A former architect accused of killing seven women and dumping their bodies in Long Island’s Gilgo Beach is expected to plead guilty Wednesday, more than a decade after the discovery of human remains sent shock waves through the New York City suburb and captivated the nation.
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Rex Heuermann, 62, is set to change his plea at an appearance in Suffolk County Court on Wednesday in connection with the murders that occurred over a 17-year period, sources told NBC News last week.
The anticipated change of plea comes just five months before Heuermann was set to stand trial, where he was facing a sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted. In the expected plea deal, Heuermann still faces a sentence of life in prison without parole.
It remains unclear why Heuermann has decided to change his plea — which a judge must approve, or the trial will proceed. Since his arrest in 2023, he has maintained his innocence.
The Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office and a lawyer for Heuermann did not immediately return requests for comment.
Authorities say that between 2010 and 2011, a total of 11 sets of human remains, most of which belonged to sex workers, were found along a beachside parkway in Gilgo Beach, a small oceanfront neighborhood on Long Island’s southern shore. They do not believe all the killings are connected to one person.
Heuermann — who lived in Massapequa Park, a middle-class suburb roughly an hour east of Manhattan — was initially charged in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. The women disappeared in 2009 and 2010.
All three women were among the “Gilgo Four,” or a group of sex workers whose bodies were found in Gilgo Beach in 2010. Their bodies were bound at the head, midsection and legs by burlap.
A year later, Heuermann was charged with killing the fourth woman of the “Gilgo Four,” 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes. He was later charged with killing three more women whose remains were found on the beach parkway: Jessica Taylor, 20, who disappeared in July 2003; Sandra Costilla, 28, whose remains were found in Southampton in 1993; and Valerie Mack, 24, who disappeared in 2000.
John Ray, an attorney for Valerie Mack’s son, previously told NBC News that his client was “cautiously awaiting the facts” about the plea deal. He added that if a deal is struck, much will depend on the information presented during a potential allocution.
“If the full facts do not come out, make no mistake, we are going to pursue this,” he said. “It’s not over.”
Gloria Allred, who is representing most of the families, declined to comment on Heuermann’s expected plea change.
The serial killings have long rocked Long Island, an expansive and densely populated suburb that stretches roughly 100 miles east of New York City from Queens to the Hamptons.
In the years immediately following the discovery of the remains nearly two decades ago, authorities came up empty-handed for suspects.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney reopened the cases in 2022, breathing new life into the investigation. That same year, authorities zeroed in on a Chevrolet Avalanche registered to Heuermann, which was flagged in an old witness’s tip about Costello’s disappearance.
Authorities also used a trove of cellphone evidence to pinpoint the crimes to a suspect who lives in the neighborhood, where Heuermann lived with his wife and two adult children, and commutes to Manhattan. They said they discovered burner phones that Heurmann used to contact victims pinged at cellphone towers in both locations. Heuermann discarded the burner phones after killing the women, authorities said.
Officials also used DNA evidence from a discarded pizza crust found in a midtown Manhattan garbage can to build their case against Heuermann.
Heuermann was then arrested in July 2023. Surveillance footage showed Heuermann being surrounded by several law enforcement officials in dark suits on the streets of midtown Manhattan, where he worked, during evening rush hour.
“Rex Heuermann is a demon that walks amongst us, a predator that ruined families,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said at the time of his arrest.
Authorities say his then-wife, Asa Ellerup, was always out of town on the nights of the killings. The pair divorced after his arrest.
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