Takeaways from the Gilgo Beach case as Rex Heuermann pleads guilty to 7 murders and admits to an 8th

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — A Long Island man who carried out a series of murders known as the Gilgo Beach killings pleaded guilty to murder charges this week, bringing finality to the long-unsolved case more than 30 years after the first killing.

Rex Heuermann, an architect who led a secret life as a serial killer, pleaded guilty Wednesday to three counts of first-degree murder and four counts of intentional murder in the killings of seven women between 1993 and 2010.

Heuermann, 62, appeared unemotional and did not look back at the packed gallery of victims’ relatives as he entered the pleas and also admitted to killing an eighth woman.

He will be sentenced in June to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Here are some key takeaways from the case:

The discovery of numerous sets of human remains along Long Island’s South Shore beginning in late 2010 set off a search for a potential serial killer that drew global interest. Families of the victims grew doubtful that their killer would ever be caught as the investigation dragged on for more than a decade.

Heuermann was arrested in 2023 after a DNA match.

He admitted Wednesday that he strangled eight female victims and dismembered some of them before dumping their bodies along remote stretches of New York coastline. Many of his victims were sex workers.

Heuermann admitted that he killed Karen Vergata in 1996, although he hasn’t been charged in her death.

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. The remains of another, Sandra Costilla, were found more than 60 miles (100 kilometers) away in the Hamptons. Vergata’s remains were found on Fire Island, more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) west, in 1996, and then near Gilgo Beach in 2011.

Detectives identified Heuermann as a suspect in 2022 using a vehicle registration database to connect him to a pickup truck that a witness had reported seeing when one of the victims disappeared in 2010.

Police pulled cellphone data that showed Heuermann was in contact with some victims just before they disappeared, investigators said. His internet search history also showed a keen interest in the Gilgo Beach killings.

A surveillance team tailed him in Manhattan, where he worked, and watched as he discarded a box of partially eaten pizza crusts into a sidewalk garbage can. They rushed to grab the box and sent it to the crime lab, which matched the DNA from a hair found on burlap used to restrain one of the victims.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney described Wednesday how investigators worked to keep the probe quiet so as not to let Heuermann know they were onto him. “We wanted the one person who mattered, the murderer, to think it’s business as usual,” Tierney said.

As part of his guilty plea, Heuermann agreed to cooperate fully with the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit to help catch other serial killers.

Several family members of the victims were present in court Wednesday, and some wept as Heuermann detailed the murders.

Among them was Taylor’s mother, Elizabeth Baczkiel. Her 20-year-old daughter was living in Manhattan when she went missing in 2003. Taylor’s remains were discovered later that year, 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Gilgo Beach in Manorville.

“I am glad that this is over as far as him pleading guilty,” Baczkiel said. “It took a big chunk of stress off of me and my family.”

Melissa Cann, the sister of victim Brainard-Barnes, said she was grateful to finally get justice for her sister, whose body was found in 2010.

“This has been a long journey of hope — hope that one day we would stand here and say her name with justice beside it,” Cann said at a news conference after the hearing. “Today, that long, painful journey brings us to this moment.”

Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and their daughter were also in court as he entered the guilty pleas. Ellerup said her thoughts were with the victims’ families and she asked for privacy for her own family. Ellerup and her daughter, Victoria, had no knowledge of or involvement in the killings, said their lawyer, Robert Macedonio.

Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum contributed from Salt Lake City.

Family members of victims react as they listen Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney during a news conference after Rex Heuermann, accused in Long Island's Gilgo Beach serial killings, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, at Suffolk County Police Academy Gymnasium in Brentwood, N.Y. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

A family member of the victims listens Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney during a press conference after Rex Heuermann, was accused in Long Island's infamous Gilgo Beach serial killings, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, at Suffolk County Police Academy Gymnasium in Brentwood, New York. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney speaks during a news conference after Rex Heuermann, accused in Long Island's Gilgo Beach serial killings, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, at Suffolk County Police Academy Gymnasium in Brentwood, N.Y. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)

Family members of victims react as they listen Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney during a news conference after Rex Heuermann, accused in Long Island's Gilgo Beach serial killings, pleaded guilty on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, at Suffolk County Police Academy Gymnasium in Brentwood, 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)

TORONTO (AP) — Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz left Wednesday’s loss to the Washington Capitals early in the first period with a lower-body injury.

The Toronto starter was hurt after stretching out his left leg to get a pad on Cole Hutson’s shot from distance.

Stolarz immediately collapsed to the ice and pulled off his mask before one of the referees blew the play dead.

The 32-year-old was attended to by a trainer and had to be helped off the ice by teammates before heading down the tunnel to the locker room.

Coach Craig Berube announced after the 4-0 loss that Artur Akhtyamov will be recalled from the American Hockey League and make his first NHL appearance Thursday when the Maple Leafs visit the New York Islanders.

“I’ve really liked him right from camp,” Berube said of the 24-year-old Russian selected 106th overall at the 2020 NHL draft. “Great personality. He’s played well down there. He’s a competitor and he’s really got fast reflexes."

The Maple Leafs also lost forward Dakota Joshua (upper body) and defenseman Brandon Carlo (lower body) to injuries later in the game against Washington.

Berube said Luke Haymes and William Villeneuve will join Akhtyamov as AHL call-ups. Haymes is also slated to make his NHL debut Thursday for the Maple Leafs, who are set to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2016.

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Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) is helped off the ice by teammates following an injury against the Washington Capitals during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Anthony Stolarz (41) goes down with an injury against the Washington Capitals during first period NHL hockey action in Toronto on Wednesday, April 8, 2026. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)