Rex Heuermann, an architect from Long Island, New York, was the Gilgo Beach killer. In April 2026 he confessed to murdering eight women: Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Karen Vergata, and Sandra Costilla. Heuermann had strangled the women—all of whom were sex workers at the time of their disappearance—and then left their bodies in Suffolk County along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo State Park; Costilla’s body was discovered in North Sea, Long Island. The crimes occurred in the early 1990s through about 2010. For much of this time Heuermann was married to Asa Ellerup. The couple had a daughter, and Ellerup had a son from a previous relationship. Shortly after Heuermann was arrested in 2023, Ellerup filed for divorce; it was finalized in 2025. In June 2026, Heuermann was sentenced to life in prison.
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