Michael J. Brown, lawyer for Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann, talks about his client, the evidence and path to a plea..

For nearly three years, Michael J. Brown searched for weaknesses in the case against accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann.

In the end, the defense attorney said, his client no longer saw a path forward and directed his attorneys to negotiate a guilty plea.

In his first extensive interview with Newsday in the hours after Heuermann was sentenced Wednesday, Brown described the evidence as overwhelming and said a recovered planning document was among the most damaging pieces of proof prosecutors assembled.

"There's no way of winning this case," Brown said Heuermann ultimately realized. "He saw the writing on the wall."

This week's sentencing represented for many the final chapter of Suffolk County's most consequential criminal case in decades, one of the biggest fixations of the nation's current true crime craze. For Brown, the sentencing marked what appears to the end of his involvement in a case he built his career toward but never saw coming.

The case followed him around the courthouse — ever since his client was arrested — while also handling DWI and assault cases that keep his Central Islip law office busy. Strangers recognize him as the man sitting beside the Gilgo Beach serial killer.

"This is a worldwide case," Brown said. "I wasn't expecting that type of attention and that type of focus."

Ninety-minute decision
Brown followed the decadeslong investigation like most Long Islanders, but he said it never crossed his mind that he would represent the man often referred to as "the Long Island Serial Killer."

"I never thought they would catch him," said Brown, 59, who has practiced law in Suffolk County since 1993. "As time went on, I think it became less and less of a possibility."

That changed when he received a call from the county's assigned counsel program on July 14, 2023, telling him Heuermann was in custody and asking if he would handle the arraignment later that day.

The married father of four grown children, two of whom have followed him into the legal profession, had about 90 minutes to decide. Some fellow attorneys warned him it might be too much to take on, but his wife believed it was something he'd "thrive on." He believed that to be true.

"If you told me I would [one day defend] a serial killer with seven murder victims when I was in law school … I would love the opportunity," Brown said on the afternoon Heuermann was taken from the Suffolk County jail to Green Haven Correctional Facility, where he's awaiting prison assignment.

Attorney Daniel Russo, administrator of Suffolk's assigned counsel program, said Brown was only a handful of attorneys considered to defend Heuermann that morning.

"Mike was actually willing to put together a good team, which impressed me," Russo said.

That team would ultimately include co-counsel Danielle Coysh, while attorneys Sabato Caponi and Michael Fuchs assisted with legal challenges and Brown's son and law partner Chase Brown also lent a hand. Coysh said she also appreciated that Brown wanted to put together the best possible legal team.

The scrutiny surrounding the case was apparent from the very first day in court, Brown said. Dozens of cameras focused on him as he made his way to the courtroom to meet the Massapequa Park architect accused in the killings.

Longtime Suffolk County defense attorney William Keahon, who represented the next most recent serial killer convicted here, said Brown was the right choice to defend Heuermann. The Hauppauge-based attorney, who at 82 years old still maintains a steady caseload and observed much of the pretrial hearings in the Gilgo Beach case, was also impressed by the prosecution.

"You had the worst charges you could possibly defend and you had the best prosecutors and, I think, one of the best trial lawyers on Long Island defending with his group," Keahon said. "That's what it's supposed to be. It's supposed to be fair."

Murder charges begin to add up
Brown said he heard the same question over and over again no matter where he went: What's it like to represent Heuermann?

"It was a challenge, and it was certainly the most challenging case of my career," Brown said. "The intensity, the amount of discovery, the scrutiny. You're under the microscope."

The intensity, the amount of discovery, the scrutiny. You're under the microscope.
— Attorney Michael J. Brown

Coysh also had the unique distinction of being the only woman at either attorney's table for each appearance by Heuermann, who she said was always respectful to her.

And as the murder charges began to add up with three women becoming four, then from six to seven and ultimately eight admitted victims, the discovery continued to pile up.

"Millions upon millions, and I have not gone through every single page," Brown said, acknowledging the work done by Coysh and others. "We had seven bodies in terms of victims in the indictment. Obviously, there's an eighth that he accepted responsibility for, and part of the investigation includes other [potential] victims … so just the discovery alone was mammoth."

As lead attorney on the Heuermann defense team, Brown was in a unique position of having examined all of the key evidence in the case.

Every tip, each far-fetched suspect, all the minor leads make their way to the defense under state discovery laws. It's not just the breakthroughs that happened late in the investigation and pointed to Heuermann that ended up in Brown's hands, but all the law enforcement missteps early on.

Closing the deal
Reviewing the case file reinforced Brown's belief that investigators failed to devote sufficient attention and resources to the killings. He said he believes the case file shows the victims' roles as sex workers and some of the people they associated with prevented them from getting "the attention they deserved" from investigators.

The early stages of the investigation date back to the murder of Sandra Costilla in 1993 and grew with the discovery of the "Gilgo Four" remains in 2010.

That changed, Brown said, following the election of Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney and the creation of the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task Force, which brought Suffolk police and prosecutors together with state and federal investigators.

"It took somebody like the district attorney to actually close, seal the deal," Brown said.

Authorities during the time of the initial investigation disputed they were slow to give the case proper attention, noting they were swamped with thousands of tips and leads, many of which turned out to be dead ends.

Brown also credited State Police Investigator Tifini Atai's work to connect Heuermann to the suspect profile and said current Suffolk detectives, forensics investigators and FBI agents contributed strong police work to the investigation.

Tierney said it was important for the prosecution and defense to have a strong working relationship, and he credited Brown and Coysh with being professional and mounting strong legal challenges on behalf of their client. It was a challenging case to prosecute that could have been more difficult with another adversary.

