How a Manhattan professional led a double life as a serial killer, claiming eight victims over decades
Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan architectural consultant, pleaded guilty on April 8, 2026, to murdering eight women, including the four victims of the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killings. The Massapequa Park resident's confession ended one of New York's most puzzling criminal sagas.
On April 8, 2026, Rex Heuermann stood in court and confessed to being one of America's most prolific modern serial killers. The 60-year-old Manhattan architectural consultant admitted to strangling eight women, bringing closure—and horrifying detail—to a case that has haunted New York for nearly two decades.
Heuermann's arrest in July 2023 marked a turning point in the investigation of the Gilgo Beach killings, a series of murders that had bewildered law enforcement since 2010. The suspect, a married father who lived an outwardly respectable life in Massapequa Park, Long Island, had evaded capture for years while operating a meticulously planned predatory operation.
**From Suspect to Confession**
The breakthrough came in March 2022, when investigators identified Heuermann as a suspect after a dark green first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche registered in his name matched a witness description in one of the killings. Cellphone records proved devastating: his device showed contact with three of the four "Gilgo Four" victims—Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Costello. An email account linked to him revealed searches for investigation details, sadistic materials, child pornography, and images of the victims and their relatives.
The final piece of physical evidence came from an unlikely source: a pizza crust. On January 26, 2023, Heuermann discarded a pizza box in Midtown Manhattan. DNA extracted from the crust matched male hair found on Megan Waterman's body, confirmed on June 12, 2023. The was irrefutable.
