7th murder linked to Gilgo Beach serial killer

Rex Heuermann, the serial killer from Gilgo Beach on Long Island, New York, arrested in 2023, has been charged with a seventh murder: that of Valerie Mack, a 24-year-old woman whose remains were discovered in November 2000.

In 2000, an emergency 911 call was made after a dog alerted hunters to the discovery of a plastic bag containing incomplete human remains in a wooded area near Manorville.

These remains were discovered several years later, in 2011, east of Gilgo Beach, Suffolk County, not far from where the remains of another Heuermann victim were found.

These remains remained unidentified until 2020, when, thanks to a genetic genealogical analysis, it was established that they belonged to Valerie Mack.

The link between Rex Heuermann and the victim was established when human hair found on Valerie Mack’s remains enabled prosecutors to identify the DNA profiles of Heuermann’s wife and daughter.

This now brings to six of his seven alleged victims the number of cases in which hair belonging either to Heuermann or to members of his family has been found.

The murders with which Rex Heuermann has been charged to date date back to 1993. In June 2024, he was charged with second-degree murder in the deaths of Sandra Costilla in 1993 and Jessica Taylor in 2003.

However, Heuermann is best known for his alleged involvement in the murders of four women, nicknamed the “Gilgo Four”: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

The remains of these victims were discovered in 2010 in the Gilgo Beach area.

Investigators were able to establish a DNA link thanks to a sample taken from a pizza box abandoned by Heuermann in New York and matching DNA found at the scene where the bodies were discovered.

The next hearing concerning this seventh official victim of the Gilgo Beach serial killer is scheduled for January 15.