‘Horrendous’ Heuermann sentenced to life without parole in Gilgo Beach killings

Massapequa Park architect gets three consecutive life sentences plus a century behind bars for the remaining victims, closing a case that has haunted Long Island

A Riverhead courtroom filled with applause and cheers after a Suffolk County judge sentenced confessed Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann to life in prison without the possibility of parole Wednesday, formally closing a case that spanned three decades and terrorized Long Island for years.

Judge Timothy Mazzei handed down three consecutive life sentences for the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, plus four additional consecutive sentences of 25 years to life — a combined 100 years to life — for the killings of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla and Valerie Mack, terms Heuermann, 62, agreed to as part of his April plea deal.

The sentencing — in a courtroom packed with victims’ families, law enforcement officers ad reporters — followed roughly 10 to 15 victim impact statements from family members of the women Heuermann killed.

Making the first victim impact statements were Valerie Mack’s adoptive parents Joann and Ed.

“Mr. Heuermann, you have done horrendous things to Valerie’s earthly body, but you have not touched the real Valerie,” Ed Mack said in court, Newsday reported.

Valerie Mack partial remains were found first in Manorville in 2000, and then at Gilgo Beach more than a decade later.

Speaking to Heuermann, Joann Mack said that despite the harm he inflicted on her daughter’s body, he could never reach her soul.

Megan Waterman’s aunt, Elizabeth Meserve, called Heuermann a “cowardly opportunist,” according to Newsday’s report.

“He simply wanted to torture and kill,” she said in court, adding about the loss of Waterman — a single mom from Maine who was reported missing in June 2010 — that she “cannot find the words to truly express how devastating Megan’s loss was to our family.”

In her victim impact statement Amber Costello’s sister Kimberly Overstreet, called Heuermann “a raging, murdering sex addict.”

Heuermann of Massapequa Park reversed his not-guilty plea in April, avoiding a trial that had been scheduled for September. He pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder, and also admitted in court to killing an eighth victim, Karen Vergata, though he was never formally charged in her death.

Heuermann told the court he lured each woman with the promise of money, strangled them, then bound their bodies with burlap before dumping them along Ocean Parkway.

On Wednesday, Heuermann spoke briefly: “I am responsible for all that was said in this room… The words I say have no meaning.”

As part of the plea agreement, Heuermann waived his right to further prosecution in connection with the eight victims but agreed to cooperate with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit going forward — the same unit known for its work profiling serial killers dating back to the 1970s.

Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and the couple’s two adult children did not appear in court Wednesday, having said through attorneys they would stay away out of respect for the victims’ families.

The case dates back to a string of disappearances between 1993 and 2010. It remained unsolved for years until investigators linked Heuermann to the crimes through DNA evidence, leading to his 2023 arrest.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney has said Heuermann walked among Long Islanders, play-acting as a normal suburban dad while obsessively targeting women for death. Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina has described him as a sadistic, soulless, murderous monster.

“Eight young women were needlessly and brutally murdered at the hand of this defendant,” Tierney said in court on Wednesday. “This defendant only cares about himself and his sick interests.”

_{Top: Members of a sex-workers rights group, hug each other while waiting in line to enter the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court Complex ahead of a court sentencing for convicted murderer, Rex Heuermann, Wednesday, June 17, 2026, in Suffolk County, New York. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)}