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New York Post
Suspected Gilgo Beach murderer Rex Heuermann facing new charges for additional killings
By Craig McCarthy, Jorge Fitz-Gibbon, Isabel Keane,
2024-06-03
Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann will be slapped this week with murder charges related to additional victims, sources told The Post Monday.
Heuermann, 60, will be arraigned on a new indictment Thursday before State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei in Riverhead, sources said.
The indictment is related to additional victims — including one found in North Sea, a community in Southampton which was recently searched by investigators.
Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is allegedly facing a new charge. Newsday New York State Police along with Suffolk County police remove items from the home of Rex Heuermann. Dennis A. Clark Officials at Heuermann’s home. Dennis A. Clark
Authorities have also recently focused again on an area in Manorville where partial remains of two Gilgo Beach victims, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack, were found over two decades ago. It was unclear if he’s expected to be charged with one or both of those murders, sources said.
A body previously found in the North Sea area was identified as Sandra Costilla, who was murdered in 1993 but has not so far been included among the so-called Gilgo Beach victims.
Nonetheless, the site was the subject of a new police search in April — although it was unclear if the search was tied to Heuermann’s case.
Investigators suspected convicted serial killer John Bittrolff in Costilla’s death, but he was never charged in her slaying — which remains one of several unsolved Long Island murders.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney declined to comment.
News of the fresh charges comes after cops conducted another search of Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home over several days last month and were pictured hauling boxes, seemingly filled with evidence, out of the house.
Heuermann is accused of killing four women more than a decade ago, with authorities saying evidence, including DNA and cellphone records, tied him to the crimes.
Investigators have not yet determined where Heuermann’s alleged victims were killed before their bodies were dumped on local beaches — prompting the second search of his home last month, law enforcement sources told The Post at the time.
Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael J. Brown, and a lawyer for his estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, confirmed last month that authorities were searching the home of the dad of two, who has pleaded not guilty and is currently in jail awaiting trial.
Ellerup’s lawyer, Robert Macedonio, said, “There have been no [new] arrests made nor are we anticipating any for the family.”
This undated photo provided by the Suffolk County, New York, Police Department shows Valerie Mack. AP
It was the second time authorities searched the home and grounds since Heuermann’s arrest last year in connection to the “Gilgo Four” murders.
The slain women — Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Nicole Brainard-Smith, 24, and Megan Waterman, 22 — were sex escorts who solicited clients on Craig’s List and other online sites.
Their bodies were discovered on isolated sandy stretches along Ocean Parkway between 2010 and 2011, however, their slayings remained a mystery for over a decade until cops reopened the case in 2022 and identified Heuermann as a suspect.
An undated photo shows victim Jessica Taylor. AP
Mazzei, the judge overseeing the case, has said he would like to have discovery in the case completed by the end of July.
Heuermann has been held at the Riverhead Correctional Facility in Suffolk County since his July 13, 2022 arrest.
He was previously due back in court for a conference on June 18.
For the latest metro stories, top headlines, breaking news and more, visit nypost.com/metro/
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