Suspected Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Rex Heuermann May Seek Separate Trials For Multiple Murders

Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann may seek separate trials for the six murders he is currently charged with, according to his defense attorney.

Heuermann, 60, took longer to get to court than anticipated, spurring Judge Timothy Mazzei to quip to court officers, “Did you walk him over from the jail?”

Asa Ellerup, Heuermann’s estranged wife, also appeared in court with their family dog, who was recently registered as a service dog. She did not speak to reporters.

Heuermann appeared to shake his head as prosecutors announced the turning over of new evidence to the defense, including up to 30 more terabytes of data seized from the searches of his house. The data includes 1,600 pages of lab reports. The prosecution team also announced that up to 60,000 pages of evidence had been turned over to the defense since his June 6 court appearance, when he was charged with the murders of Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor.

“There’s definitely going to be a motion at some point in time to sever the [trials for the] six individuals,” Michael Brown, Heuermann’s defense attorney, told reporters. “The most recent two were victims of the indictment, specifically Costilla and Taylor, I know strategically why the prosecutor wanted to put them in, because the more the merrier, but they have nothing to do with the others. The MO is different, the way that the murders allegedly were carried out were different, where those bodies were deposited or left is completely different. So as we know here about these Gilgo Beach murders, those two have nothing to do with this.”

Partial remains of Taylor were found in Manorville in 2003 and off Ocean Parkway in 2011, just east of Gilgo Beach.

Brown also said a motion for a change of venue for the trial is on the table.

“In Suffolk County, everybody knows about this case,” Brown said. “In Nassau County, everybody knows about this case. In every other county in our state, I would suggest that everybody knows about this case. So we’re definitely going to explore a potential change in venue.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney appeared to welcome Brown’s suggestion of staggered trials.

“I think that’s a motion that defense in all likelihood will explore,” Tierney said. “I think if you look at those reasons why you would want to try these cases together, obviously that is going to be something that the defense is going to look at and make the appropriate decision.”

Tierney also added that Heuermann remains a suspect in the 2000 murder of Valerie Mack, whose partial remains were found then in Manorville in 2000 and in 2011 near Gilgo Beach, similar to Taylor.

Brown continues to question the veracity of DNA testing in the case, saying that the DNA allegedly linking Heuermann to the victims was initially deemed unsuitable for nuclear testing, and was only suitable for mitochondrial testing.

“It’s unsuitable for nuclear DNA testing [at first], and this magical company on the West Coast, does it all of a sudden, after we pounded that issue at a press conference,” Brown said.

Mitochondrial DNA testing is only able to rule out a percentage of the human population, while nuclear DNA testing is more linear, and able to identify specific individuals it belongs to with a higher statistical amount of the population ruled out.

Both mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA testing in the case have linked Heuermann to the victims in the case, via hair found on them allegedly belonging to him or to his family members.

Brown continues to assert that there are other suspects in the case, discussing an unnamed suspect from Massapequa Park with the initials “WH,” and another suspect he claims to have seen pole camera footage of.

A belt with the initials “WH” or “HM” was found on victim Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose murder Heuermann was charged with in January. Rex Heuermann’s grandfather’s name was William Heuermann.

“The former DA in this county was prepared to move forward with an arrest of this suspect who now is so significant because that’s the belt,” Brown said. “It’s my client’s grandmother’s uncle’s neighbor and therefore it’s tied to my client. There were a solid 30 points of evidence against WH. The sole reason that they decided not to charge WH is because there’s an overlap in phone calls – who has personal phone and this burner phone. So because people can’t have two phones on at the same time, WH has been eliminated as a suspect.”

Heuermann’s Last Court Appearance

Before June 6, Heuermann had been charged with the “Gilgo Four,” Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello. All four had been found on Gilgo Beach fully intact, bound, and covered in burlap in 2010.

Brainard-Barnes disappeared in 2007, Melissa Barthelemy disappeared in 2009, and Waterman and Costello both disappeared in 2010.

Sandra Costilla had not been previously known as part of the Gilgo Beach murders case, and was, in fact, a suspected victim of convicted double murderer John Bittrolff, who killed two women around the same time frame. The charge for Costilla pushed back Heuermann’s alleged killings to 1993 – far earlier than any victim typically associated with the case.

The charge for Jessica Taylor – also earlier than any of the previous alleged murders, dated to 2003 – indicated Heuermann operated under more than one M.O.

Hair with DNA that matched Heuermann’s was found on Taylor, Costilla, and Waterman. Hair that matched Asa Ellerup, was found on Waterman and Brainard-Barnes, and hair that matched their daughter, Victoria Heuermann, was found on Costello.

Prosecutors have said that Ellerup and her two adult children, Victoria Heuermann and Christopher Sheridan, were out of town when all of the alleged murders occurred and are not suspected of any wrongdoing.

Prosecutors also revealed a disturbing planning document recovered from Heuermann’s computer, where he described allegedly hunting, torturing, killing, and disposing of his victims and any evidence.

These charges came after an extensive search of the Manorville Pine Barrens, where Taylor and Mack were found, that extended to North Sea on the South Fork, where Costilla was found.

Heuermann was linked to all the victims through DNA, witness accounts, and cell phone data.

Other Victims in the Case

Heuermann stands charged with six murders and is suspected of a seventh. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. There are still questions, however, as to if Heuermann may be charged with even more.

Karen Vergata, formerly known as “Fire Island Jane Doe,” was found on Fire Island in 1996, and eventually found on Tobay Beach in 2011 during police’s extensive sweep of Ocean Parkway. She was publicly identified on Aug. 1, 2023, barely two weeks after Heuermann’s arrest.

That October, Miller Place-based attorney John Ray revealed a sworn affidavit from Lorraine Paulino, who claimed to be a former swinger and said she saw Vergata at a party at Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home in February of 1996, which is around when Vergata disappeared. Until the charge for Sandra Costilla was filed, Vergata was the earliest known victim associated with the case. Nevertheless, no charges have been filed in Vergata’s murder.

An unidentified, biologically male victim was found fully intact on Gilgo in 2011, and determined to be of Asian descent. Asian Doe was found wearing women’s clothing. While an internet search revealed in Heuermann’s first bail document from July 2023 – Heuermann allegedly searched “Asian twink tied up,” – could point to Asian Doe, no charges have been filed in Asian Doe’s murder.

The torso of an unidentified woman, known as “Peaches,” for a tattoo on her left breast, was found at Hempstead Lake State Park in 1997. Further remains of Peaches were found at Jones Beach along Ocean Parkway in 2011. A deceased female toddler found near Valerie Mack in 2011 was later determined to be Peaches’ daughter. No charges have been filed in either murder.

Heuermann has been held without bail since his July 2023 arrest. He is due back in court on Oct. 16.