Latest updates: Rex Heuermann sentenced to life without parole

Brown says Peacock documentary 'doesn't sit well' with him

Some of the victims' relatives expressed anger that Heuermann's family made large amounts of money by participating in a Peacock documentary about the case, and Brown said he understands their fury.

"The defense team has nothing to do with this documentary," Brown said.

"Does this sit well with me? No, it doesn't sit well with me. We are not party to that. We are not privy to that," Brown said.

"It doesn't make sense that people can profit from a crime," Brown said.

Heuermann's attorney says he doesn't know if his client is sorry

Heuermann's attorney, Michael Brown of Central Islip, told reporters after the serial killer was sentenced that he does not know if his client is genuinely sorry for the murders he committed and the families he damaged.

"I don't know...I hope he is. I've been doing this for 35 years now and I think I am a good reader of people, and I can judge how they express themselves," Brown said. "I don't know."

Added Brown: "I can say that over the course of representing him, he has absolutely shown...emotion and it is genuine emotion. It is genuine sincerity."

Other victims?

When a reporter asked Tierney if he believed Heuermann had killed other people besides the eight women he has acknowledged murdering, the district attorney said the question is irrelevant.

"It doesn't matter what I think," Tierney said.

Tierney to victims' families: They have avenged their loved ones

Speaking to reporters outside the Riverhead court complex after Heuermann was sentenced, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said the families of the eight slain women can avenge their loved ones by living happy and productive lives.

The district attorney said he wanted the victims' loved ones to "wreak their revenge by going on and having great lives, by being happy, by being fulfilled, by being satisfied that they stood by their loved ones and did a wonderful job.

“My greatest wish for this case, is that the victims continue their journey, continue to heal and go on and live the lives that they all deserve," Tierney said

See video: Heuermann speaks before court

In video from inside the courtroom, Rex Heuermann briefly spoke to the judge, saying no words would be enough to explain his actions.

Heuermann cried during some points being represented, attorney says

Rex Heuermann's attorney, Michael J. Brown, said his client had cried during some moments throughout the course of representing him. He did not elaborate more, though Brown interpreted it as Heuermann regretting his client's crimes. 

Heuermann's attorney not sure where client will be imprisoned

Michael J. Brown, Heuerman's attorney, told reporters outside the courthouse that he is still not clear where his client will be sent to prison. 

Heuermann attorney wasn't sure if remarks would be made

Rex Heuermann's attorney, Michael J. Brown, called his client an "interesting" person. 

"He comes across to me, and I think to many other people, as a normal, everyday person," Brown said, saying that his personality paints a sharp contrast to Heuermann's history in killing eight women. 

He once again reiterated that Heuermann will be interviewed by the FBI. 

"There's two parts of Rex Heuermann," Brown said. 

Gloria Allred speaks for victims' families outside courthouse

Gloria Allred, the attorney representing some of Heuermann's victims, said her clients honored their loved ones' lives. 

She said Heuermann, who was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, brought shame to his family. 

Allred mentioned Heuermann's cooperation with FBI behavioral experts, and said she hopes that any findings from interviews about Heuermann will be shared with the victims' families. 

Live coverage can be found on NewsdayTV.

Heuermann sentenced to life

Judge Mazzei sentenced Heuermann to life without parole on the top count, as expected, and is now running through the other charges.

"Get him out of here," Mazzei said as the sentencing wraps.

Chants of "ogre" and a round of applause come from the families. One victim's family member said she hopes Heuermann is assaulted in prison.

Heuermann speaks: 'I am responsible'

"There are no words I can say, but I am responsible for what was said today," Heuermann said. 

Judge Mazzei asked, "Are you a little bit sorry for what you did to these poor, innocent women?"

"Yes, I am," Heuermann responded. "There are no words I can say. The words I can say have no meaning."

Tierney says Heuermann was looking to make money

Tierney again mentioned how Heuermann has sought to use his family to make money off his crimes. He said he is not capable of caring about his family.

