Gilgo Beach Serial Killings

The Gilgo Beach serial killings refer to a series of murders on Long Island, New York, that took place between 1993 and 2010. The case drew national attention in late 2010 and 2011 after police, searching for missing woman Shannan Gilbert, discovered the remains of ten victims along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach and in nearby areas of Suffolk and Nassau counties. Four victims found in close proximity in December 2010—Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello—became known as the "Gilgo Four." Six additional sets of remains were located in March and April 2011, several of which were later connected to earlier unsolved cases, including those of Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Karen Vergata, and an unidentified victim referred to as "Asian Doe." Two further sets of remains, belonging to Tanya Jackson and her daughter Tatiana Dykes, were initially included in the investigation but were later determined by police to be part of a separate case.

Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old escort, disappeared on May 1, 2010, after making a panicked 911 call from Oak Beach, New York, and running from house to house seeking help. Her remains were found in a nearby marsh in December 2011. Her cause of death has been officially ruled an accidental drowning, though the ruling has been disputed, including by an independent autopsy that noted damage to her hyoid bone. Her death has not been conclusively linked to the other victims, and no one has been charged in connection with it.

The investigation spanned more than a decade and involved friction between agencies, including allegations that a former Suffolk County police chief obstructed FBI involvement; he was later convicted on unrelated federal charges. In 2017, a Suffolk County prosecutor suggested that a man previously convicted of murdering two sex workers in the area might be responsible for some of the Gilgo Beach killings, though his attorney rejected the claim and he has not been charged in this case.

Authorities identified Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan architectural consultant living in Massapequa Park, as a suspect in March 2022 after a vehicle registered to him matched a witness description. Cellphone records, an email account, DNA from a discarded pizza crust matched to hair on a victim's wrapping, and DNA linked to his wife found on hair near other victims were cited by investigators as connecting him to the killings. Heuermann was arrested in July 2023 and charged over time with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla, and Valerie Mack. In April 2026 he pleaded guilty to all seven charged murders and admitted to an eighth, the killing of Karen Vergata. He was sentenced in June 2026 to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Separately, in December 2025, a man was charged in connection with the deaths of Tanya Jackson and her daughter Tatiana Dykes after investigators concluded those deaths were not connected to the broader Gilgo Beach case.