The Gilgo Beach murders are a series of unsolved killings of women on Long Island, New York,

Gilgo Beach murders have been linked to a possible serial killer. The case began in 2010, when the body of Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker from New Jersey, was found near Gilgo Beach after she had gone missing a year earlier. Her disappearance led police to discover the remains of four other women, also sex workers, who had been wrapped in burlap sacks and dumped along Ocean Parkway. They were identified as Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. In 2011, six more sets of human remains were found in the same area, some of them belonging to children and a man.

The identities of some of the victims are still unknown. The Gilgo Beach murders drew national attention and sparked multiple investigations, documentaries, and books. On July 14, 2023, a suspect was arrested in connection with some of the murders. He was identified as Rex Heuermann, an architect from Massapequa Park. He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Brainard-Barnes, Barthelemy, and Waterman. He is also suspected in the death of Gilbert, but that investigation remains ongoing. He has denied any involvement and his attorney has said the accusations are “extremely circumstantial in nature”.

According to prosecutors, Heuermann was identified as the main suspect after a multiagency task force used cellphone evidence and DNA taken from a pizza crust to link him to the crime scenes. He has denied any involvement and his attorney has said the accusations are “extremely circumstantial in nature”.

Heuermann has also had a history of tax issues and lawsuits, owing hundreds of thousands of dollars to the IRS and the state of New York, and filing four lawsuits against drivers who he said had hit him with their cars. He is currently being held without bail.

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Atiru, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons