'I Killed Them': Gilgo Beach Killer Admits To Brutal Murders Of 8 Women, Faces Life In Jail

Last Updated:April 09, 2026, 14:41 IST

Rex Heuermann pleads guilty to murdering eight women near Gilgo Beach, admits luring and strangling victims, will be sentenced in June to life in prison without parole

The man behind the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killings, Rex Heuermann, has pleaded guilty to murdering eight women, mostly sex workers, closing a long-unsolved case more than 30 years after the first killing.

On Wednesday, the 62-year-old told the federal court that he lured the women with promises of money; strangled them; in some cases dismembered their bodies; and wrapped them in burlap sacks before leaving them near Gilgo Beach and other isolated areas on Long Island, according to the New York Post.

The outlet reported that Heuermann, an architect, appeared unemotional and did not look back at the gallery that filled the victim’s relatives as he entered the pleas and also admitted to killing eight women. According to the Washington Post, he will be sentenced in June to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

How Did The Case Come To Light?

The case came to light after multiple human remains along Long Island’s South Shore in late 2010 were discovered. It triggered a massive investigation into a suspected serial killer, drawing global attention.

The probe stretched for over a decade without arrests. Heuermann was finally caught in 2023 after investigators secured a DNA match, marking a major breakthrough in the case.

In court on Wednesday, he admitted to strangling eight women and dismembering some of their bodies before dumping them along isolated parts of the New York coastline. Many of the victims were sex workers.

He also confessed to killing Karen Vergata in 1996, though he has not been formally charged in that case.

The remains of six victims — Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Megan Waterman — were found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. Sandra Costilla’s remains were discovered over 60 miles away in the Hamptons, while Vergata’s remains were first found on Fire Island in 1996 and later near Gilgo Beach in 2011.

News world 'I Killed Them': Gilgo Beach Killer Admits To Brutal Murders Of 8 Women, Faces Life In Jail

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