Gilgo Beach serial killings

The Gilgo Beach serial killings were a series of murders spanning from the early 1990s until 2011. Many of the victims' remains were found over a period of months in 2010 and 2011 during a police search of the area along Ocean Parkway, near the remote beach towns of Gilgo and Oak Beach in Suffolk County, New York. The search was prompted by the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, who, like many of the known victims, was a sex worker who advertised on Craigslist. The perpetrator in the case is known as the Long Island Serial Killer, the Manorville Butcher, or the Craigslist Ripper.

The remains of four victims designated "The Gilgo Four" were found within a quarter of a mile of each other near Gilgo Beach in December 2010. Six more sets of remains were found in March and April 2011 in Suffolk and Nassau counties. Police believe the latter sets of remains predate the four bodies found in December 2010.

Gilbert's remains were found a year after the remains of "The Gilgo Four" were discovered and the cause of her death remains contested.

As of June 6, 2024, Rex Heuermann, a resident of Massapequa Park on Long Island, has been charged in the murders of six women: each of "the Gilgo Four" victims, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, as well as Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. According to his indictment, Heuermann is under investigation for the 2000 death of Valerie Mack.

Bodies discovered
The investigation was prompted by the search for Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old woman who disappeared in the area in May 2010 after fleeing from a client's home. Human remains were discovered by the side of Ocean Parkway in Oak Beach on December 11, 2010.

Gilbert disappeared after making a 23-minute-long emergency call to 911, saying, "They are trying to kill me." A month after her disappearance, the Suffolk County Police Department's missing persons bureau asked Officer John Mallia to search for Gilbert with his trained cadaver dog, a German Shepherd named Blue. Over the course of summer 2010, Mallia unsuccessfully searched the gated beach community where Gilbert had last been seen.

Mallia made a new attempt at a search on December 11, 2010, staying close to the shoulder of the parkway. The officer based his choice of search area on FBI data indicating that dumped bodies are frequently found close to roadways. Despite thick vegetation and a light layer of snow, Mallia's cadaver dog alerted to a scent which the pair tracked to a skeleton wrapped in disintegrating burlap. The remains were later identified as Melissa Barthelemy. Police discovered three additional bodies while searching the scene for further evidence. The bodies of the four victims – Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello – were found approximately 500 ft from each other.

In March 2011, partial remains of Jessica Taylor were found along Ocean Parkway. Eight years earlier, in 2003, other parts of Taylor's remains had been found in Manorville, a town in Suffolk County. The next month, in April 2011, police discovered three additional sets of remains: an unidentified female toddler, an unidentified Asian person, and Valerie Mack, partial remains of whom – like those of Jessica Taylor – had been found in Manorville years earlier in November 2000. Two more bodies were found in Nassau County: Karen Vergata, whose partial remains had previously been found on Fire Island in 1996, and an unidentified woman with a distinctive tattoo of peaches who was later found to be the mother of the unidentified toddler found in Suffolk County.

On May 9, 2011 police speculated that because of similarities in the cases, Valerie Mack (who at the time was unidentified) and Jessica Taylor may have been murdered by a second, separate killer. On November 29, 2011 police announced that they believed one person to be responsible for all ten murders and that the perpetrator is almost certainly from Long Island. The single killer theory stems from common characteristics between the condition of the remains and forensic evidence related to the bodies. In June 2011, Suffolk County police announced a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the Long Island murders. Shannan Gilbert's remains were located in Oak Beach in December 2011, 19 months after her disappearance. The cause of her death is contested.

In June 2024, Rex Heuermann was charged with the 1993 murder of Sandra Costilla, whose case had not previously been linked to the Gilgo Beach murders. With this advent, the timeline of the case reached back to the early 1990s, much further than previously thought by police.

FBI involvement
On December 10, 2015 Suffolk County Police Commissioner Tim Sini announced that the FBI had officially joined the investigation. The announcement came one day after former police chief James Burke was indicted for civil rights violations and conspiracy. Burke, who resigned from the department in October 2015, was reported to have blocked FBI involvement in the Gilgo Beach cases for years. The FBI had previously assisted in the search for victims but had never officially been a part of the investigation. In November 2016, Burke was sentenced to 46 months in federal prison for assault and conspiracy. There was considerable other inter-agency friction and failures to cooperate in law enforcement that hindered the investigation over the years.

