Serial killing suspect charged in 7th death

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — The New York architect facing murder charges in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo Beach killings was charged on Tuesday in the death of a seventh woman. Rex Heuermann was charged with killing Valerie Mack, whose remains were first found on Long Island in 2000. Mack, 24, had been working as an escort in Philadelphia and was last seen by her family that year in New Jersey. Mack's partial skeletal remains were first found in Manorville, New York, in 2000, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of where more of her remains were discovered on Gilgo Beach more than 10 years later. They were unidentified until genetic testing revealed Mack's identity in 2020. Human hair found with Mack's remains was sent for testing earlier this year and found to be a likely match with the genetic profile of Heuermann's daughter, prosecutors said in court papers. His daughter is not accused of any wrongdoing and would have been three or four years old when Mack died. Heuermann was set to appear in court on Tuesday. The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office was expected to hold a news conference alongside local and state law enforcement after the court appearance. Heuermann is charged with killing six other women whose remains were found on Long Island. The investigation into the Gilgo Beach killings dates back to 2010, when police searching for a missing woman found 10 sets of human remains in the scrub along a barrier island parkway, prompting fears of a serial killer. Over the years, investigators used DNA analysis and other clues to identify the victims, many of whom were sex workers. In some cases, they connected them to remains found elsewhere on Long Island years earlier. Police also began reexamining other unsolved killings of women found dead on Long Island. The case has dragged on through five police commissioners, more than 1,000 tips and doubts about whether there was a serial killer at all. Heuermann, who lived with his wife and two children in Massapequa Park on Long Island and commuted to a Manhattan architecture office, was arrested on July 13, 2023, and charged with murdering Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy. He was charged in the deaths of three other women — Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor — earlier this year. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. In a June court filing, prosecutors said they had recovered a file on a hard drive in Heuermann's basement that he used to "methodically blueprint" his killings — including checklists with tasks to tick off before, during and afterwards, as well as lessons for "next time." In September, authorities released new renderings of an unidentified victim who was found in 2011. Officials said the victim, who for years they had identified as male, may have presented outwardly as female and died in 2006. Prosecutors are also looking into the death of Karen Vergata, whose remains were first discovered in 1996 and finally identified in 2022 after a new DNA analysis.