UPDATE: Rex Heuermann, the suspect in at least some of the “Lost Girls” murders along Gilgo Beach in New York’s Long Island has been charged by a grand jury with six counts of murder, according to information from the Suffolk County District Attorney.
The charges are connected to the deaths of three – Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, and Megan Waterman – of the so-called “Gilgo Four,” women whose bodies were discovered along the Ocean Parkway in 2010. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and was remanded without bail.
In court filings by the Suffolk County D.A., Heuermann is referenced as the prime suspect in the disappearance and death of the fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes. (In all, the remains of nine women were eventually discovered in the Gilgo Beach area, as well as the bodies of a man and a toddler, though only four have, so far, been allegedly connected to the suspect or related to the case).
District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney and other law enforcement officials are expected to hold a news conference today at 4 p.m. ET.
PREVIOUS, 7:52 a.m. PT: A suspect in the so-called Long Island Serial Killer case – a series of murders near Gilgo Beach on New York’s Long Island South Shore depicted in the 2020 Netflix film Lost Girls – has been arrested, more than 10 years after the first body was found.
Police sources have confirmed to local media that the Suffolk County Police Department had one suspect in custody in connection with four of the murders. A large police presence had gathered at the suspect’s home in Long Island’s Massapequa Park last night and remained on site today.
Rex Heuermann of Massapequa Park was taken into custody last night and will be arraigned today. The New York Times reports that Heuermann, an architect, has lived most of his life in Nassau County – the location of Massapequa Park – but worked in Manhattan. Heuermann was taken into custody by police Thursday night near his Midtown Manhattan office.
Law enforcement sources say the suspect has been tied to four of the murders.
Addressing reporters during a locally televised live news conference this morning, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said the suspect will face a grand jury today and an indictment is expected later this afternoon.
District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney and other law enforcement officials announced this morning that a new conference will be held at 4 p.m. ET.
Actor Billy Baldwin provided a bit of background on the suspect, tweeting that the two were classmates at Berner High School, Class of 1981. “Woke up this morning to learn that the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect was my high school classmate Rex Heuermann,” Baldwin writes, adding, “Married, two kids, architect.
‘Average guy… quiet, family man.’ Mind-boggling… Massapequa is in shock.”
In 2010, 24-year-old sex worker Shannan Gilbert of New Jersey was reported missing after she had traveled to Long Island’s Oak Beach, a gated community near Gilgo Beach, for an escort job. Over the next year, four bodies of young women were found in the thick brush of the Gilgo Beach area. In all, the remains of nine women were eventually discovered, as well as the bodies of a man and a toddler.
Gilbert’s remains were found in December 2011.
The killings have been widely believed to be the work of a serial killer targeting female sex workers, although families of some victims have disputed that characterization.
Last year a multi-agency law enforcement task force was formed after local police had made little progress in the case. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone at the press briefing this morning thanks all the various departments that have worked the case over the years, including Suffolk County, the NYPD and the FBI. “We never stopped working on this case,” Bellone said.
In addition to numerous documentaries and episodes of true-crime TV series, the case inspired the 2020 Netflix drama Lost Girls, directed by Liz Garbus from a screenplay by Michael Werwie and based on the book Lost Girls: An Unsolved American Mystery by Robert Kolker. Amy Ryan starred as the real-life activist Mari Gilbert, mother of the murdered Shannan Gilbert. (Mari Gilbert died in 2016).
The film premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival was released the same year on Netflix.