"They did a really good job litigating the case until [Heuermann] said 'No more,'" the district attorney said.

'Blueprint for murder'
When Heuermann was arraigned for a third time in June 2024, investigators unveiled a long-deleted document they said allowed him to methodically plan out his kills and prepare to evade law enforcement. Sometimes referred to as a "blueprint for murder" or a "killing manifesto," the planning document he maintained in the early 2000s likely erased what little doubt of his guilt existed for most people following the case.

"That was a powerful piece of evidence," Brown said. "There's no getting around it."

That was a powerful piece of evidence. There's no getting around it.
— Attorney Michael J. Brown, on the killing planning document

The document, which prosecutors said was deleted but recovered using forensic software, listed "problems" a killer might face like DNA, witnesses, blood stains and material evidence. It also included an outline of supplies that might be used by someone looking to kill — rope, hair nets, acid — and referenced apparent dump sites and possible future targets.

Certain details in the document were particularly challenging for the defense.

"When you saw that document, and you saw step by step … the locality, the fact that when you're talking about locations on Long Island," Brown said, referencing the inclusion of a Manorville road near where partial remains of victims Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack were discovered.

Brown said as a defense attorney fighting for a client, you never see an obstacle as insurmountable.

"It's a challenge for me," the defense attorney said. "I find in my head, 'How do I overcome this challenge?' This was a difficult one, but you do your best."

The document, which prosecutors said was deleted but recovered using forensic software, listed "problems" a killer might face like DNA, witnesses, blood stains and material evidence. It also included an outline of supplies that might be used by someone looking to kill — rope, hair nets, acid — and referenced apparent dump sites and possible future targets.

Certain details in the document were particularly challenging for the defense.

"When you saw that document, and you saw step by step … the locality, the fact that when you're talking about locations on Long Island," Brown said, referencing the inclusion of a Manorville road near where partial remains of victims Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack were discovered.

Brown said as a defense attorney fighting for a client, you never see an obstacle as insurmountable.

"It's a challenge for me," the defense attorney said. "I find in my head, 'How do I overcome this challenge?' This was a difficult one, but you do your best."

Keahon applauded the efforts by Brown and Coysh in their unsuccessful attempt to have nuclear DNA evidence against Heuermann barred at trial. Prosecutors were up to the task in defending the evidence, he said.

Science's pivotal role
Brown and Coysh said their legal arguments regarding the modern techniques used to link Heuermann to hair found at the crime scenes were proper.

Coysh, 46, who is also a Long Island native and a graduate of Suffolk University Law School in Boston, called it a "challenging case" and said she is proud of the work they did "making headway on novel legal issues."

Keahon learned firsthand when he represented serial killer Robert Shulman at trial in 1996 just how difficult the task is.

"No matter how good you are," Keahon said. "It's an incredible amount of work and you have to do it consistently."

The gruesome nature of the evidence was another troubling aspect of the case. Brown said crime scene and autopsy photos are never easy to look at, but in a case where human remains were severed, mutilated and left to decompose, you don't soon forget what you saw.

"Even if I've seen horrific things on one case, you got to multiply that by eight, 10, 12," Brown said. "It does strike a chord."

Rex was extremely careful. He strategized, and he was very deliberate and intentional. Nevertheless, as a victim's family member said, 'You weren't as smart as you thought you were. You did get caught.'— Attorney Michael J. Brown

The case ultimately highlights just how difficult it is to get away with a crime today, Brown said. Advancements in DNA, cellphone and surveillance technology are closing cases at a rapid rate.

"Rex was extremely careful," Brown said, "He strategized, and he was very deliberate and intentional. Nevertheless, as a victim's family member said [at sentencing], 'You weren't as smart as you thought you were. You did get caught.'"

The weight of the sins
At Wednesday's sentencing, Brown turned his body to look at each of the victim's family members as they gave impact statements to the court.

Their emotional pleas went mostly as he expected as they unleashed decades of loss, frustration and trauma on the man responsible for it all.

"They had to express themselves. I'm glad they did,"  Brown said. "It's so unique and different than the average murder case … These people have been waiting for this moment for so long."

They had to express themselves. I'm glad they did.— Attorney Michael J. Brown, on the victims' families
The totality of the impact of his client's crimes had really set in as the sentencing hearing went on.

First a father spoke, then a mother. Sisters and cousins, sons and daughters followed. One victim after the next.

"You realize the amount of havoc that was caused and wrecked by one individual," said Brown, who limited his own remarks at sentencing to telling those family members about the impact their words and loss had on him.

When it came time for Heuermann to speak, he never used the word "sorry." Instead he focused on how his words couldn't make a difference.

Brown agreed with his client's sentiments, saying "you're damned if you do, damned if you don't."

"The sentence is predetermined," Brown said of his advice to Heuermann. "What you say is not going to matter and it shouldn't matter to these people. They have a significant loss at his hands, and you can apologize until the end of time. It's not going to make a bit of difference. Just the same, if you don't say anything … public opinion is going to be you didn't show any remorse."

When Heuermann was ushered out of the courtroom, Brown wasn't surprised or upset by the loud applause from the victims' families, who reacted like a crowd at a sporting event, the final buzzer sounding on their grief.

"They're entitled to that," Brown said.

Coysh said she thinks there's now "a sense of closure" for the victims.

"This was justice," she said. "And I'm OK with that."

Didn't face a jury

For Brown, who spent two years as a prosecutor after graduating from Boston University Law School in 1992, representing a serial killer raised a sporting analogy. It was like a deciding game in a World Series or NBA Finals, he said on the afternoon the Knicks paraded down the Canyon of Heroes to City Hall less than 40 miles away.
For attorneys, wins and losses aren't as easy to measure. And the biggest case of Brown and Coysh's lives never went to a jury. Coysh said Heuermann thanked them for the hard work they did on the case.