2020 release of evidence to the public
On January 16, 2020 Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart released images of a belt found at the crime scene with the letters "HM" or "WH" (depending on the orientation of the belt) embossed in black leather. The belt had been found during the initial investigation near Ocean Parkway in Gilgo Beach. Police believe that the belt was handled by the perpetrator and that it had not belonged to any of the victims. The police revealed few details about the belt's evidentiary value and would not comment on exactly where it had been found. It was also announced that new scientific evidence was being used in the investigation and that they had launched Gilgonews.com, a website enabling the department to share news and receive tips regarding the investigation.

Identification of remains through genealogy
In June 2019, a proposal was made to use genealogy to identify the unidentified victims and possibly the killer in the Gilgo Beach case. On May 28, 2020 "Jane Doe No. 6" was identified as Valerie Mack, who also went by the name of Melissa Taylor. On August 4, 2023 "Jane Doe No. 7" was revealed to be Karen Vergata, whose identity had been established during 2022.

Suspect
In July 2023, Rex Andrew Heuermann, a 59-year-old Nassau County resident, was arrested in Midtown Manhattan and subsequently charged with three counts of first-degree murder, as well as three counts of the lesser charge of second-degree murder, related to the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. He was also named as the prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and was subsequently charged with her murder in January 2024. On June 6, 2024, Heuermann was arraigned and charged with the murders of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. Costilla's murder had not previously been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killings. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty on all counts. According to his indictment, Heuermann is under investigation in the 2000 death of Valerie Mack.

Heuermann is an architect and has lived much of his life in Massapequa Park on the south shore of Long Island. In an interview on YouTube, Heuermann stated he has worked in Manhattan since 1987. Authorities began to seriously consider Heuermann as a suspect in March 2022 after discovering that a Chevrolet Avalanche vehicle registered in his name had been linked to one of the killings by a witness. According to investigators, Heuermann's cellphone records indicated that he had been in contact with three of the four victims, and an email account linked to him had been used to conduct online searches of the investigation's progress. Court records also indicated that he had searched the internet for "sadistic materials, child pornography, [and] images of the victims and their relatives." Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) testing indicated a potential match between a sample of Heuermann's DNA gleaned from a pizza crust he had discarded and a hair found on burlap in which one of the victims was wrapped. A potential match to Heuermann's wife was also found when comparing hair found on or near three of the victims to samples taken from bottles found in the trash outside the Heuermann residence. Investigators have stated that Heuermann's wife and children were out-of-state each time the killings are believed to have occurred.

Person of interest
On September 12, 2017 Suffolk County prosecutor Robert Biancavilla said that John Bittrolff, a Suffolk County resident convicted of murdering two sex workers and suspected in the murder of a third, may have committed some of the Gilgo Beach murders. Biancavilla said that Bittrolff was likely responsible for the deaths of other women and that there were similarities between the Gilgo Beach crime scenes and Bittrolff's known murders, for which he was convicted in May 2017 and sentenced in September.

Bittrolff was arrested in 2014 after his DNA was found on the bodies of two murder victims, Rita Tangredi and Colleen McNamee, whose bodies were found in 1993 and 1994, respectively. The match had been made through DNA submitted by his brother, who was convicted in 2013 on an unrelated case. Bittrolff was convicted in May 2017 of these murders, and in September sentenced to consecutive terms of 25 years for each murder. The Suffolk County police did not comment on the prosecutor's statement due to the active homicide investigation of the Gilgo Beach murders. Bittrolff's attorney rejected the prosecutor's assertion.

Bittrolff lived in Manorville, 30 mi from where the torsos of Gilgo Beach victims Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack were recovered. Bittrolff was a hunter who was said to enjoy killing animals. He was a carpenter by trade with access to hacksaws and electric saws. Because many of the bodies were found precisely dismembered, his access to and proficiency with these tools is of note.

