A timeline of the investigation of the Gilgo Beach killings

In 2010, police searching for a missing woman began finding human remains in the scrub along a barrier island parkway near New York’s Gilgo Beach. Police almost immediately feared some were left by a serial killer.

Over the years, investigators used DNA analysis and other clues to identify the victims. In some cases, they were able to connect them to remains found elsewhere on Long Island years earlier.

Here is a timeline of the investigation that led to the arrest of Rex Heuermann, who pleaded guilty Wednesday to murdering seven women and admitted in court that he killed an eighth.

Nov. 20, 1993: Two hunters discover the body of Sandra Costilla, 28, in a wooded area of North Sea, a hamlet in the Hamptons. Costilla had been living in New York City.

April 20, 1996: The partial remains of Karen Vergata are discovered on Fire Island, a barrier beach off the coast. Her name remains unknown to investigators until 2022, when new DNA analysis helps them make an identification. Vergata, 34, was involved in sex work when she vanished.

June 28, 1997: The partial remains of a woman are discovered inside a plastic tub in a state park in West Hempstead, New York. Investigators nickname her “Peaches” after a tattoo on her body. Her identity remains a mystery for many years, but in 2025 police identify her as Tanya Jackson, a U.S. Army veteran who was living in Brooklyn before she disappeared.

September 2000: The partial skeletal remains of Valerie Mack, who had been working as an escort in Philadelphia, are found in a wooded area in Manorville, New York. Mack, 24, was last seen by her family in the spring or summer of that year in Port Republic, New Jersey.

July 26, 2003: The partial skeletal remains of Jessica Taylor are discovered in a wooded area of Manorville. She was 20 when she vanished and had been working as an escort.

July 9, 2007: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who had traveled to New York from her home in Norwich, Connecticut, for sex work, is last heard from by a friend. She says she is leaving her hotel to meet a client. Investigators later say cellphone records showed her phone was last used on Long Island.

July 10, 2009: Melissa Barthelemy, a 24-year-old sex worker, is last seen at her Bronx apartment. She tells a friend she is going to see a man and will be back in the morning. Phone location data puts her last known location on Long Island. Days later, a man begins using Barthelemy’s mobile phone to make taunting phone calls to her relatives.

May 1, 2010: Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker, disappears in the barrier island community of Oak Beach, New York, after fleeing the house of a client and banging on a neighbor’s door. In a recorded 911 call, she tells a dispatcher people are after her, but she can also be heard refusing offers of help. Her pimp, the client and his neighbor all tell police she appeared disoriented and ran into the night on her own.

June 6, 2010: Megan Waterman, 22, who had traveled to Long Island from Maine for sex work, is last seen at a motel in Hauppauge, New York.

Sept. 2, 2010: Amber Lynn Costello, 27, is last seen leaving her home in West Babylon to meet with a sex work client. A male friend later tells investigators that person he presumed was the client drove a Chevrolet Avalanche.

Dec. 11, 2010: A police officer and his dog discover human remains while conducting a training exercise along Ocean Parkway. Authorities initially suspect they may have located Gilbert, but are later able to identify the victim as Barthelemy.

Dec. 13, 2010: Police find the bodies of Costello, Brainard-Barnes and Waterman on the same quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway where Barthelemy’s remains were located.

Dec. 14, 2010: Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer publicly announces the discovery of the bodies and says a serial killer might be to blame. Police expand the search, while still looking for any sign of Gilbert.

March 29, 2011: Some of Taylor’s remains are discovered along Ocean Parkway.

April 4, 2011: Additional remains of Valerie Mack are found along Ocean Parkway. Near those remains, investigators also find the remains of a 2-year-old girl, later identified through DNA as Jackson’s daughter, Tatiana Dykes. Elsewhere on the parkway, investigators discover the remains of an Asian male. Investigators estimate he died five to 10 years earlier and was in his late teens or early 20s. He still has not been identified.

April 11, 2011: Additional remains of Vergata are discovered along Ocean Parkway, several miles west of Gilgo Beach. Police also find additional remains of Jackson along the beach parkway.

Dec. 13, 2011: Gilbert’s skeletal remains are discovered in a tidal marsh near Oak Beach. After an autopsy, Suffolk Police say she accidentally drowned.

January 2022: The Suffolk County district attorney convenes a new task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach killings.

July 13, 2023: Investigators arrest Heuermann and charge him with murdering Costello, Waterman and Barthelemy. The key evidence is mobile phone location data suggesting Heuermann and the women were in the same places at some of the same times, and traces of DNA found on the remains.

Jan. 16, 2024: Heuermann is charged in the death of Brainard-Barnes. Prosecutors say a hair found with her corpse is genetically similar to a DNA sample from Heuermann’s wife.

May 20, 2024: Investigators launch a new search of Heuermann’s home. It lasts nearly a week.

June 6, 2024: Heuermann is charged with murdering Costilla and Taylor.