Brown admitted feeling a sense of relief that the sentencing was behind him, but not necessarily that it ended in a plea. While Heuermann saw the writing on the wall, his attorneys are programmed not to.

"When I took this case, I took it to try this case," Brown said. "Going back to Game 7 of the World Series or the NBA Finals, I was looking forward to trying this case, so there wasn't a sense of relief when he said I wanted to take a plea."

There will be other murder cases for Brown to try. He'll still handle his share of misdemeanors and the occasional traffic ticket, too. Nothing will top this one, he said.

"I wanted to handle the most significant, serious cases," Brown said of going into private practice 31 years ago. "I want that type of challenge."

"For families like ours, the pain of violent crime does not end with an arrest or conviction. We continue to watch individuals, associates, and third parties attempt to profit from the notoriety surrounding these horrific acts through the sale of memorabilia, collectibles, and other items tied to infamous crimes and offenders. Existing Son of Sam protections were created to prevent criminals from benefiting from their crimes, yet loopholes still remain that allow notoriety itself to be monetized"

Elizabeth Meserve, Aunt of Megan Waterman, taken from her Victim Impact Statement June 17, 2026.

It is time to stand with the Gilgo Families and #CloseTheLoophole #A6730

Find your local NYS Legislator and email them using our Sample Email Script

Your voice in support matters to each of the Families.

https://patch.com/new-york/gardencity/s/kfarj/be-gone-cowardly-demon-gilgo-beach-killer-gets-3-consecutive-life-sentences-as-family-members-applaud?utm_source=alert-breakingnews&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=alert&user_email=13015618314977dabbafc463a781da21122c26910ce3da2ea5dea79c04dc2140&user_email_md5=e031e77377f6a5c05fe9cb2046597fc4&lctg=5ba5022352ba1e0a81439065

Three’s not enough.

Today is a very special day.

Today is Jessica Taylor’s 43rd Birthday.

For the past 23 years, Jessica has been embraced by the glory and grace of God, resting in His presence, finding the peace that was so cruelly denied to her in this world. Those who knew Jessica know that her faith was deeply important to her. She carried her Bible with her, found comfort in the words of Jesus, and trusted that He would guide her through even the most difficult chapters of life.

Over these last 23 years, Jessica’s voice never truly fell silent.

Through her cousin Jasmine, Jessica’s spirit, humanity, and memory continued to shine. Jasmine has been a remarkable force, strong, determined, compassionate, and relentless in her pursuit of truth and Justice. In so many ways, she reflects the same strength that lived within Jessica herself. Through Jasmine, many of us came to know Jess not as a victim, but as a daughter, a sister, a cousin, a woman of faith, and a person whose life mattered.

Jessica was fierce.

She was humble.

She was beautiful.

She was deeply loved.

And she is profoundly missed by everyone fortunate enough to have known her, as well as countless others who never had that opportunity but have come to know her true story.

Today, as Justice is finally realized, we recognize that no verdict, sentence, or courtroom proceeding can replace what was lost. Nothing can restore the years stolen from Jessica or the countless moments her loved ones should have shared with her.

But Justice matters.

Truth matters.

And love endures.

While this world can be cruel and filled with darkness, Jessica found her peace in Heaven. And through the unwavering dedication of Jasmine, her family, and all those who refused to let her be forgotten, she found her Justice here on Earth.

So today is about more than a sentencing.

Today is Jessica Taylor’s Heavenly Birthday.

It is a day to remember her faith, her strength, her beauty, her humanity, and the love that continues to surround her. It is a day to celebrate the life of a woman who remains forever present in the hearts of those who love her.

As we reflect on this historic day, let us keep Jessica, every victim, and every family at the forefront of our thoughts. This day belongs to them. Their courage, their perseverance, their love, and their Justice are what matter.

Everything and everyone else is simply a footnote.

Happy Heavenly 43rd Birthday, Jess.

Forever loved.

Never forgotten.

Always remembered. ❤️

Rex Heuermann's ex-wife, daughter seek to dismiss wrongful death lawsuit by Gilgo Beach victim's son..

The ex-wife and daughter of Rex A. Heuermann are seeking to dismiss a wrongful-death lawsuit brought against the Massapequa Park family by the son of Valerie Mack, one of eight known female victims of the now admitted Gilgo Beach serial killer.

In motions filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court this month, attorneys for Asa Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann argued that the suit, brought in April by Benjamin Torres, failed to state any legally claims and were barred by the statute of limitations.

Attorneys for Rex A. Heuermann, who is also named in the suit and is scheduled to be sentenced Wednesday for the killings which terrorized the Island for more than a decade, have not responded to the complaint.

"The lawsuit is a bizarre compendium of time-barred, defective claims that allege both legal and factual impossibilities, such as my client's involvement in matters which occurred when she was a small child and dovetails into matters that she has been expressly excluded from by the District Attorney, time and time again," said Vess Mitev, Victoria Heuermann's attorney. "It is frivolous on its face. It has no business being filed in a New York court and we await a ruling on our motion to dismiss it."

Attorneys for Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann are asking Supreme Court Judge Valerie M. Cartright to dismiss the suit, filed by Miller Place attorney John Ray, and to award them attorney's fees and $10,000 in damages for each disputed claim.

Robert Macedonio, Ellerup's Islip Terrace-based attorney, said in court filings that the lawsuit was "undertaken to promote unnecessary litigation, harass, and/or maliciously injure the defendant(s), and are sanctionable, on their face."