The adult daughter of Rita Tangredi, who was murdered by Bittrolff, was also the best friend of Melissa Barthelemy, one of the Gilgo Beach victims. Barthelemy's mother said that her daughter Melissa "had a lot of calls to Manorville from her phone" before her death.

Maureen Brainard-Barnes
Brainard-Barnes of Norwich, Connecticut, was 25 when she disappeared. She was last seen on July 9, 2007, saying that she planned "to spend the day in New York City." She was never seen again. Brainard-Barnes worked as a seasonal telemarketer and turned to sex work when unable to find other employment. Brainard-Barnes, a mother of two, worked as a sex worker via Craigslist to pay the mortgage on her house. She had been out of the sex industry for seven months but she returned to the work in order to pay her bills after receiving an eviction notice. Her body was found in December 2010. Brainard-Barnes was found restrained with three leather belts, one of which was found with the DNA of suspect Rex Heuermann's wife.

Shortly after her disappearance, a friend of Brainard-Barnes's, Sara Karnes, received a phone call from a man on an unfamiliar number. The man claimed that he had just seen Brainard-Barnes and that she was alive and staying at a "whorehouse in Queens." He refused to identify himself and could not tell Karnes the location of the house. He told Karnes he would call back and give her the address, but never called again. Karnes said that the man had no discernible regional accent.

At the time of her disappearance, Brainard-Barnes was working at a Super 8 motel in Manhattan. On the night of July 9, 2007, she called a friend in Connecticut and told her that she was planning on meeting a client outside of the motel. Like many of the victims, Brainard-Barnes was very petite, at 4 ft tall and 105 lb. Brainard-Barnes left behind a 7-year-old daughter at the time of her death.

Melissa Barthelemy
Barthelemy, 24, of Erie County, New York, went missing on July 12, 2009. She had been living in the Bronx in New York and working as a sex worker through Craigslist. Barthelemy was known to use the alias "Chloe". On the night she went missing she met with a client, deposited $900 in her bank account, and attempted to call an old boyfriend, but did not get through. Beginning one week later, and lasting for five weeks, her 15-year-old sister Amanda received a series of "vulgar, mocking, and insulting" calls from a man who may have been the killer using Melissa Barthelemy's cell phone. The caller asked if Amanda "was a whore like her sister."

The calls became increasingly disturbing and eventually culminated in the caller telling Amanda that her sister was dead and that he was going to "watch her rot." Police traced some of the calls to Madison Square Garden, Midtown Manhattan, and Massapequa, but were unable to determine who was making them. Barthelemy's mother noted that there were "a lot of calls to Manorville" from her daughter's phone around the time of her disappearance. Barthelemy was 4 ft tall and 95 lb.

Barthelemy's remains were the first to be found in the search for Shannan Gilbert.

Megan Waterman
Waterman, 22, of South Portland, Maine, went missing on June 6, 2010, after placing advertisements on Craigslist as an escort. The previous day she had told her 20-year-old boyfriend that she was going out and would call him later. At the time of her disappearance she was staying at a motel in Hauppauge, New York, 15 miles northeast of Gilgo Beach. Her body was recovered in December 2010. Waterman was a mother of one and had become a victim of sex trafficking by her boyfriend. Waterman's pimp was arrested on sex trafficking charges on April 11, 2012, but is not thought to be connected to her disappearance or death. Waterman was 5 ft tall. Waterman was reported missing by family members on June 8, 2010, after uncharacteristically failing to check in on her three-year-old daughter who had been left in their care.

Amber Lynn Costello
Costello, 27, of West Babylon, New York, a small town ten miles north of Gilgo Beach, was a sex worker and heroin user who went missing on September 2, 2010. That night she reportedly went to meet a stranger who had called her several times and offered $1,500 for her services. Witnesses connected to Costello gave descriptions of the unknown client, which were later noted for their similarity to suspect Rex Heuermann, as well as describing the Chevrolet Avalanche he drove, which more than a decade later prompted the investigation into Rex Heuermann as a possible suspect. Born in Charlotte and raised in Wilmington, North Carolina, Costello was living in West Babylon with several other heroin addicts when she disappeared. Her family believed that she was in a residential drug rehabilitation center and so she was not immediately reported missing when she stopped responding to messages and phone calls.

