A decades-long investigation into murders near New York’s Gilgo Beach reached a major conclusion when Rex Heuermann entered guilty pleas for seven killings and confessed to an eighth victim’s death in court Wednesday.
The case began in 2010 when officers looking for a missing woman started discovering human remains scattered along Ocean Parkway near the Long Island beach community. Authorities quickly suspected the work of a serial killer.
Through years of DNA testing and investigative work, police identified victims and connected some remains to bodies found elsewhere on Long Island in earlier years.
The following chronology traces the investigation from the first victim’s discovery through Heuermann’s recent guilty plea:
November 20, 1993: Hunters find Sandra Costilla’s body, age 28, in wooded North Sea area of the Hamptons. Costilla had been residing in New York City.
April 20, 1996: Partial remains of Karen Vergata are located on Fire Island barrier beach. Investigators don’t identify her until 2022 using advanced DNA testing. Vergata, 34, was engaged in sex work when she disappeared.
June 28, 1997: A woman’s partial remains are found in a plastic container at West Hempstead state park. Detectives call her “Peaches” due to a body tattoo. She remains unidentified for years until 2025, when police determine she is Tanya Jackson, an Army veteran from Brooklyn.
September 2000: Partial skeletal remains of Valerie Mack, a Philadelphia escort, are located in Manorville woods. Mack, 24, was last seen by relatives in spring or summer 2000 in Port Republic, New Jersey.
July 26, 2003: Jessica Taylor’s partial skeletal remains are found in Manorville wooded area. She was 20 and working as an escort when she vanished.
July 9, 2007: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, travels from Norwich, Connecticut for sex work and last contacts a friend from her hotel, saying she’s meeting a client. Cell phone records later show her phone’s final use was on Long Island.
July 10, 2009: Melissa Barthelemy, 24, leaves her Bronx apartment telling a friend she’s seeing a man and will return by morning. Phone data places her last known location on Long Island. Someone later uses Barthelemy’s phone to make harassing calls to her family members.
May 1, 2010: Shannan Gilbert vanishes in Oak Beach after running from a client’s home and seeking help from neighbors. In a recorded emergency call, she tells dispatchers people are pursuing her but refuses assistance. Witnesses say she appeared confused and fled into the darkness.
June 6, 2010: Megan Waterman, 22, who came to Long Island from Maine for sex work, is last spotted at a Hauppauge motel.
September 2, 2010: Amber Lynn Costello, 27, leaves her West Babylon home to meet a client. A friend later tells detectives the presumed client drove a Chevrolet Avalanche.
December 11, 2010: An officer training with his dog finds human remains along Ocean Parkway. Officials initially think they’ve found Gilbert but identify the victim as Barthelemy.
December 13, 2010: Police locate bodies of Costello, Brainard-Barnes and Waterman on the same quarter-mile Ocean Parkway section where Barthelemy was discovered.
December 14, 2010: Suffolk County Police Commissioner Richard Dormer announces the body discoveries publicly and suggests a serial killer may be responsible. The search expands while Gilbert remains missing.
March 29, 2011: Some of Taylor’s remains are found along Ocean Parkway.
April 4, 2011: More of Valerie Mack’s remains are discovered on Ocean Parkway. Nearby, investigators find a 2-year-old girl’s remains, later DNA-identified as Jackson’s daughter, Tatiana Dykes. Separately, they discover an unidentified Asian male’s remains, estimated to be from someone in his late teens or early twenties who died five to ten years prior.
April 11, 2011: Additional Vergata remains are found along Ocean Parkway, miles west of Gilgo Beach. Police also locate more of Jackson’s remains along the beach roadway.
December 13, 2011: Gilbert’s skeletal remains are discovered in Oak Beach tidal marsh. Following autopsy, Suffolk Police conclude she accidentally drowned.
January 2022: Suffolk County district attorney establishes new task force for Gilgo Beach killing investigation.
July 13, 2023: Authorities arrest Heuermann, charging him with murdering Costello, Waterman and Barthelemy. Primary evidence includes cell phone location data placing Heuermann and victims in similar locations at corresponding times, plus DNA traces on remains.
January 16, 2024: Heuermann faces charges in Brainard-Barnes’ death. Prosecutors cite hair found with her body that’s genetically similar to DNA from Heuermann’s wife.
May 20, 2024: New search of Heuermann’s residence begins, continuing nearly a week.
June 6, 2024: Heuermann is charged with Costilla and Taylor murders.
December 17, 2024: Unsealed indictment charges Heuermann in Mack’s killing.
December 18, 2025: Florida resident Andrew Dykes enters not guilty plea for killing Tanya Jackson and Tatiana Dykes. DNA evidence links Dykes, who was Tatiana’s father, to the crimes. Though ultimately unconnected to other Gilgo Beach deaths, authorities say this case benefited from resources devoted to the serial killer investigation.
April 8, 2026: Heuermann pleads guilty to seven murder counts for killing Barthelemy, Brainard-Barnes, Costello, Costilla, Mack, Taylor and Waterman. He also admits in court to killing Vergata. Sentencing is scheduled for June 17.