Dec. 17, 2024: An indictment is unsealed charging Heuermann in Mack’s death.

Dec. 18, 2025: A Florida man, Andrew Dykes, pleads not guilty to killing Tanya Jackson and Tatiana Dykes. Investigators say Andrew Dykes was Tatiana’s father and DNA evidence linked him to the crime. While in the end, the case was unconnected to the other Gilgo Beach deaths, the investigation benefited from the extra resources poured into the serial killer investigation, authorities say.

April 8, 2026: Heuermann pleads guilty to seven counts of murder, involving the killings of Barthelemy, Brainard-Barnes, Costello, Costilla, Mack, Taylor and Waterman. He also acknowledges in court that he killed Vergata. His sentencing is set for June 17.

Asa Ellerup, left, wife, of Rex Heuermann and Ellerup's attorney, Robert Macedonio, right, walk to the courtroom as Rex Heuermann, accused in Long Island's infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings, is expected to plead guilty, Wednesday, April 8, 2026, at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Rex A. Heuermann, center, pleads guilty to murdering seven women and admitted he killed an eighth in a string of long-unsolved crimes known as the Gilgo Beach killings, at a court hearing in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Elizabeth Baczkiel, mother of victim Jessica Taylor, walks to the courtroom as Rex Heuermann, accused in Long Island's infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings, is expected to plead guilty, Wednesday, April 8, 2026, at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Rex A. Heuermann, pleads guilty to murdering seven women and admitted he killed an eighth in a string of long-unsolved crimes known as the Gilgo Beach killings, at a court hearing in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

Attorney Michael Brown speaks with the judge as Rex A. Heuermann, pleads guilty to murdering seven women and admitted he killed an eighth in a string of long-unsolved crimes known as the Gilgo Beach killings, at a court hearing in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, N.Y., Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Iran, the United States and Israel agreed to a two-week ceasefire in an 11th-hour deal that headed off U.S. President Donald Trump's threat to unleash a bombing campaign to destroy Iranian civilization. Hours later, Iran and Gulf Arab countries reported new attacks Wednesday.

It was not clear if the strikes would scuttle the deal, which U.S. Vice President JD Vance called “fragile.”

Both the U.S. and Iran declared victory. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said American and Israeli forces had achieved a “capital V military victory” and that the Iranian military no longer posed a significant threat to U.S. forces or the region. The Iranian military said the country forced Israel and the U.S. to accept its "proposed conditions and surrender.”

Even before the new attacks, much about the agreement was unclear as the sides presented vastly different visions of the terms.

— Iran said the deal would allow it to formalize its new practice of charging ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial transit lane for oil. But the details were not clear, nor was it known whether vessels would feel safe using the channel or whether ship traffic had resumed. It also was unclear whether any other country agreed to this condition.

— Pakistan, which helped to mediate the deal, and others said fighting would pause in Lebanon, where Israel has launched a ground invasion against the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group. Israel said it would not, and strikes hit Beirut on Wednesday.

— The fate of Iran's missile and nuclear programs — the elimination of which were major objectives for the U.S. and Israel in going to war — also remained unclear. Trump said the U.S. would work with Iran to remove buried enriched uranium, though Iran did not confirm that.

In the streets of Tehran, pro-government demonstrators screamed: “Death to America, death to Israel, death to compromisers!” after the ceasefire announcement and burned American and Israeli flags.

The chants underscored the anger animating hard-liners, who have been preparing for what many assumed would be an apocalyptic battle with the United States. Trump warned Tuesday that “a whole civilization will die tonight,” if a deal was not reached.

Trump initially said Iran proposed a “workable” 10-point plan that could help end the war the U.S. and Israel launched on Feb. 28. But when a version in Farsi emerged that indicated Iran would be allowed to continue enriching uranium — which is key to building a nuclear weapon — Trump called it fraudulent without elaborating.

Vance later said the deal was being misrepresented within Iran, though he did not offer details.

Iran’s demands for ending the war include a withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from the region, the lifting of sanctions, and the release of its frozen assets.

In his post Wednesday, Trump said: “We are, and will be, talking Tariff and Sanctions relief with Iran.”

It was not clear if other Western nations would agree to that, and the other points are likely nonstarters. United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s personal envoy arrived in Iran for talks on “the way forward.”

Pakistan said talks to seek a permanent end to the war could begin in Islamabad as soon as Friday. Trump told The New York Post that in-person talks would happen “very soon."

Israel backed the U.S. ceasefire with Iran, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deal does not cover fighting against Hezbollah. Trump told the “PBS News Hour” that Lebanon was not included in the ceasefire deal “because of Hezbollah.”

Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir said Israel will continue to “utilize every operational opportunity” to strike Hezbollah. The Israeli military said it struck more than 100 targets within 10 minutes Wednesday across Lebanon, the largest wave of strikes since March 1.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun condemned the Israeli attacks as “barbaric.” Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit accused Israel of “persistently seeking to sabotage” the Iran ceasefire deal.