Prior to moving to West Babylon, Costello had been living with her second husband in Clearwater, Florida, and was working as a waitress. A strong student, Costello's drug addiction began when she was a teenager. She had been sexually assaulted by a neighbor when she was 6-years-old. Costello was 4 ft and weighed approximately 100 lb.

Additional six victims discovered in March and April 2011
Four more sets of remains were discovered on March 29 and April 4, 2011. All of the remains were found in another area off the parkway near Oak Beach and Gilgo Beach, within two miles and to the east of those found in December 2010. The newly discovered victims were Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, an unidentified woman designated "Jane Doe No. 3" or "Peaches", and an unidentified toddler who was the daughter of "Peaches". Suffolk Police subsequently expanded the search area up to the Nassau County border looking for more victims.

Two further sets of remains were discovered on April 11, 2011, after the search expanded into Nassau County. They were found about one mile apart, approximately five miles west of those found in December. One set of remains belonged to a victim now thought to be a transgender woman. Designated "Asian Male", police said that the victim had been dead for between five and ten years. The other remains were those of "Jane Doe No. 7" whose partial remains had been discovered on Fire Island in 1996.

Valerie Mack / Melissa Taylor / "Manorville Jane Doe" / "Jane Doe No. 6"
Valerie Mack, 24, also known as Melissa Taylor, was living in Philadelphia and working as an escort when she went missing in 2000. At the time of her death, Mack, who had been involved in foster care from an early age, had three arrests for prostitution. Like many of the victims, she was small in stature at approximately 5 ft and weighing approximately 100 lb. The mother of a young son, Mack was never reported missing.

Mack's partial remains were discovered in Manorville on November 19, 2000, but were not identified until 2020. Her torso was found wrapped in garbage bags and dumped in the woods near the intersection of Halsey Manor Road and Mill Road, adjacent to a set of power lines and a nearby power line access road.

A head, right foot, and hands found on April 4, 2011, were at first determined to have belonged to an unidentified victim, dubbed "Jane Doe No. 6"; it was later determined that they belonged to the same as-yet-unidentified woman whose torso had been found in 2000.

On May 28, 2020, police announced that the remains had been identified as Valerie Mack, who had last been seen by family members in the spring or summer of 2000 in the area of Port Republic, New Jersey.

Despite her alias of Melissa Taylor, investigators confirmed that there was no familial link between Mack and Jessica Taylor. The dismembered remains of Valerie Mack and Jessica Taylor were both disposed of in a similar manner, and in the same part of Manorville, suggesting a link.

Jessica Taylor
Jessica Taylor, 20, was living in Manhattan when she went missing on July 21, 2003. On July 26, 2003, her naked and dismembered torso, missing its head and hands, was discovered 45 miles east of Gilgo Beach in Manorville, New York; these remains were identified by DNA analysis later that year. Taylor's torso was found atop a pile of scrap wood at the end of a paved access road off Halsey Manor Road, just north of where it crosses the Long Island Expressway. Plastic sheeting was found underneath the torso, and a tattoo on her body had been mutilated with a sharp instrument.

Further remains found on March 29, 2011, matched to Taylor, including a skull, a pair of hands, and a forearm. She had worked in Washington, D.C. and Manhattan as a sex worker. Taylor was last seen working around the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan between July 18 and 22, 2003.

Karen Vergata / "Fire Island Jane Doe" / "Jane Doe No. 7"
Karen Vergata, a 34-year-old woman from Manhattan, was believed to have been working as a sex worker when she disappeared in 1996. Vergata was last seen around February 14, 1996, and was never reported missing. Unidentified for 27 years, Vergata was variously known as "Jane Doe No. 7" and "Fire Island Jane Doe" until she was identified through genetic genealogy in 2022.

