Rex Heuermann, the Long Island serial killer, was sentenced on Wednesday to life in prison without parole, two months after pleading to murdering seven women and admitting to killing an eighth, over a 17-year period.
The sentencing marks the end of a decades-old cold case that took investigators more than a decade to solve
State Supreme Court Justice Timothy P Mazzei handed down the sentence under the terms of the plea deal Heuermann had agreed to in April.
The judge delivered sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole for three counts of first-degree and 25 years to life for each of the four other counts of second-degree murder, with all sentences set to run consecutively, exactly as prosecutors had requested, according to .
His final words and the judge’s scathing response
When asked by the judge if he was sorry for the killings, Heuermann replied “yes,” according to News12 Long Island.
He then told the court, “I am responsible for all that was said in this room,” but added that “the words I say have no meaning,” per News12 Long Island cited by CNN.
“Are you a little bit sorry for what you did to these innocent women?” Justice Timothy Mazzei asked Heuermann after the impact statements.
Heuermann nodded yes.
Judge told Heuermann, “You’re a disgusting and small man, if you’re a man at all. You’re a coward.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney called Heuermann a “remorseless and sadistic serial killer who only cares about himself.”
Tierney also pointed to a planning document in which, prosecutors said, Heuermann “methodically blueprinted” how he selected, killed and disposed of his victims, per CNN.
Heuermann, who had maintained his innocence since his arrest in July 2023 and stunned followers of the case by abruptly pleading guilty in April. His lawyer, Michael J Brown has said that the decision was partly driven by a desire to spare the victims’ families and Heuermann’s own family from the pain of a lengthy trial, according to the .
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What is the case and who were the victims
Heuermann, a 62-year-old architect, pleaded guilty on April 8 to murdering seven women and admitted to killing an eighth , 34-year-old Karen Vergata, according to .
He was sentenced to three consecutive terms of life in prison without parole for killing:
- Melissa Barthelemy, 24
- Megan Waterman, 22
- Amber Costello, 27
He also received four consecutive terms of 25 years to life for killing:
- Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25
- Jessica Taylor, 20
- Sandra Costilla, 28
- Valerie Mack, 24
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The killings, known as the Gilgo Beach murders and are believed to have begun with Costilla’s death in November 1993. Investigators first suspected a serial killer was at work when some of the women’s remains were discovered in the area in 2010 and 2011, but Heuermann wasn’t linked to the case until 2022, according to USA Today.
Officials said a major break in the case came when DNA from a pizza Heuermann had eaten was matched to a male hair found with the remains. Other unidentified remains have since been found in the area, though Heuermann has not been charged in those cases and his attorney Michael J Brown told reporters that Heuermann maintains he has no other victims.
