Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Charged in Connection with Deaths of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla
By Hank Russell
Rex Heuermann appeared in State Supreme Court in Riverhead on June 6 before Judge Timothy A. Mazzei to face two more murder charges — one for the death of Jessica Taylor and the other for Sandra Costilla.
According to a copy of the superseding bail application obtained by Long Island Life & Politics, Taylor’s remains were found on July 26, 2003 by an unidentified witness walking their dog just west of Haley Manor Road in Manorville. When the Suffolk County Police Department arrived, they noticed that Taylor had been decapitated, her arms were cut off below the elbows and a tattoo on her torso was mutilated with a sharp object.
On March 29, 2011, Taylor’s skull, hands and forearm were found along Ocean Parkway. The remains were buried just east of Gilgo Beach and on the same side of the road as Heuermann’s other victims known as “The Gilgo Four” — Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello (the remains of the four aforementioned victims were discovered in December 2010.)
On April 29, 2024, a forensics laboratory issued a report showing that it developed nuclear DNA profiles from a male hair underneath Taylor and from Heuermann’s buccal swab. It was determined the male hair was a match.
Costilla’s body was found on November 20, 1993 by two people who were out hunting around the vicinity of 50 Old Fish Cove Road in North Sea. She was found “lying on her back with her arms outstretched over her head with her uncovered legs spread apart.” She was stabbed numerous times on her face, body, leg and private area.
Forensic lab work showed that, after a number of examinations of the hairs found on Costilla, nuclear DNA results found that the male hair belonged to Heuermann.
As previously reported in Long Island Life & Politics, law enforcement officials searched Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home; it was unclear at the time why they searched the home again, what they were hoping to find and what, if anything, did they find. They also searched the woods in a section of Manorville where part of the remains of Valerie Mack and Jessica Taylor were discovered in the early 2000s. It is not known if Heuermann is connected to the deaths of Mack and Taylor.
It was also previously reported in LILP that Heuermann, 60, was initially arrested in connection with the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman, Costello and Brainard-Barnes.
The DA’s Office is seeking remand without bail.
During the press conference, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said, “We will continue to investigate this case. Although the Gilgo Four case is over, the investigation continues.”
“We said that the case was not over. We said that we will continue to investigate the case of the Gilgo Four and find more evidence. We’ve done that.”
Tierney said the aggressive investigation resulted in the two additional charges against Heuermann. “[We] are not going to stop,” he said.