Vergata's severed legs were found in a garbage bag on Fire Island on April 20, 1996. Fifteen years later, on April 11, 2011, her skull and several of her teeth were recovered at Tobay Beach, the second set of remains to be discovered in Nassau County that day. These remains were linked through DNA testing to the remains found on Fire Island in 1996. It has been postulated that Vergata's legs were carried to Fire Island by the water after her remains were dumped on Long Island.

Unidentified
Three victims remain unidentified: "Peaches," "Baby Doe," and "Asian Male." "Peaches" has been identified through DNA testing as the mother of "Baby Doe."

"Peaches" / "Jane Doe No. 3"
On June 28, 1997, the dismembered torso of an unidentified young African-American woman was found at Hempstead Lake State Park, in the town of Lakeview, New York. The torso was found in a green plastic Rubbermaid container, which was dumped next to a road along the west side of the lake. Investigators reported that the victim had a tattoo on her left breast of a heart-shaped peach with a bite out of it and two drips falling from its core.

On April 11, 2011, police in Nassau County discovered dismembered skeletal human remains inside a plastic bag near Jones Beach State Park. The victim was dubbed "Jane Doe No. 3." In December 2016, "Peaches" and "Jane Doe No. 3" were positively identified through DNA testing as being the same person. DNA analysis also identified "Peaches" as the mother of "Baby Doe"; she was found wearing gold jewelry similar to that of her daughter.

"Baby Doe"
A third set of remains – the skeleton of a female toddler between 16 and 24 months of age (or, by another account, 1 to 4 years of age) – was found on April 4, 2011, about 250 ft away from the partial remains of Valerie Mack. The body was wrapped in a blanket and showed no visible signs of trauma. DNA tests determined that the child's mother was "Jane Doe No. 3," whose body was found 10 mi west, near Jones Beach State Park. The toddler was wearing gold earrings and a gold necklace.

"Asian male"
The body of a young Asian male who had died from blunt-force trauma was also discovered on April 4, 2011, at Gilgo Beach, very close to where the first four sets of remains had been discovered in December 2010. The victim was found wearing women's clothing and may have been a transgender woman. The victim was between 17 and 23 years of age, 5 ft in height, missing four teeth, and may have had a musculoskeletal disorder which could affect gait. The victim had been dead between five and 10 years. In September 2011, police released a male composite sketch of the victim.

Discovery of Shannan Gilbert's body
On December 13, 2011, police announced that the remains of Shannan Gilbert had been found in a marsh about half a mile from where she had disappeared. A week earlier, some of her clothing and belongings had been discovered in the same vicinity. Gilbert was last seen banging on a resident's door and screaming for help before running off into the night. Gilbert made an emergency 9-1-1 call that night, saying that she feared for her life.

Police have stated that the death of Gilbert, a woman whose disappearance triggered the search during which the first set of bodies was found, is thought to be unrelated to the Long Island serial killer case. Gilbert's now-deceased mother Mari Gilbert advocated for the theory that her daughter had been murdered by a serial killer and blamed police inaction for the failure to identify her daughter's murderer. Mari Gilbert was killed by her daughter Sarra Gilbert, who was convicted of murder in 2016.

Murder of Sandra Costilla
Sandra Costilla was a 28-year-old woman from Trinidad and Tobago who was killed on November 19 or 20, 1993. In 2024 Rex Heuermann was charged with her murder. DNA from hairs found on her body matched Heuermann's, according to his indictment.

Costilla was living in New York City at the time of her disappearance. Her body was found in November 1993 by hunters in a wooded area in North Sea, Long Island, approximately 60 miles northeast of Gilgo Beach.

Costilla is the earliest known victim in the set of murder charges against Heuermann, indicating that he allegedly began killing in the 1990s or earlier, and that he disposed of bodies in locations beyond the Gilgo Beach area.