Tierney mentioned the calls to Amanda Funderburg, victim Melissa Barthelemy's sister,, that were discussed earlier.

He wanted to torture [her]," Tierney said of Heuermann's calls to Funderburg, who was 15 years old at the time.

Tierney said torturing Barthelemy wasn't enough.

He said Heuermann went from the hunter to the hunted as a result of those phone calls, which created leads for where the suspect might live and work.

Suffolk DA speaks, saying suffering 'will never end'

"That was spectacularly impactful," Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said of the victim statements.

Tierney is asking the court to sentence Heuermann to the bargained-for disposition, which will see him spend his life in prison without parole.

"Eight young women were needlessly and brutally murdered at the hand of this defendant," Tierney said.

The district attorney thanked the families for sharing their pain in a way he never could.

"The effect this case has had on them is overwhelming," Tierney said. He said the suffering "will never end" for the eight families.

Tierney said Heuermann enjoyed a "twisted satisfaction" from his crimes, calling out statements Heuermann's family and a therapist made about meetings with him in a Peacock documentary. He said he manipulated his family to get them to do that.

Tierney — who previously expressed interest in personally trying the case — said Heuermann is only "sorry he got caught."

"Who this defendant truly is is seen in that planning document," Tierney said.

He said Heuermann planned out killings as if he were solving a math problem or writing a grocery list.

"No concern for the victims and the pain he inflicted upon them whatsoever," Tierney said.

Tierney also addressed the measures Heuermann took to commit the killings, sending his family out of town and using burner phones and fictitious email accounts to contact victims.

"Once someone was marked for death, he used four burner phones he used exclusively to [kill] the Gilgo Four."

Tierney said Heuermann believed he couldn't be traced when he was searching for information about his victims' families. "He thought he was smart. He was wrong."

'A raging, murdering sex addict'

Kimberly Overstreet, Amber Costello's sister, called Heuermann "a raging, murdering sex addict."

"If it were not for my sister's street smarts" the task force would still be searching for Heuermann, who "could not handle being outwitted" by Amber Costello. Overstreet had referred was referring to the time in 2010 when Costello schemed to steal money from Heuermann he would have used to pay for sex with her.

Overstreet said her sister was now with Jesus Christ. "My sister was a sinner," Overstreet said. "She was forgiven."

'She was my mother'

Liliana Waterman, daughter of victim Megan Waterman, said she was 3 years old when her mom went missing and didn't know the details for six years.

"I came across an article about her. That was the moment I truly understood what happened. I remember asking what 'prostitute' and 'pimp' meant," Waterman said. Her heart was broken by the information, she said.

Liliana was raised by a grandmother and they were forced to move from their home. She later lost her grandparents before she was 12 years old.

"For years I tried to find a place where I felt like I belonged," Waterman said, adding she will never know if she could have had stability if raised by her mom because Heuermann took her life.

She also questioned companies and content makers who have profited off her mom's death.

"Absolutely disgusts me," she said of the calls she receives from people looking to make money off her mom's story.

"She had hopes, dreams and plans for the future," Waterman said. "She was my mother."

She said Heuermann shattered the lives of her family and his own. She calls him calculated and remorseless.

"He deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars," Waterman said.

"Today's proceeding ... will not bring her back," Waterman said. Instead, it's about "accountability," as he is shipped to prison.

Victim family member says Son of Sam laws failed to protect Heuermann's victims

As she wrapped up her statement, Meserve questioned the sale of memorabilia, saying Son of Sam laws have failed to protect the victims in this case. She is asking the State Legislature to approve a bill aimed at closing loopholes in that law.

Meserve also said she hopes the unidentified male at Gilgo Beach is identified soon, and called for answers in the death of Shannan Gilbert.

She said she will no longer think of Heuermann.

"Begone cowardly demon," she said as she walked off.

'Cowardly opportunist'

Elizabeth Meserve, the aunt of victim Megan Waterman, addressed the court.