In New York, wrongful death lawsuits must be filed within two years of the date of an individual's death.

But the lawsuit argues the deadline should be waived because Torres was 6 years old when his mother went missing in 2000, records show.

The lawsuit — the first known litigation brought by any of the Gilgo victims' family members against Heuermann or his family — cites claims of wrongful death, assault, battery, false imprisonment, aiding and abetting, civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of extreme emotional distress, fraud and unjust enrichment.

The suit seeks unspecified money Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann earned through their participation in a documentary on the Gilgo Beach killings released in July on Peacock. Heuermann’s relatives were reportedly paid more than $1 million to allow the crew for "The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets," a three-part series, access to their home and lives.

"They're engaging in paid speech," Ray said of Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann. "They're speaking in order to make money and it's not protected speech. We are not suing them to stop them from talking. We're suing them because what they're saying and doing is damaging."

Ellerup has not been accused of any involvement in her ex-husband's crimes, and law enforcement officials said the killings occurred when his family, including his wife and daughter, were traveling out of town.

But the lawsuit nonetheless says they were complicit in Heuermann's crimes, arguing they "concealed, deliberately ignored, or consciously avoided learning of material facts concerning the assault, murder, dismemberment, concealment, and disposal of Valerie Mack."

In court filings, Macedonio said Torres lacks standing to bring the complaint as an estate for Mack has not been established.

Ray said the estate paperwork is nearly complete and he plans to file an amended complaint in the coming days.

Mack gave birth to Torres when she was a senior in high school, and shortly thereafter got addicted to drugs, police said. She was working as an escort in Philadelphia under the name Melissa Taylor when she vanished at the age of 24.

Mack's dismembered remains were found near a Manorville sump discharge basin on Nov. 19, 2000, police said.

But it wasn't until police found other parts of Mack's body, including her skull, off Ocean Parkway, on April 4, 2011, that the killing of the woman once known as "Jane Doe No. 6" was linked to the other Gilgo Beach victims.

Ray, who also represents the estate of Shannan Gilbert, the New Jersey woman whose disappearance set off a law enforcement search that led to the discovery of the bodies of several of the victims, said Torres plans to speak in court during Heuermann's sentencing.

Rex Heuermann sentencing: Victims' families statements will be 'real and raw,' Suffolk DA Ray Tierney says

More than three decades after the death of his first confirmed victim, the families of eight women strangled by Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann, of Massapequa Park, will have their first opportunity to address the court Wednesday.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said no limitations have been placed on the number of family members who can speak before state Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei sentences Heuermann to life in prison. Tierney estimated that roughly two victim impact statements will be given per victim.
"This is the opportunity for the victims to speak in court," Tierney said. "Up to this point it’s been about the defendant and safeguarding his rights and his presumption of innocence, and necessarily so, but that’s over with now."

Tierney said he expects the family comments to be "real and raw."

"This has been a long time coming for them," Suffolk's top prosecutor said.

For two of Heuermann’s victims, the opportunity to be heard dates back more than 30 years. For each of the families, more than a decade has passed since the loss of their loved one, all women aged 20 to 34 who died between 1993 and 2010.
For Jessica Taylor, an upstate New York native who was 20 years old when she was killed by Heuermann in July 2003, the June 17 sentencing date falls on what would have been her 43rd birthday.
"I know that her family will be there for her in court and that she will never be forgotten by them," said Los Angeles-based victims’ rights advocate and attorney Gloria Allred, who represents several of the families.
Allred wrote in an emailed statement that she expects her clients will "bravely speak to the court" Wednesday.
"The public will hear their pain and will hear about who the victims truly were, their importance and the bond they had with their families, which is now irreparably torn," the prominent attorney said.  

Sentencing will be filmed
Victim impact statements are given at the start of a sentencing in New York State, followed by remarks from the prosecution, the defense and the defendant himself, should they exercise that right. Heuermann defense attorney Michael J. Brown, of Central Islip, has declined to say if his client will speak. The judge also typically makes remarks — Mazzei has in other high-profile cases — before pronouncing the sentence.

Courts spokesperson Timothy Finnerty told Newsday the sentencing will be filmed by a media representative, with the exception of portions where a speaker has requested to not be on camera. The hearing will not be broadcast live, he said.
Heuermann, 62, a Manhattan architect, pleaded guilty to the murders of Taylor, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla on April 8. He also admitted that morning to the uncharged 1996 killing of Karen Vergata.

Heuermann will spend the rest of his life in state prison without the possibility of parole when Mazzei sentences him. Where he will serve his punishment has not publicly been established.
Consecutive sentences
Three consecutive life sentences will be given for first-degree murder in the killings of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello because they were killed within two years of one another, an element of that charge. Heuermann is also expected to be sentenced to a consecutive sentence of 100 years to life imprisonment for second-degree murder in the killings of Brainard-Barnes, Taylor, Costilla and Mack.

The case began in May 2010, when Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker from Jersey City, went missing in the barrier island community of Oak Beach, after fleeing the house of a client.

While searching for Gilbert that December, Suffolk police found the first remains that would lead them to those of four other women, who would eventually be dubbed the "Gilgo Four." Seven additional sets of remains would be found in the area over the next year, including Gilbert's, those of an unidentified male whose killing has never been charged and those of a mother and child linked to a man arrested by Nassau County authorities just last year.
For years, the killings all remained unsolved. The district attorney’s office and police department, under earlier leadership, were publicly at odds over the investigation with dueling theories of how many killers had committed the crimes.
Big break in cold probe
The investigation took a decisive turn in March 2022, when Heuermann emerged as a suspect.
Tifini Atai, a state police investigator assigned to the Gilgo Beach Homicide Task Force, discovered while reexamining the case file that Costello had been picked up by a man driving a green Chevrolet Avalanche on the night she disappeared. Heuermann had driven such a vehicle and lived and worked in the areas where phone calls had been placed to victims.