Timeline
1993

1996

1997

2000

2002

2003

2007

2009

2010

2011

2012

2016

2020

2022

2023

2024

Andre Jamal Isaac
Andre Isaac was a professional drag queen known by his stage name "Sugar Bear". He was 6'5" tall and was 25 years old when he disappeared from East New York in November 2002. According to a friend, Isaac was last seen shortly before Thanksgiving, getting into a car with a "secret friend." The vehicle was described as a red BMW-type coupe driven by a Hispanic man. Isaac's torso was found close to the boardwalk on Beach 63 Street in Arverne, Queens on December 17, 2002. On January 25, 2003, his head was discovered by ice skaters in East Millpond in Moriches, New York in Suffolk County, with a single bullet wound to his temple. His arms and legs were later found several miles away in plastic bags. Isaac's case was added to the Suffolk County Police Department Gilgo News website on May 29, 2020.

Shannan Maria Gilbert
24-year-old Shannan Maria Gilbert was working as an escort at a client's residence in Oak Beach on May 1, 2010. At 4:51 in the morning, 911 dispatchers received a panicked phone call from Gilbert, who could be heard saying that there was someone "after her" and that "they" were trying to kill her. She was last seen a short time later banging on the front door of a nearby Oak Beach residence and screaming for help before running off into the night. After nineteen months of searching police found Gilbert's remains in a marsh, half a mile from where she was last seen.

In May 2012, the Suffolk County medical examiners ruled that Gilbert accidentally drowned after entering the marsh. They believe that she was in a drug induced panic and have concluded that hers was "death by misadventure" or "inconclusive." Her family believes she was murdered. On November 15, 2012, a lawsuit was filed by her mother, Mari Gilbert, against the Suffolk County Police Department in the hopes of getting more answers about what happened to her daughter the night she went missing.

Due to the controversy about Gilbert's death, in September 2014, forensic pathologist Michael Baden agreed to conduct an independent autopsy of Gilbert's remains in hopes of determining a clear cause of death. Upon examination of Gilbert's remains Baden found damage to her hyoid bone suggesting that strangulation may have occurred. Baden also noted that her body was found face-up, which is not common for drowning victims. Despite this, her death is still officially listed as an accident.

On May 6, 2020, the New York State Supreme Court ordered Suffolk County Police to release Gilbert's 911 call recording, denying their request to withhold it after more than 10 years. On May 13, 2022, the Suffolk County Police Department released the 911 call.

Profile of killer
The media had speculated about a profile of the killer, referred to by police as "Joe C" (unknown subject). According to The New York Times, the perpetrator was most likely a white male in his mid-twenties to mid-forties and very familiar with the South Shore of Long Island and had access to burlap sacks used to hold the bodies for disposal. He may have a detailed knowledge of law enforcement techniques, and perhaps ties to law enforcement, which have thus far helped him avoid detection. According to investigators, there may be more than one killer.

In Media
Numerous films, television programs, podcasts, and other media have covered or referenced the case. These include:
 * 48 Hours: "Long Island Serial Killer" (Airdate July 12, 2011), re-aired on September 8, 2023, with information regarding the suspect
 * Disappeared: "Footprints in the Sand" (Original air date: April 10, 2012), season 5, episode 14
 * Killing Time, a 2012 play by Tom Slot
 * The Long Island Serial Killer (2013), also known as The Gilgo Beach Murders, an independent feature directed by Joseph DiPietro
 * Lyrics of the 2014 Panama Wedding song "Feels Like Summer" reference the events of the murders in Gilgo Beach.
 * People Magazine Investigates: "The Long Island Serial Killer: The Lost Girls" (2016): season 1, episodes 1–2
 * The Killing Season, 2016 docuseries episode
 * Crime Junkie, episode 21: "SERIAL KILLER: L.I.S.K" (Released: April 16, 2018)
 * Lost Girls, Netflix film (2020)
 * 60 Minutes Australia: "Who is the Long Island serial killer?" (2020)
 * LISK: Long Island Serial Killer, Podcast from Mopac Audio (2020- )
 * The Long Island Serial Killer: A Mother's Hunt for Justice, Lifetime television film (2021)
 * Grim Tide, (2021) a five part series on Fox Nation
 * Unraveled: The Long Island Serial Killer (2021), a seven-part podcast series released by Investigation Discovery
 * Dateline NBC, "The Hunt for the Gilgo Beach Killer," November 2023