Waterman was a 22-year-old single mother from Scarborough, Maine, who was reported missing on June 8, 2010.

Meserve said Heuermann not only took Megan's hopes and dreams, he "shattered our family."

"Some days are easier than others .... But we continue moving forward hoping for the day when this type of evil is no longer a part of society," she said.

"He simply wanted to torture and kill," Meserve said, saying Heuermann did not have a specific type of person he wanted to kill. She called him a "cowardly opportunist."

Meserve said Liliana Waterman was too young to understand why her mother disappeared. She is referring to Heuermann as "the prisoner."

"I cannot find the words to truly express how devastating Megan's loss was to our family," she said.

Meserve said millions of people now mourn the Gilgo Beach victims thanks to the exposure of the case.

She added that families have suffered due to the actions of former Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas Spota and Police Chief James Burke. She says key evidence was never looked at "due to their corruption."

She also called out the Peacock documentary that paid millions to Heuermann's family, calling it "despicable."

"This is the kind of world we're living in. A demon tortures and kills our loved ones and his family gets filthy rich off his crimes," Meserve said. 

Heuermann looks up for first time

Amanda Funderburg, sister of Melissa Barthelemy, tells Heuermann he can look at her as she speaks, prompting him to look up for the first time.

She reminds him he called her after killing her sister.

"It's been 17 years since we last spoke," Funderburg tells him before recalling the horrific details he shared on the call, which investigators used to track down the suspect's location.

Funderburg said she had received haunting calls from Heuermann “telling me she was a whore and you raped her."

Funderburg concluded her remarks with: “Remember, you are a hated man. ... Do me a favor — save me a spot in hell, because I’ll see you there."

'I don't forgive you'

Nearly an hour into victim impact statements, Nicolette Brainard-Barnes, daughter of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, addressed the court.

Brainard-Barnes called her mother a warm, lovely funny and artistic person, who was a poet, politically active and loved rap and R&B.

"Rex Heuermann stole decades from a woman who should still be here making memories with her family," Nicolette said.

She said she was only 7 years old when she lost her mother and has struggled with her mental health ever since.

"Her death did not create a single moment of grief," she said. "It created a lifetime of pain."

Brainard-Barnes thanked the investigators who worked to solve the case, saying they treated her family with "dignity and respect."

"They gave our family humanity," she said.

She said her mother was a sex worker but also much more than that. "The women he targeted were not disposable," she said.

"You are a pathetic man who thinks he is better than women," she told Heuermann.

Brainard-Barnes concluded by saying, "You make me sick and I don't forgive you."

Emotional weight palpable outside courtroom

There is heavy reaction to the emotional words of the victims’ families.

Amid the clacking keyboards of journalists taking hurried notes, sniffling can be heard from some in the audience in the overflow courtroom. Some people are wiping tears from their faces.

'This burden belongs to Rex'

Melissa Cann, sister of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, is speaking.

"When Maureen was identified it [revealed] a truth she was missing forever," Cann said.

Said she lived with survivor’s guilt for more than a decade, replaying every moment in her mind.

"The guilt is not mine to carry and never was," Cann said. "This burden belongs to Rex."

Maureen was a rare soul, someone you didn't come across often, her sister said.

"If Maureen's life had not been taken, I believe she would have gone on to touch countless lives. ... That's the type of person she was," Cann said.

Cann said family members made great efforts to find Maureen. She said the trauma has been passed down to generations of Brainard-Barnes' family.

"When he took her life, he destroyed mine as I knew it," Cann said.

Cann criticized Heuermann for taking pride in being interviewed by the FBI. She said he's merely a "case study," likening him to a "caged animal."

"You are a coward who preyed on vulnerable, innocent women," Cann said.

"You are no longer the one in control of this story," Cann said. "While you tried to silence [Maureen] you failed."

She said her sister lives on through her family.