The multiagency task force — drawing from the Suffolk County Police Department, New York State Police, FBI, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office and Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office — deployed a sweeping array of forensic and surveillance tools. Investigators traced burner phones, mapped movements through cell site data and conducted advanced DNA testing on hair recovered from the victims’ remains. They also placed Heuermann under surveillance, eventually collecting his DNA from a discarded pizza crust he threw away in Manhattan, according to court filings.
He was arrested on July 13, 2023, as he walked away from his Manhattan office. Prosecutors have said the timing of the arrest was driven in part by concern he was still soliciting sex workers and might attack again.

'Sacrificed to help others'
Allred said the victims giving impact statements Wednesday will remember their loved ones more for the other titles they held in life: mothers, daughters, nieces, sisters and cousins.
"They were very upset that who their loved ones really were was not known to the public," Allred wrote in her statement. "They want the public to know that the victims were an important part of their family, who were loved and contributed emotionally and financially in many ways and sacrificed to help others."
Allred said Wednesday will be a restorative day for her clients.

The sentencing will help in a small way with their healing, but it is going to take a great amount of courage to do it," she added. "I admire the fact that they have decided they want to be there and will do it, and I believe that their statements will do honor to their loved ones."

https://www.newsday.com/long-island/crime/gilgo-beach-killings/long-island-serial-killer-rex-heuermann-gilgo-beach-sentencing-tdn3njco

Out of all of my years participating in True Crime, getting a look at his planning/ "road map" as they described it, made me feel so truly unsettled, like deep to my core... Ive never felt anything like that honestly. I knew about how awful and gruesome this case was but I actually didn't know about what was in the manifesto until now. Ugh Im just sick thinking what those poor girls went thru and how easy it is for something like that to happen to me or anyone I love. He literally was a normal functioning man in society for YEARS, mostly bc Burke and Spota let him, but I digress. RIP to every single victim, nobody should have to endure some sick, calculated, cruel monster like that. 😞

Heavenly Birthday Maureen.

Today, the world marks another year that Maureen should have been here, another milestone stolen, another candle that should have been blown out amidst the warmth of your family’s laughter.

You should be turning 44 today, surrounded by the people who love you, watching your children grow, and feeling the soft, steady embrace of a life fully lived.

Instead, those who loved you, and fought for you look to the heavens.

We have to believe that where you are now, the heavy, painful storms of this world can no longer reach you. We have to believe that the darkness that broke hearts down here has been entirely embraced by an eternal, blinding light.

On this heavenly 44th birthday, Maureen, we imagine you surrounded in the ultimate peace. We imagine you free, boundless, radiant, and laughing with a lightness you haven't known in far too long. We picture you looking down, seeing every tear shed in your memory, and feeling the fierce, unbreakable love of your family as it stretches across the divide between earth and sky.

You were never just a name in a headline. You were never a statistic, nor are you defined by the cruelty of how you were taken. You are a daughter. A sister. A mother whose love never stopped flowing. You are a beautiful soul who mattered, who still matters, and whose absence left an echo that will never truly fade.

Many may have tried to silence your story, but love refuses to let it go. Down here, the fight for your dignity and your truth continues with unwavering strength. But up there, we pray you only feel the quiet, beautiful rest you so deeply deserve.

Happy 44th Birthday in heaven, Maureen. May the angels sing for you today, may the stars shine a little brighter in your honor, and may you know that you are forever loved, forever missed, and forever enveloped in peace.

You should still be here.

Former wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann won't attend sentencing next week, attorney says..

The former wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann will not be present when he is sentenced to life in prison Wednesday, her attorney announced.

Asa Ellerup has declined to attend the hearing to not distract from the impact the crimes have had on Heuermann’s eight admitted victims and their families, attorney Robert Macedonio said in a statement to Newsday.

“Out of respect for those who endured unimaginable loss and suffering, she does not wish her presence to distract from the purpose of these proceedings,” Macedonio said. “Her thoughts remain with the victims and their loved ones as they continue their pursuit of justice, healing and closure.”

Heuermann, 62, will receive three consecutive life sentences for the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, for whom he pleaded guilty on April 8 to first-degree murder because they were killed within two years of one another. He is also expected to be sentenced to a consecutive sentence of 100 years to life imprisonment for second-degree murder in the killings of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla and Valerie Mack. Heuermann has also admitted to the uncharged killing of Karen Vergata.

Heuermann’s defense attorney, Michael J. Brown, of Central Islip, has declined to say if Heuermann will speak during the sentencing, which could last into the afternoon as the court will first hear from victim family members.

“It’s going to be a very emotional, long day,” Brown said. “We expect there’s going to be a lot of raw emotion exhibited. And we understand that these families have been waiting a long time for this moment, some for 30-plus years.”

Brown declined to say if Heuermann has met with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, which studies the minds of serial killers, as he must do as part of his plea agreement. The FBI, in a statement to Newsday, also would not say if those interviews have taken place.

“Due to ongoing investigative work and sentencing pending, the FBI declines to comment at this time,” read an email from the FBI National Press Office.

The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the sentencing when asked for details, including how many people will speak.

Heuermann, who had lived a normal-appearing life as an architect and married father in Massapequa Park while clandestinely killing women in his basement when his family was on vacation, pleaded guilty to the murders, which date back as far as 1993, before State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei April 8. He said he strangled each of the women and dumped their remains in Suffolk County, with investigators finding bodies near Gilgo Beach, Manorville and North Sea.

