Who were the Gilgo Beach victims? All women suspect Rex Heuermann is accused of killing

Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan architect and Nassau County resident, was charged with murdering seven women in the Gilgo Beach serial killings in July 2023. The Gilgo Beach serial killings were a series of murders that spanned from 1993 to 2011 on Long Island, NY.

Accused Long Island serial killer Rex A. Heuermann appears for a status hearing in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead(via REUTERS)

Heuermann was charged for the murder of seven women – the Gilgo Four: Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, as well as Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla, and Valerie Mack.

Sandra Costilla

Costilla was a 28-year-old woman from the Carribean country of Trinidad and Tobago who was killed by Heuermann on November 19 or 20, 1993. According to Heuermann’s indictment, the DNA of the hairs found on her body matched with his. Costilla used to live in New York City when she disappeared. Her body was found in November 1993 by hunters in North Sea, Long Island, about 60 miles away from Gilgo Beach.

Maureen Brainard-Barnes

The first of ‘The Gilgo Four,’ (remains of four victims found within a quarter of a mile of each other in December 2010) Maureen was a 25-year old woman from Norwich, CT who was killed by Heuermann on July 9, 2007. She was found restrained with three leather belts, and the DNA found on one of the belts matched the wife of Heuermann. Maureen used to work as a seasonal telemarketer and turned to a sex worker when she couldn’t find other employment. A mother of two, she worked as a sex worker via Craigslist to pay her house mortgage.

Melissa Barthelemy

The second ‘Gilgo Four’ victim, Barthelemy was a 24-year old woman from Erie County, NY who went missing on July 12, 2009. She lived in the Bronx, working as a sex worker through Craigslist with the alias “Chloe”. On the night she went missing, she met with a client and deposited $900 in her bank account. A week later, her 15-year-old sister Amanda received “vulgar, mocking, and insulting” calls on Melissa’s cellphone from a man, who may have been the killer.

Megan Waterman

The third ‘Giglo Four’ victim, Waterman was a 22-year-old woman from Maine’s South Portland who went missing on June 6, 2010. She was staying at a motel in Hauppauge, NY at the time of her disappearance. She was a mother of one and had become a victim of sex trafficking by her boyfriend. Her pimp was arrested on sex trafficking charges on April 11, 2012, but he isn’t thought to be be connected in any way with her disappearance. Her body was recovered from Gilgo Beach in December 2010.

Amber Lynn Costello

The final ‘Gilgo Four’ victim, Amber was a 27-year-old woman from West Babylon, NY who went missing on September 2, 2010. On the night she went missing, she went to meet a stranger who offered $2,500 for her service as a sex worker. From descriptions of the stranger by her roommate, the facts pointed to Rex Heuermann as a possible suspect. Costello lived in shared rooms in West Babylon along with several heroin addicts at the time of her disappearance.

Valerie Mack

Also known as Melissa Taylor, Mack was a 24-year-old woman from Philadelphia was killed by Heuermann in the year 2000. Several different remains of her body were found in Manorville, NY on November 19, 2000. More parts of her dismembered body were found in the woods near the intersection of Halsey Manor Road and Mill Road. She worked as an escort and was last seen by family members in spring or summer 2000 in Port Republic, NJ.

Jessica Taylor

Taylor was a 20-year-old woman from Manhattan who went missing on July 21, 2003. Her dismembered body was discovered five days later, 45 miles away from Gilgo Beach in Manorville, NY, where the body of Valerie Mack was also found in the same manner. She worked in Washington D.C. and Manhattan as a sex worker at the time of her disappearance.

Netflix’s new docuseries ‘Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer’ showcases how the investigations were conducted on the Gilgo Beach murders.