Heuermann keeps head low as families read statements

Jasmine Robinson, a cousin of Jessica Taylor's, said she'll never forget the call when Taylor's torso was discovered and identified.

"That weekend she was supposed to come home," Robinson said. "Family and friends were looking for her."

Heuermann is seated at the defense table beside his attorney Danielle Coysh. He's looking downward, his hands atop one another on the table, with no visible reaction to the harsh words towards him.

"I daydream of the woman she would be today," Robinson said. Today would have been Taylor's 43rd birthday.

Robinson recalled all the good times with Taylor, dancing and watching "Tales from the Crypt."

"We shared everything. Family secrets that will never be yours to know," Robinson said. "Heuermann, you fill me with so much repugnance it cannot be overstated."

She said she could watch the footage of Heuermann being arrested "over and over."

"I loved it," Robinson said. "You will spend the rest of your forever in prison, and it will never be satisfying."

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney is seated as the prosecutors turned to look at each person giving a victim impact statement.

'Beyond what words can express': Family of Valerie Mack makes first victim impact statement

Ed and Joann Mack are being called up to speak on behalf of their adoptive daughter Valerie, who was killed by Heuermann in 2000.

"Mr. Heuermann you have done horrendous things to Valerie's earthly body, but you have not touched the real Valerie," Ed Mack said.

Mack said Valerie will be at Jesus' side when he enters heaven.

JoAnn Mack told Heuermann what he did "is beyond what words can express."

"Even when justice is done it cannot replace what you have taken from us," Joanne Mack said. She told Heuermann he never reached their daughter's soul despite all the harm he did to her body.

Valerie Mack was dismembered. Her remains were found first in Manorville in 2000 and more than a decade later at Gilgo Beach.

"She had hopes and she had dreams and you took it all away from her," Joanne Mack said. "You took away a lifetime for [her son] of his mother's love."

Valerie Mack's sister Danielle said, “He doesn’t have humanity to experience remorse."

A district attorney's employee read a statement from Benjamin "Aaron" Torres, the son of Valerie Mack. "I am the son of Valerie Mack," the statement read. "The amount of pain and loss you have caused in my life is indescribable."

"I will leave you with this," Torres concluded in his statement. "You reap what you have sown. No one is exempt from that universal truth."

Heuermann inside courtroom

Heuermann has entered the courtroom in a gray suit. He looked down as he entered, only looking up at his attorneys.

A moment of levity occurred after a loud tapping noise was heard in the courtroom. Judge Mazzei deadpanned: "What the hell is that?"

Laughing ensued in the overflow courtroom.

The source of the noise was unclear.

Courtroom quiet as judge conferences with attorneys, orders Heuermann to come out

The courtroom stood mostly quiet as the audience waited for Judge Timothy Mazzei — who had been conferencing with attorneys — to take the bench. 

The attorneys have now returned to the courtroom, with Mazzei taking to the bench and calling for Heuermann to be brought into the courtroom.

"Let's get him out," Mazzei said.

While it is customary for defendants to stand along the railing for proceedings, Heuermann will be seated with his attorneys, Michael J. Brown and Danielle Coysh, at the defense table behind prosecutors.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and assistant district attorneys Nicholas Santomartino and Andrew Lee are seated at the prosecution table.

Courthouse doors open as Suffolk DA lists who will be speaking at sentencing

The doors to the courtroom have opened and just about every seat has already been filled.

The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office is distributing a list of victim family members who will speak during the sentencing.

Adoptive parents Ed and JoAnn Mack and sister Danielle Mack will speak for Valerie Mack. Son Benjamin "Aaron" Torres wrote a victim impact statement that will be read. 

For Jessica Taylor, the court will hear from cousins Jasmine Robinson and Violet Swager. 

For Maureen Brainard-Barnes: sister Melissa "Missy" Cann and daughter Nicolette Brainard-Barnes.

Amanda Funderburg, sister of Melissa Barthelemy, will also speak. Aunt Elizabeth Meserve and daughter Liliana Waterman will speak for victim Megan Waterman.