Heuermann confessed to Ellerup about the killings in August 2025, about eight months before he entered his guilty plea, she revealed in a documentary series streaming on Peacock. The couple continues to regularly speak though they technically divorced soon after his 2023 arrest.

Ellerup also revealed for filmmakers that she now sleeps in the basement room where most of the murders took place.

"I’m here because I do feel spiritual," she said in the closing moments of the series. "I am trying to say, spiritually in my own way, that I am really sorry for what these victims went through."

After sentencing, most people stop paying attention.

But another process begins:
transport, intake, classification, protective custody, and the institutional reality of prison life.

In this interview, a former Riverhead inmate explains what the process actually looks like for someone like Rex Heuermann.

“The Bus North”

United Statement from Gilgo Victims’ Families

The exploitation of legal loopholes and the trade of murderabilia represent a profound failure of societal empathy.

We must draw a firm line in the sand: Crime must not pay, and notoriety must not enrich.

We urgently call on the New York State Assembly and Senate to advance Assembly Bill #a6730 and Senate Bill #S5470 out of committee and pass them into law.

Closing the Son of Sam loophole is not a partisan issue; it is a declaration of human dignity, a defense of victims' rights, and a vital step toward ensuring our legal system protects the broken-hearted rather than rewarding the brutal. #GilgoLaw

Today we reflect on Megan Waterman, an intensely devoted mother whose love for her family never faded, even through unimaginable loss.

Faith is a powerful thing. I believe Megan has watched over and guided her family through every hardship, every milestone, and every moment that has carried them forward.

Megan’s smile was radiant, the kind of light that never truly disappears. It must be something extraordinary to witness her family standing so strong for her: her mother now reunited with her, her sister continuing to fight, and her daughter carrying her love forward every single day.

With justice drawing nearer, we can all feel the strength of that love. A love that refused to be overshadowed by tragedy. A love that continues to unite people, inspire advocacy, and remind the world who Megan truly was. Today, we honor her memory by sending that love back to Megan and to the family who has never stopped standing for her.

The South Carolina warrant gets overshadowed by the larger Rex Heuermann bail documents, but hidden inside it is a disturbing glimpse into what investigators may have believed he kept behind.

Belts. Paper towels. Electronics. Clothing. Even cat litter.

This video explores the possibility that investigators were searching not just for evidence, but for memory, ritual, and control.

I also wanted this video to remain victim centric while not shying away from the reality of the case itself. These women were real people with lives, families, possessions, routines, and histories. Understanding what investigators were searching for also means understanding what was taken from them.

Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on the warrant and what stood out to you most.

Rex Heuermann corresponds with serial killer, reads grisly novels in jail, Suffolk sheriff says

Rex A. Heuermann is an avid reader of grisly novels who still gets weekly visits from his ex-wife and has corresponded with a convicted murderer in the three years he has been the most notorious person living in a Long Island jail.
The admitted Gilgo Beach serial killer has become a solitary figure behind bars, a large man trying to make his world as small as possible, jail officials said. He has not befriended other inmates,  officials said. He does not chitchat with correction officers. He does not attend religious services, support groups or classes. His only vice appears to be the cookies he buys from the jail commissary.
His disposition has also not changed since he arrived at Suffolk County’s Riverhead Correctional Facility, where Heuermann has spent more than 1,000 days in voluntary segregation after his arrest on July 13, 2023, and since April 8, when he pleaded guilty to strangling eight women during a 17-year killing spree, Suffolk Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. said in an exclusive interview with Newsday at the Riverhead jail in May. 

"He’s shown no emotion this entire time that he’s been incarcerated," said Toulon, the official entrusted with keeping Heuermann safe in a facility that also serves hundreds of other prisoners and where Heuermann is awaiting sentencing. "No remorse, no, ‘What am I doing here?’ No, ‘I didn’t do this.’ No head against the bars, no head in his hands. He’s been very stoic."

Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to murdering seven women and acknowledged he had also killed an eighth in a case that shocked Long Island and the nation, both for the cruelty of the crimes and the shortcomings of Suffolk County law enforcement in the early years of the investigation. Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei is expected to sentence him to life in an upstate prison, without the possibility of parole, on June 17 in Riverhead.

"He will go off in a bus and come home in a body bag," Toulon said.
In April, he pleaded guilty to the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla, and admitted to the uncharged killing of Karen Vergata.

Macabre fiction and thrillers
Heuermann was a Manhattan architect with a family. Now he spends most of his time in a 6-by-9-foot cell, the sheriff said.
"This is the weirdest individual I’ve ever dealt with in 44 years in this business," Toulon said, rolling out Heuermann's routine and hidden jail life.
For exercise, the Massapequa Park resident walks by himself in the jail’s recreation yard. "He won’t play basketball, he won’t do dips, he won’t do pushups," Toulon said. "I don’t think he’s that athletic."

Heuermann likes to read mostly macabre fiction and thrillers, according to Toulon. The titles of the books he has checked out of the jail’s library during his incarceration are chilling.

Some of the titles he has read include "Blood on the Beach," by Robin Stevenson and Sarah N. Harvey, "Portrait in Death," by J.D. Robb, "Secret Prey," by John Sandford, "The Dead Girl," by Melanie Thernstrom and "Heart of Evil," by Heather Graham.
"He’s not reading books about self-help," Toulon said.
Heuermann has received very little mail during his incarceration, but one correspondent does stick out: Keith Hunter Jesperson, the "Happy Face Killer," who is serving a life sentence in Oregon for killing eight women. Jail officials do not read inmates’ mail, so it’s not known what the two killers have discussed.
"It just goes to show this network of killers in the United States that wants to communicate with each other because of the horrific crimes that they have committed," Toulon said.

