(NewsNation) — Long Island architect Rex Heuermann has been charged with the deaths of four women known as the Gilgo Four, whose bodies were among several found on Gilgo Beach.
Heuermann’s arrest came decades after the women disappeared and their bodies were found. Investigators used familial DNA to help lead them to Heuermann. Searches of his home revealed a number of items taken as potential evidence.
Heuermann is being held in a Suffolk County, New York, jail pending his trial. Here is a timeline of key moments in the case.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes disappears
July 9, 2007: Maureen Brianard-Barnes is last seen in a hotel in Manhattan. The 25-year-old had traveled there from Norwich, Connecticut, to see a client she had met on Craigslist. She was reported missing several days later.
The mother of two was a sex worker who advertised on Craigslist and Backpages and usually went with a female friend to call for safety. The weekend she disappeared, the friend had left early and returned home ahead of Brainard-Barnes.
July 12, 2009: Melissa Barthelemy is last seen in the Bronx, outside her apartment. Barthelemy, 24, was headed for a $1,000 date the next night with a client in Long Island, New York. After she disappeared, her sister received calls from a man who used Barthelemy’s phone and said he had killed her.
Barthelemy had moved to New York with dreams of becoming a hairdresser. She eventually began working as an exotic dancer and eventually as an escort, something her family speculated she did to make ends meet.
Shannan Gilbert disappears
May 1, 2010: While Heuermann is not charged with Gilbert’s death, it was her disappearance that would lead to the discovery of all the remains. Gilbert, 23, called 911 saying people were trying to kill her after leaving a client’s house. She was also seen banging on doors yelling for help.
Megan Waterman disappears
June 6, 2010: Megan Waterman, 22, was staying at a hotel in Hauppauge, New York, and was last seen walking toward a nearby convenience store.
Police described Waterman as a victim of sex trafficking and her family said the single mother had been taken to New York by her boyfriend.
Amber Lynn Costello disappears
Sept. 2, 2010: Amberlyn Costello, 27, was last seen by her roommate as she left for a date with a client who offered her $1,500 for a date. The client had called three or four times, asking for a date with her.
Costello had previously struggled with drug use before going to rehab. Her male housemate often went with her on outcalls for safety.
Melissa Barthelemy’s remains found
Dec. 11, 2010: Investigators searching for Shannan Gilbert find the first set of remains along Giglo Beach. The skeletal remains are eventually identified as Melissa Barthelemy.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman’s remains found
Dec. 13, 2010: In the continuing search for Gilbert, three sets of remains are found not far from Waterman. They are eventually identified as Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman. Police would continue to search the beach into 2011, finding several additional sets of remains, which have not been officially linked to Heuermann.
Gilgo Four identified
Jan. 24, 2011: Investigators announce the identities of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amberlynn Costello and Melissa Barthelmey, following the release of Megan Waterman’s identity a few days before. The four women, all sex workers, would come to be known as the Gilgo Four.
Giglo Beach Murders Task Force formed
February 2022: Investigators form a task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach victims. The multiagency task force identified Rex Heuermann as a possible suspect in March 2022.
Investigators begin to surveil Heuermann and gather evidence to support their case. One key element is DNA evidence collected from the family’s garbage, including DNA taken from a piece of pizza crust. Other evidence includes cell phone data and credit card information.
Rex Heuermann arrested
July 13, 2023: Rex Heuermann is taken into custody and charged with the deaths of Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy.
Rex Heuermann’s home searched
July 25, 2023: Police conclude a search of the Heurmann home and property, finding what they described as a lot of evidence.
Rex Heuermann charged with fourth death
Jan. 16, 2024: Heuermann is charged with the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
January 2022: The Suffolk County district attorney convenes a new task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach slayings. July 13, 2023: Investigators arrest Heuermann and charge him with murdering Costello, Waterman and Barthelemy.
Shortly after Gilbert's body was discovered, Hackett put his Oak Beach house on the market in 2012 and moved away from the area, Newsday reports. He now reportedly lives in Florida.