Kimberly Overstreet, the sister of Amber Costello, and Sandra Costilla's sister, Ruth Ramos, wrote victim impact statements that will be read to the court.

The courtroom is full and doors are now closed. People are now being taken to an overflow room to watch a video feed of the proceeding.

Each victim has agreed to appear on camera for their statements, court officials have informed media.

At least 10 victims' family members to speak inside courtroom

With 30 minutes to go before the courthouse opens, Chief Deputy Assistant District Attorney Allen Bode said prosecutors expect the public will hear from more than a dozen family members of victims and Heuermann himself when sentencing gets underway.

Bode said 10 victim family members will address the court directly and three more prepared statements will be read by Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Santomartino.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney will speak for his office when it's their turn to address the court.

Bode said State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei is currently presiding over a trial scheduled for the afternoon. The expectation is the sentencing will take about two hours, Bode said.

The courtroom doors will open at 9:30 a.m., court officials have said

What Heuermann has been doing in jail as he awaited sentencing

It's unclear how Rex Heuermann will respond when he is confronted by the families of his victims before he is sentenced today in Riverhead.

But the Gilgo Beach serial killer showed little emotion during his three years in the Suffolk County jail, Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. told Newsday that Heuermann has shown no remorse while incarcerated. Heuermann keeps to himself, Toulon said.

He is an avid reader who likes grisly novels such as “Blood on the Beach.”

Read the full story here. 

Map: See where Gilgo Beach victims were found

Gilgo Beach became ground zero for the investigation into Rex Heuermann's crimes going as far back as 1993. 

Below is a map of where police found several victims, including those Heuermann admitted to killing: 

Sex work advocates among those waiting outside courthouse

A group of sex workers and their allies from New York City are among the people waiting to enter the Riverhead court complex for Rex Heuermann’s sentencing.

One told Newsday they are here to support the victims and their families and raise awareness of violence against sex workers and women. “It could have happened to any of us," said Manhattan resident Natalie Tildi, a member of the informal group.

Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann learns sentencing fate today

Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann will be in a Riverhead courtroom Wednesday, where he is expected to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering seven women and killing an eighth. 

Heuermann pleaded guilty in April to seven murders and admitted to killing an eighth victim, homicides prosecutors have said he committed from 1993 to 2010. He dumped the bodies, in some cases dismembered, in the vicinity of Gilgo Beach, as well as other areas in Suffolk County.

The families of Heuermann’s victims are expected to address what is expected to be a packed courtroom before Heuermann is formally sentenced.

Statistics show years Heuermann killed were among busiest for LI homicide investigators

A Newsday review of New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services statistics shows Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann’s first admitted murder occurred in a year with more homicides reported on Long Island than any other in recent history.

Agency data shows a total of 87 murders reported between Nassau and Suffolk counties in 1993, the year Heuermann admitted to killing Sandra Costilla and dumping her body in North Sea. That is the highest total for any year on Long Island since 1990, which is as far back as the agency’s current data goes.

Heuermann is now the third serial killer convicted of murder on Long Island in 1993. Joel Rifkin, of East Meadow, killed at least three women that year, including two whose remains were found in the Suffolk County pine barrens, where Heuermann also disposed of partial remains for two of his victims. Michael Swango, a medical resident at the Northport VA hospital, admitted to federal authorities that he poisoned three patients that year.

A fourth serial killer from Long Island, Robert Shulman, murdered at least five women between 1991 and 1995 but had no known victims in 1993.

Several other high-profile killings are included in the 1993 death toll. John Bittrolff, a Manorville carpenter once considered a suspect in Costilla’s killing, was convicted in 2017 of two murders, including one from 1993.

Six people were killed by mass shooter Colin Ferguson during the Long Island Rail Road massacre on Dec. 7, 1993, pushing Nassau County, where Heuermann lived, to its highest total of 38 homicides that year.