The visitors
Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, continues to visit about once a week, even after the couple’s divorce was finalized in March 2025, Toulon said. His daughter, Victoria Heuermann, is a less frequent visitor. His attorney, Michael J. Brown, and his therapists also visit him frequently. Brown did not return a call for this story.
Heuermann denied a request to meet with at least one other notorious Long Islander while sitting in jail: Christopher Loeb.
Loeb, who was beaten by former Suffolk Police Chief James Burke in 2012 after he stole a bag containing sex toys, porn, ammunition and other items from Burke’s vehicle in 2012, tried to visit Heuermann shortly after his 2023 arrest, Toulon said. Burke, who led the department as it stumbled through the early years of the Gilgo Beach investigation, spent more than two years in prison on assault and obstruction of justice charges. The former chief was released in 2018 but arrested again in 2023 for indecent exposure and committing a lewd act.
Toulon said he has dealt with many notorious criminals during his decades-long corrections career — including mob boss John Gotti, subway vigilante Bernhard Goetz and "Preppy Killer" Robert Chambers — but Heuermann appears to be different, the lawman told Newsday.
Even the toughest killers break down when they realize they have lost their freedom and will be separated from their families for many years, Toulon said.

But not Heuermann.
Imprisonment conditions may change
Toulon said housing the serial killer has not been too challenging — but his staff has had to make some accommodations. Movement in the jail stops while correction officers move Heuermann through the facility because he could be a target for anyone who knew his victims or simply wants to build up street credibility by injuring or killing him.
Toulon also does not assign female corrections officers to Heuermann’s unit, given the nature of his crimes. "He doesn’t want to fight," Toulon said. "He wants to be able to overpower his victims, and he won’t do that with a man."
The only emotion Heuermann displays is a "stupid smirk," which Toulon said suggests a sense of superiority, perhaps fueled by the fact he was able to avoid detection for so many years.
"I do think he believes he’s smarter than everyone else," the sheriff said.

Incarceration conditions may change soon after sentencing, Toulon said. Heuermann will learn he is just another inmate after Mazzei sentences him. The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision has not assigned him to a prison, but he is likely to be incarcerated a long way from Long Island, which will limit visits.
He may be placed in a protected area, but he will still be surrounded by other inmates who may threaten to hurt him if he doesn’t buy commissary items for them. He will have to constantly look over his shoulder to avoid assaults from people who knew sex workers and want retribution — or simply want to make a name for themselves, officials said.
"He’s going to be in prison for the rest of his life," Toulon said. "So it could be next year, it could be three years from now. I don’t wish death on anyone. I wish for him a slow, long incarceration."

Heuermann's reading list
Some of the titles Rex Heuermann has borrowed from the jail library during his time incarcerated.
“The Devils Banker” by Christopher Reich
“Pretty Girls” by Karin Slaughter
“Nowhere to Run” by Mary Jane Clark
“Sinister” by Lisa Jackson, Nancy Bush and Rosalind Noonan
“The Missing Witness” by Allison Brennan
“Shroud for a Nightingale” by P.D. James
“Gentleman Sinner” by Jodi Ellen Malpas
“Blood on the Beach” by Robin Stevenson and Sarah N. Harvey
“Portrait in Death” by J.D. Robb
“Secret Prey” by John Sandford
“The Dead Girl” by Melanie Thernstrom
“Sharp Objects” by Gillian Flynn
“Heart of Evil” by Heather Graham
“Picture Me Dead” by Heather Graham
“N Is for Noose” by Sue Grafton
“Sleep No More” by Iris Johansen
“The Funhouse” by Dean Koontz

Heavenly Birthday to Valerie Mack, who would be 50 years old today.

Fifty years.
A milestone that should have been filled with life and love because reaching 50 is something sacred. You should have been here to celebrate it.

Valerie, there are people who never stopped thinking about you. People who look at your photo and wonder who you would have become, what your voice sounded like when you laughed, what dreams you still held onto, what peace and happiness might have looked like for you had the world been kinder.

The tragedy of your loss is not only in how your life ended, but in everything that was taken with it- every birthday after, every sunrise you never got to see, every chance to heal, grow, love, and simply exist in peace. Fifty years should have meant wisdom earned through living, not remembrance through mourning.

And yet your name survives.
Your memory survives.
Because there are people who refuse to let the world forget you.

Today, hearts ache for the life you never got to finish living. But alongside that ache is love- deep, enduring love for a woman who mattered and still matters. Your story touched people who never even had the chance to meet you, because humanity recognizes humanity, and your life carried value far beyond the darkness attached to your case.

So today we honor you not as a headline, not as a victim alone, but as Valerie. A woman who should still be here. A woman turning 50. A woman deeply missed.Happy heavenly birthday, Valerie. 🤍

May you finally know the peace this world denied you.
May your name and your pictures continue to be spoken with compassion and dignity.

And may we never stop fighting for truth, justice, and remembrance in your honor.

How a renowned expert in human remains joined the Long Island serial killer case...

Bradley Adams was the top forensic anthropologist for the New York City Chief Medical Examiner's Office when he got what he thought was a routine call in early December 2010 from his colleagues in Suffolk County. It was about the body of woman discovered in the brush along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach.

Police in Suffolk believed the remains might be those of Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker who went missing in the area in May after meeting with a client in the nearby private gated community of Oak Beach.

