The alleged Gilgo Beach killer is being charged for the death of another victim, according to a superseding indictment.
Rex Heuermann, the 61-year-old architect, was arrested in July of last year in front of his New York City office in connection with three other murders and is being held without bail; today in a previously scheduled court appearance, prosecutors are formally accusing him of murdering another woman.
The dismembered body of the victim, 24-year-old Valerie Mack, was discovered on November 19, 2000 in a wooded area of Manorville, Long Island, by a hunting dog. The rest of her remains would not be found until a decade later near Gilgo Beach, according to authorities, not far from where four other alleged victims of Heuermann were discovered.
Prosecutors claim that they have linked Heuermann to Mack’s death through mitochondrial DNA analysis of a female hair on Mack’s body that matched the profiles of Heuermann’s wife and daughter, neither of whom are suspects (Heuermann’s daughter would have been 3 or 4 years of age at the time of Mack’s death). Valerie Mack, who was a sex worker and single mother, was known as Jane Doe no. 6 until police managed to identify her remains through DNA analysis four years ago.
Heuermann is now officially accused of murdering Mack and 6 other victims: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla, and Jessica Taylor. Prosecutors also consider Heuermann a suspect in the death of Karen Vergata, whose remains were found in Fire Island in 1996 and Ocean Parkway (close to Gilgo beach) in 2011. The earliest victim, according to the indictments is Taylor, whose remains were discovered in 1993, while Waterman, Costello, and Barthelemy disappeared within a year of each other between 2009 and 2010.
Authorities say they have also linked Heuermann to the murders through seized documents and electronic devices, which include plans detailing how to dispose of bodies that had reminders to “remove head and hands,” as well as a list of locations that included where he is alleged to have discarded victims’ remains. Seized electronic devices include a “significant collection of violent, bondage and torture pornography” that are consistent with injuries inflicted on Mack, according to prosecutors.
In court today, Heuermann told Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei, “your honor, I am not guilty of any of these charges.” Heuermann remains held without bail in isolation as he awaits trial, with his defense team being given one month to file motions related to evidence. Heuermann’s lawyers have previously stated that they intend to contest the validity of investigators’ DNA testing. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has agreed to a hearing on the scientific methods used by the outside laboratory in this case, as they have not been seen before in a New York court.
