The Gilgo Beach murder case remained one of America’s most haunting unsolved serial murder investigations for more than a decade before a breakthrough led investigators to Rex Heuermann.
The disappearance of Shannan Gilbert in 2010 led the authorities to multiple sets of human remains along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. The case went cold for years before a new multi-agency task force revived the investigation in 2022 and used DNA evidence, cellphone records and witness accounts to connect Long Island architect Rex Heuermann to multiple killings.
With Heuermann receiving the maximum sentence on Wednesday, here is the complete timeline of the Gilgo Beach murder case.
Gilgo Beach murder case timeline
Gilgo Beach murder timeline: Skeletal remains found between November 1993 and July 2003
- November 20, 1993: The dead remains of 28-year-old Sandra Costilla were found in a wooded area in the Hamptons.
- April 20, 1996: The partial remains of an unidentified female s*x worker were discovered in Fire Island, a barrier beach off the coast. She was identified as Karen Vergata in 2022.
- June 28, 1997: The partial remains of a woman were found in a state park in West Hempstead. She was identified as Tanya Jackson, a U.S. Army veteran, in 2025.
- September 2000: The partial skeletal remains of 24-year-old s*x worker Valerie Mack were found in a wooded area in Manorville.
- July 26, 2003: The partial skeletal remains of 20-year-old s*x worker Jessica Taylor were found in a wooded area in Manorville.
Gilgo Beach murder timeline: Disappearances linked to Long Island
- July 9, 2007: Investigators found cellphone activity (in Long Island) for 25-year-old s*x worker Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who had disappeared after meeting with a client. This incident linked Barnes to the Gilgo Beach murder case.
- July 10, 2009: Phone location data placed 24-year-old s*x worker Melissa Barthelemy at Long Island, who had disappeared after meeting with a client.
- May 1, 2010: S*x worker Shannan Gilbert was seen fleeing from a client’s house in the barrier island community of Oak Beach.
- June 6, 2010: 22-year-old s*x worker Megan Waterman disappeared from a motel in Hauppauge.
- Sept. 2, 2010: 27-year-old s*x worker Amber Lynn Costello disappeared after meeting with a client.
Gilgo Beach murder timeline: Shocking discoveries
- December 2010: The Suffolk County Police found the dead remains of Barthelemy, Costello, Brainard-Barnes and Waterman on the quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway while searching for Gilbert and announced that a serial killer was on the loose.
- March-April 2011: The authorities discovered the dead remains of Taylor, Mack, Tanya Jackson’s 2-year-old daughter Tatiana Dykes and Vergata.
- December 2011: Gilbert’s dead remains were found in a tidal marsh near Oak Beach, revealed to have died due to drowning.
Gilgo Beach murder case: The discovery of Rex Heuermann and his life sentence
The Suffolk County district attorney set up a new task force in January 2022, which used digital forensics, a truck description, familial DNA and burner phone records to connect Rex Heuermann to the killings.
- July 13, 2023: Manhattan architectural consultant Rex Heuermann was connected to the Long Island murders after mobile phone location data suggested that he shared the crime scene location with the female victims at the same time. Between July 2023 and June 2024, Rex Heuermann was charged with murdering Costello, Waterman, Barthelemy, Brainard-Barnes, Mack, Costilla and Taylor.
- April 8, 2026: Almost two decades after the first Gilgo murder, Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty to seven murders: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Jessica Taylor, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla. He eventually acknowledged killing Karen Vergata in court. He confessed to strangling his victims before scattering their remains along Long Island’s remote beaches.
- June 17, 2026: After admitting to brutally killing eight women, Rex Heuermann was sentenced to three life sentences for first-degree murder and 25 years to life on four second-degree murder charges, all running consecutively and without any possibility of parole.
For the latest scoops on your favorite TV shows and movies, follow SoapCentral.
Edited by Aashna