Hezbollah has not confirmed if it will abide by the ceasefire, though the group has said it was open to giving mediators a chance to secure an agreement. An official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment publicly, said the group would not stop firing at Israel unless Israel agreed to do the same.

While Iran could not match the sophistication of U.S. and Israeli weaponry or their dominance in the air, its ability to control the Strait of Hormuz proved a tremendous strategic advantage. Iranian attacks and threats deterred many commercial ships from passing through the waterway, through which 20% of all traded oil and natural gas passes in peacetime.

That roiled the world economy and raised the pressure on Trump both at home and abroad to find a way out of the standoff.

The ceasefire may formalize a system of charging fees in the strait that Iran instituted — and give it a new source of revenue.

The plan allows for both Iran and Oman to charge ships, according to a regional official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss negotiations they were directly involved in. The official said Iran would use the money it raised for reconstruction.

That would upend decades of precedent treating the strait as an international waterway that was free to transit and will likely not be acceptable to the Gulf Arab states, which also need to rebuild after repeated Iranian attacks targeting their oil fields.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said passage through the strait would be allowed under Iranian military management, further clouding the picture of who would be allowed to transit the waterway.

News of the ceasefire sent stock markets surging worldwide, and oil prices plunged back toward $90 per barrel.

U.S.-Israeli strikes have battered Iran and its leadership, but they have not entirely eliminated the threats posed by Tehran's nuclear program, its ballistic missiles or its support for regional proxies, like Hezbollah. The U.S. and Israel said addressing those threats was a key justification for going to war.

Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. would work with Iran to “dig up and remove” enriched uranium that was buried under joint U.S-Israeli strikes in June. He added that none of the material had been touched since. Any retrieval is expected to be an intensive undertaking.

There was no confirmation from Iran.

Hegseth told a Pentagon briefing Wednesday that the U.S. would do “something like” last June's joint strikes with Israel on Iranian nuclear sites if the country refuses to surrender its enriched uranium voluntarily.

Tehran insisted for years that its nuclear program was peaceful, although it enriched uranium up to 60% purity, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels.

Iran referred to its nuclear program differently in two versions of the ceasefire plan that it released. The version in Farsi included the phrase “acceptance of enrichment” for its nuclear program. That phrase was missing in English versions shared by Iranian diplomats with journalists.

Shortly after the ceasefire announcement, Bahrain, Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates all issued warnings about incoming missiles from Iran. That fire stopped for a time, then hostilities appeared to restart.

An oil refinery on Iran’s Lavan Island came under attack, according to Iranian state television. The state broadcaster reported that no one was hurt but did not say who launched the attack. The island is home to one of the terminals that Iran uses to export oil and gas.

A short time later, the United Arab Emirates’ air defenses fired at an incoming Iranian missile barrage. Kuwait said Wednesday three power and water desalination plants were badly damaged after 28 Iranian drones were launched at the country. Saudi Arabia said it intercepted nine drones.

More than 1,900 people had been killed in Iran as of late March, but the government has not updated the war’s toll for days.

In Lebanon, where Israel is fighting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants, more than 1,500 people have been killed. and 1 million people have been displaced. Eleven Israeli soldiers have died.

In Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, more than two dozen people have died, while 23 have been reported dead in Israel, and 13 U.S. service members have been killed.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Magdy from Cairo and Metz from Ramallah, West Bank. Associated Press writers Edie Lederer at the United Nations, Natalie Melzer in Jerusalem, Abby Sewell and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Mike Catalini in Trenton, N.J., and Michelle L. Price, Aamer Madhani and Joshua Bloak in Washington contributed to this report.

A woman is assisted at the site of an Israeli airstrike that struck an apartment building in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on a building in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man feeds birds on a street in Tel Aviv, Israel, after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire with Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Displaced children sit on a truck with their packed belongings as they wait for an official ceasefire decision between Iran and the United States that they hope will include Lebanon and allow them to return to their villages, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

A demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei during a gathering after announcement of a two-week ceasefire with the United States and Israel, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

A government supporter chants slogans during a gathering after the announcement of a two-week ceasefire with the United States and Israel in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)

People check the damage of a coffeeshop at the site of an Israeli strike in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon, Wednesday, April, 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)

Men carry the coffins with the bodies of Pierre Mouawad, an official with the anti-Hezbollah Lebanese Forces party, and his wife during their funeral in Yahshush, Lebanon, Tuesday, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

The White House is seen in Washington, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, at 8:00 p.m. EDT. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

An Iranian cluster munition missile explodes in the sky over northern Israel, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

Activists protest near the White House in Washington, Tuesday evening, April 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Pro-government demonstrators chant slogans as they hold Iranian flags and a poster of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei in a gathering after announcement of a two-week ceasefire in the war with the United States and Israel, at the Enqelab-e-Eslami, or Islamic Revolution, Square, in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)