At least one other 1993 killing is still making its way through the Suffolk County courts system. Denise Merker, of Riverhead, was charged earlier this year with the murder of her infant daughter in 1993. The case was investigated by the Suffolk County Cold Case Homicide Task Force and is being prosecuted by a pair of assistant district attorneys from the Gilgo Beach case. Merker’s defense attorney, Danielle Coysh, also helped represent Heuermann.

A total of 49 homicides were reported in Suffolk County in 1993. Only 2010, with 52 killings, including the final two Heuermann has admitted to, saw more bloodshed within the county, the data shows. A total of 80 murders were committed on Long Island in 2010, the third highest number since 1990.

Heuermann has admitted to killing eight women and discarding their remains in Suffolk County in seven different years between 1993 and 2010. There were 190 homicides in the county in those seven years: 1993, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2007, 2009 and 2010.

When the Gilgo Beach investigation began

Dozens of media outlets from around the world will have a presence at the criminal courthouse in Riverhead for the sentencing of Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann this morning.

The case has spawned several books, a feature film and documentary series’ produced by three major streaming services.

But coverage of the case originated with a brief article published in Newsday after the discovery of the first set of remains found off Ocean Parkway on Dec. 11, 2010.

Here’s what our original 121-word article, penned by former Suffolk County politics reporter Rick Brand and published in print on Monday, Dec. 13, 2010, said about the discovery:

The skeletal remains of an unidentified body have been found on the side of Ocean Parkway between Cedar and Gilgo beaches, police officials said.

Homicide detectives are investigating after the remains were found Saturday about 2:45 p.m., when canine officer John Mallia and his dog, Blue, were doing a routine training exercise in the area.

A police spokeswoman said detectives could not immediately identify whether the remains are of a man or a woman and what was found is being turned over to the medical examiner for analysis.

Detectives ask anyone with information to contact the homicide squad at 631-852-6392 or anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 800-220-TIPS.

The remains would later be identified as Melissa Barthelemy, a hairdresser from Buffalo who had rented an apartment in the Bronx. She disappeared on July 12, 2009. Heuermann was charged in her killing on July 13, 2023, and pleaded guilty to first-degree murder on April 8.

Heuermann will receive a sentence of life without the possibility of parole for the Barthelemy murder later today.

Sentencing falls on birthday for one Gilgo Beach victim

Today marks what would have been the 43rd birthday of Gilgo Beach victim Jessica Taylor, who had recently turned 20 when she was killed by Heuermann in July 2023.

Taylor grew up in Poughkeepsie, where she loved dancing, drawing, jumping rope and cuddling on the couch with her brothers while watching television, according to family members.

"I was lucky to share my childhood with her and I wish every day that we got the chance to create new memories," Taylor's cousin, Jasmine Robinson, said at a 2024 news conference following Heuermann’s arraignment on upgraded criminal charges. "When I think of her, I see her smile first, big and bright, lighting up her face, gleaming through her beautiful eyes."

Taylor's mother, Elizabeth Baczkiel, said her daughter worked hard at school, loved board games such as Monopoly and Candy Land, and enjoyed working with children, including as an aide at a summer camp.

"It is a tragedy she never had children," Baczkiel said at the news conference. "Jessica would have been a great mother. She loved kids and she loved working with them."

Taylor spoke to her mother on July 21, 2003, telling her she would visit her in Poughkeepsie later that week to celebrate her birthday.

When she did not show up and failed to answer calls, her mother called police. Taylor was last seen at the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan.

On July 26, 2003, Taylor's partial remains were discovered by a dog walker just west of Halsey Manor Road in Manorville. More of Taylor’s remains were discovered near Gilgo Beach in 2011.

Baczkiel and Robinson were present when Heuermann pleaded guilty to second-degree murder April 8. He will receive a sentence of 25 years to life in her killing, though his sentence in other deaths assures he would not be eligible for parole under current New York laws.