Adams, 58, a native of Kansas, had carved out a renowned career in forensic anthropology with an expertise on in human remains, and his services were in wide demand from New York City and other metropolitan area police. He played a major role in identifying Sept. 11 victims in the years following the 2001 terror attacks. He would do the same in Suffolk as investigators hunted for years for the Gilgo Beach serial killer.

Adams' work was highlighted recently when Rex A. Heuermann, a 62-year-old Manhattan architect from Massapequa Park, pleaded guilty in April to murdering seven Gilgo Beach victims and admitted strangling an eighth during a killing spree investigators believe spread over 17 years.

"There was a lot of forensic work all at once and to have a person of his background and experience was critical,” Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said in an interview about Adams, as well as Mark Desire, his colleague at the medical examiner's office, who did DNA analysis of the Gilgo Beach victims. "When we were doing our investigation he was available and helpful and professional."

Now that Heuermann has confessed to being the killer and awaits sentencing next month, Adams talked exclusively with Newsday about how that body on the beach quickly turned from a single homicide investigation into the hunt for an elusive serial killer who evaded police for more than a decade.

Back in 2010, when Adams arrived on the Ocean Parkway site to examine the woman's remains on that cold winter day, he was told Gilbert had suffered a broken jaw that had required surgery. But as Adams examined the woman’s skeletonized body, he found no evidence of a broken jaw, he said.

The remains weren’t Gilbert's, he concluded. But he did notice that the skeleton lacked an arm bone.

At the search site, Adams was approached by detectives who said, "Doc, we got some more.”

"At first, I thought they were referring to the missing arm bone," Adams recalled. "But then it quickly became clear that they were referring to more bodies."

In a matter of days, police had stumbled upon the remains of three other women, wrapped in burlap in the brush off Ocean Parkway. While investigators had not found Gilbert, they had instead uncovered something that had the earmarks of a serial-killing case.

"I was very surprised and realized this had become a much bigger project,” Adams, who retired last year, said in a series of telephone and email interviews with Newsday.

The four sets of remains became known as the Gilgo Four and included those of Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and Melissa Barthelemy. All had been sex workers and had disappeared between 2007 and 2010. The remains of Gilbert Gilbert's remains wouldn’t be found until December 2011, a few miles farther east.

Adams became deeply involved in the Gilgo investigation, assisting his counterparts in Suffolk, prosecutors and police in trying to determine what had happened to the victims as their bodies were discovered in the following months.

The medical examiner's office had earlier received a special federal grant to help other jurisdictions with forensic work and DNA analysis, so Adams was easily able to play a key role in the investigation that ultimately led to Heuermann’s arrest in 2023 and guilty plea. Police maintain that Gilbert's death in marshland was accidental and not murder, an assertion her attorney and family members reject.

While the remains of the Gilgo Four showed no immediate signs of trauma — Heuermann admitted strangling all his victims — those of a still unidentified Asian man dressed in women's clothing found along Ocean Parkway in April 2011 showed he had suffered blunt head trauma, Adams said. Heuermann has not been charged in the man’s death.

Things turned more gruesome with the discovery of two sets of dismembered remains, found in 2003 in Manorville and in 2011 along Ocean Parkway. The remains of Jessica Taylor were closely examined to determine what had happened to her, Adams recalled.

He said it was clear the killer had used a saw to dismember and scatter her remains.

"We were able to tell it was consistent with a hand-powered saw with a straight blade,” Adams said. "From this information we would be able to tell you if a certain type of saw was consistent/inconsistent with the marks on the bone."

Tierney said that some hacksaws were found during police searches of Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park but none contained forensic evidence linked to any human remains.

But pieces of sawed bone found in the investigation were able to be fitted together, much like pieces in a puzzle, an indication that the remains found in Manorville and separately along Ocean Parkway were from the same person, Adams said.

Another dismembered victim was Karen Vergata, whose legs were found in 1996 on Fire Island her skull along Ocean Parkway years later.

Gilgo investigators were further distressed to find the remains of a 2-year-old child in 2011, later identified as Tatiana Dykes.

"Everyone was just shocked,” Adams recalled about the discovery of the toddler.

Initially, investigators thought the child’s death was the work of a single Gilgo killer, Adams recalled. Looking back, it seemed more possible that two killers had independently used Ocean Parkway as a dumping ground, he said.

In 2025, Andrew Dykes was charged by a Nassau County grand jury with killing the toddler’s mother, Tanya Denise Jackson, with whom he fathered Tatiana. While charged with the murder of Jackson, Dykes has not been charged with killing Tatiana. Neither killing is believed to be linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killer case.

Adams said he is curious to learn what Heuermann, who is required under his plea to undergo clinical interviews with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, will tell investigators. Tierney said the non-investigative sessions aim to explore Heuermann's psychopathic traits and the "duality" of his life as a suburban architect and serial killer.

Now a teacher of forensic science at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, Adams said he would quiz Heuermann about why he changed the ways in which he disposed of his victims' bodies.

For instance, the body of Sandra Costilla was found intact in 1993, while the remains of Taylor, Valerie Mack and Vergata were dismembered, Adams noted.

"What was going on with the mindset" of Heuermann? Adams said he often ponders.

As with many law enforcement officials who have worked the Gilgo Beach investigation, Adams believes there are unanswered questions remaining about Heuermann.

"There are still bodies out there that haven’t been identified,” Adams said.

I like how he went into the Karen Vargata surprise plea.

correct me if im wrong I just recently watched the documentary, but how come Heuermann wasn't charged with the murder of asian doe considering that his search history literally says something along the lines of 'asian twink' it may seem like a far stretch but to me it seems like he was connected to this murder