronomically large number.”

A male hair was also found on Taylor’s body. That sample was tested and also found to likely belong to Heuermann or “someone matching the defendant’s DNA profile.”

Tierney said of the match results: “That number is 1.837 times 10 to the 603rd power…That number doesn’t exist, that’s so big.”

Today’s new charges against suspected Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann significantly expand the timeline of his alleged crimes.

Now, he faces new charges for the 2003 dismemberment death of 20-year-old Jessica Taylor and the 1993 death of 28-year-old Sandra Costilla.

This means Heuermann is now accused of crimes dating back over thirty years.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney says this new timeline “doesn’t change anything” for prosecutors.

“It underscores that which we already knew, that we have an individual who we are alleging meticulously planned and executed six separate murders,” Tierney told reporters on Thursday morning.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said it’s “fair” to say Rex Heuermann is a suspect in a seventh murder.

Tierney says Heuermann may be a suspect in the murder of Valerie Mack.

Gilgo Beach Task Force investigators completed a second search of Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park and a search of an area of Manorville where the partial remains of both Taylor and Mack were found more than two decades ago.

However, Mack’s murder was not included in Thursday’s indictment.