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World 17 Jun 2026

Rex Heuermann, Long Island-based serial killer, sentenced to life in prison

Rex Heuermann, a New York architect who murdered women for at least 17 years until police realized their deaths were the work of a serial killer, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole.

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Rex Heuermann, a New York architect who murdered women for at least 17 years until police realized their deaths were the work of a serial killer, was sentenced Wednesday to life in prison without parole. The sentencing caps an extraordinary investigation that solved one of New York's most perplexing mysteries — one that began as a series of seemingly unconnected and largely unmarked disappearances of young sex workers. Over time, it became the focus of true-crime documentaries, books and podcasts after police began discovering the victims' skeletal remains along a coastal parkway near Long Island's Gilgo Beach. "You are disgusting — a despicable man, if you are a man at all," the judge said, his voice rising. His ex-wife and two grown children weren't at the sentencing, having said through their lawyers that they'd stay away out of respect for the victims' families. Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty in April to charges that he murdered seven women: Barthelemy, Taylor, Valerie Mack, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Sandra Costilla. Heuermann also admitted in court to killing an eighth victim, Karen Vergata, although he was never charged in her death.

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