-- Asa Ellerup, the estranged wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, said through her attorney she wants to give her husband the benefit of the doubt.
Long Island Press | Asa Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann, the wife and daughter of suspected Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann, attended his Tuesday court appea...
As of December 2016, additional skeletal remains found on Long Island in 2011 have been positively identified as belonging to Peaches, along with the remains of her child.
Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann has signed over his run-down family home, worth $530,000, to his soon-to-be ex-wife for $0. The 60-year-old filed a transfer deed on September 22 and named Asa Ellerup as the sole owner of the property in Massapequa Park on Long Island, New York, according to The US Sun.
Rex Heuermann's first wife was Elizabeth Ryan. They were married in New Brunswick, New Jersey when he was 26 years old. Elizabeth Ryan is a graduate of St. Peter's High School and Montclair State College, where she earned a degree in business administration.
Investigators say they have evidence Ellerup was out of town when the murders occurred, and she has not been charged or named as a suspect, "48 Hours" reported. Ellerup appeared at one of Heuermann's court hearings back in November 2023.
His wife, Asa Ellerup, filed for divorce nearly a week after he was arrested in the case in July, according to a court filing. Her attorney said Wednesday that she visits Heuermann weekly.
Asa Ellerup, who filed to divorce Rex Heuermann just days after his July 2023 arrest, released a statement Wednesday through her attorney saying she "still maintains that Rex is not capable of the crime he is accused of."
On Tuesday, prosecutors said DNA samples from hair found on the bodies were linked back to Heuermann or his wife, Asa Ellerup, and 26-year-old daughter, Victoria Heuermann. Heuermann's family was out of town — but not the architect — when the four murders were committed, the indictment said.
Gilgo Beach serial killings suspect Rex Heuermann has now been charged with murder in the deaths of all four women who became known as the “Gilgo Four” after their remains were discovered by investigators on Long Island in 2010.
His two adult children, Victoria Heuermann, 26, and Christopher Sheridan, 33, are now dealing with the aftermath of their father's shocking arrest in connection with the string of murders. "They're constantly…
Karen Vergata is home again. Her cremated remains are being returned to her sons after almost 30 years amid a sprawling police investigation into a serial killer on Long Island. Vergata was identified in August as a Gilgo Beach victim with scientific techniques not available when she went missing in 1996.
Karen Vergata, a longtime Jane Doe in the Gilgo Beach murders, made one last call to her father for his birthday before she vanished more than two decades ago and her remains were found just two months later.
Karen Vergata, 34, was identified as "Jane Doe Seven" in the Gilgo Beach homicide investigation using DNA genetic genealogy. One of the victims in the Gilgo Beach murders, previously dubbed "Jane Doe Seven," has finally been identified, 27 years after her partial remains were found, officials announced Friday.
In 2000, Peter Hackett was an emergency physician in Grand Junction, Colorado, and a Professor of Medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle. By 2009, he was the director of the Institute for Altitude Medicine in Telluride, Colorado, and a professor at the School of Medicine at the University of Colorado.
But one of Gilbert's daughters, Stevie, does not exist in the film. “Stevie, another daughter of Mari's, had not been depicted in Bob's book as an active participant in Mari's search for Shannan,” Garbus explained. “Whether or not that actually happened, well, we were working from Bob's book.”
It's taken 13 years but Suffolk County Police finally say they've caught the serial killer who dumped his victims along the shores of Gilgo Beach. Here is the evidence that led investigators to Long Island suspect Rex Heuermann.
Ray said Gilbert's body remained at the Suffolk County medical examiner's office for more than three years because the family was unable to pay for a funeral. Area funeral directors donated their services, and the Amityville Cemetery donated a burial plot for the woman's interment, he said.
Introduction: My name is Francesca Jacobs Ret, I am a innocent, super, beautiful, charming, lucky, gentle, clever person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
