Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann sent to isolation discipline for having synthetic drug, source says

Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann was disciplined weeks after he was sent to prison when correction officers found a small quantity of synthetic drugs under his bed, a source familiar with the investigation told Newsday.

Heuermann, 62, was sent to an isolated cellblock, had his mail temporarily suspended and could lose access to his commissary account if he gets in trouble again, the source said.

The discovery was made July 14 during a search of Heuermann’s cell in a protected portion of Clinton Correctional Facility where high-profile inmates are held, according to the source. Heuermann was not in his cell at the time of the search, which occurred about three weeks after he arrived at the prison, located in upstate Dannemora.

Heuermann's criminal defense attorney, Michael J. Brown, and Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney could not be immediately reached for comment Thursday.

The contraband was limited to a small, soaked piece of paper wrapped in plastic that tested positive for "synthetic marijuana," the source said. Synthetic marijuana are human-made, lab-created chemicals that bind to the same cell receptors in the brain as natural THC from the cannabis plant, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The Heuermann drug case was litigated during a two-day hearing that concluded Aug. 18. Should he commit further violations, Heuermann would have his commissary suspended for 75 days, according to the source.

Dannemora is home to several high-profile Long Island killers, including former NYPD Officer Michael Valva, 47, of Center Moriches, who was convicted of killing his 8-year-old son, Thomas, in 2020. Manorville carpenter John Bittrolff, convicted of two killings in the early 1990s, is also serving his sentence there.

Heuermann, who pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder on April 8, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole June 17.

He admitted strangling eight women — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack and Karen Vergata — and dumping their bodies across Suffolk County, including near Gilgo Beach.

Heuermann was arrested July 13, 2023, and initially charged in three of the killings. He was later indicted three more times and charged with seven murders. He was never charged in Vergata’s 1996 killing, but admitted it while pleading guilty to the others.

In 2022, six weeks after the formation of a Gilgo Beach task force, detectives identified Heuermann as a suspect by using a vehicle registration database to connect him to a pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when Costello disappeared in 2010.

Heuermann lived for decades in Massapequa Park, about a 25-minute drive from where the women’s remains were found. Some of the victims were believed to have disappeared from that community and their cellphones were found to have pinged towers in the area, authorities said.

Detectives collected billing records for burner phones he used to arrange meetings with the women, retested DNA that linked the killer to the crime scenes and scoured Heuermann’s internet search history, which showed that he had viewed violent torture pornography and exhibited an intense interest in the Gilgo Beach killings and the renewed investigation.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.