A “flood” of tips has poured in about accused Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann, authorities said Monday — as possible evidence, including more apparent weapons, a video camera and stash of tapes, continued to be hauled from the suspect’s home.
“The one thing about an arrest, obviously, [is] it brings a lot of attention,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told “CNN This Morning.”
“The other thing is, we have executed a number of search warrants,” he said, as officers also scoured a local self-storage unit looking for possible body parts or other “trophies” kept by the suspect.
“So right now we have a flood of information and a flood of evidence coming in,” Tierney said.
“And it’s going to take us a while to … go through all of that.”
Investigators continued to cart items out of the Massapequa Park home where Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect, lived with his wife and two kids, on Monday, a little over four days after he was nabbed near his Fifth Avenue office.
The confiscated items included a box for a Sharp video camera, as well as what appeared to be bags full of videotapes to go with it.
According to authorities, there have been a “flood” of tips about suspected Gilgo Beach murderer Rex Heuermann since his arrest last week. Suffolk County Sheriff's Office/Handout via REUTERS
Police outside of Heuermann’s house in Massapequa Park during the investigation on July 15, 2023. Dennis A. ClarkOfficers also appeared to carry off secure cases for high-capacity rifles.
Authorities revealed Monday that Heuermann — charged in three women’s murders and considered the prime suspect in a fourth — had an “arsenal” of more than 200 guns in a vault at the home, or more than twice originally thought.
Who is Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann?
A suspected serial killer has been arrested over the notorious Gilgo Beach murders in Long Island, The Post can confirm.
Rex Heuermann, 59, a married dad of two and architect at a New York City firm, has a home on 1st Avenue in Massapequa Park, sources told The Post.
His arrest is tied to the “Gilgo Four,” four women — Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25 — found wrapped in burlap within days of each other in 2010.
The body of Barthelemy was first found along Ocean Parkway on Dec. 11, 2010, sparking fears of a serial killer in the area.
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By spring 2011, the number of bodies had climbed to 10, including eight women as well as an unidentified man and toddler.
Heuermann’s arrest comes after Suffolk County’s new police commissioner created a special Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force in February 2022.
Elsewhere, investigators also worked behind a screen while searching an Omega Self Storage unit in Amityville — where Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said they were looking for body parts or “trophies.”
It all adds to the “unbelievable amount of material” that was already collected in the case before Heuermann even emerged as a suspect last year, Tierney said.
The four original Gilgo Beach victims found in 2010. REUTERS/Suffolk County Police Department/Handout
Eventually 11 bodies were found in the are just 15 minutes from Heuermann’s home. Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images“You’re talking about something that is 13 years in the making,” he told CNN.
“And then you also have over 300, search warrants and judicial requests. So there is a tremendous amount of information,” he said, saying it made it impossible to estimate a likely timetable for the case to go to trial.
Heuermann has been charged with murdering Amber Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Megan Waterman, 22, whose bodies were found in a marshy area of Gilgo Beach in 2010 — among 11 bodies eventually discovered in the area about 15 minutes from the suspect’s home. Heuermann pleaded not guilty Friday.
Who were the Gilgo Beach victims?
Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann — a New York City architect and married dad of two — was arrested in connection with the long-unsolved Gilgo Beach murders. The arrest is tied to the so-called “Gilgo Four,” women found wrapped in burlap within days of each other in late 2010.
The years-long investigation that led to the arrest revolved around the discovery of more than 10 sets of human remains along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach in Suffolk County between December 2010 and April 2011.
Most victims were petite female sex workers with green or hazel eyes. But there were also two exceptions: a 2-year-old girl and a young Asian man.
Melissa Barthelemy, 24
- Barthelemy was a sex worker who lived in the Unionport section of the Bronx and dreamed of one day opening her own beauty salon. She was last seen alive in her basement apartment on Underhill Avenue on July 12, 2009. Heuermann was charged for Barthelemy’s murder in July 2023.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25
- Brainard-Barnes was living in Norwich, Connecticut. She went missing after taking an Amtrak train from New London, Connecticut, to Grand Central Terminal in Manhattan on July 6, 2007. Her remains were found in December 2010. Heuermann was charged for Brainard-Barnes’ murder in January 2024.
Amber Lynn Costello, 27
- Costello, 27, was a sex worker and heroin addict who lived in West Babylon, New York, at a home with a woman and two men. She advertised on Craigslist and Backpage to support her and her roommates’ drug habits. Costello was found on December 13, 2010, after having been last seen leaving her home September 2, 2010. Heuermann was charged for Costello’s murder in July 2023.
Megan Waterman, 22
- Waterman, a 22-year-old mom of one, was last seen on June 6, 2010. She lived in Scarborough, Maine, and earned a living as an escort. She was last seen by her family boarding a New York-bound Concord Trailways bus in Maine. Her body was found on December 13, 2010, on the north side of Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach. Heuermann was charged for Waterman’s murder in July 2023.
Jessica Taylor, 20
- Remains belonging to Jessica Taylor, a 20-year-old woman working as an escort in New York City, were found in a wooded area in Manorville on July 26, 2003. Her additional remains — initially labeled “Jane Doe No. 5” — were discovered on March 29, 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
Valerie Mack, 24
- Valerie Mack was 24 years old and living in Philadelphia when she went missing. She worked as an escort, using the alias “Melissa Taylor.” Relatives last saw Mack in the spring or summer of 2000 in Port Republic, New Jersey, but she was never reported as missing to the police. Her partial skeletal remains were found in Manorville in September 2000 but were initially known as “Jane Doe No. 6.” More bones were found on April 4, 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
Unidentified Asian man
- The skeletal remains of a yet-to-be-identified Asian man were found along Ocean Parkway on April 4, 2011. It is estimated that the man was between 17 and 23 years old at the time of his death. He was approximately 5 feet 6 inches tall with bad teeth.
‘Peaches’ and her daughter
- An African American woman’s partial remains were discovered in Hempstead Lake State Park back in 1997, and she had become known as “Peaches” because of a bitten tattoo of a peach on her left breast. On April 4, 2011, police uncovered the remains of a toddler, who was about 2 years old at the time of her death. DNA testing confirmed that one of the skeletons was that of the 2-year-old girl’s mother, “Peaches.”
Karen Vergata
- A victim previously referred to as Jane Doe No. 7 has been identified as 34-year-old Manhattan woman Karen Vergata. Vergata is believed to have disappeared around Feb. 14, 1996; two months later, her legs were found in a plastic bag at a park near Fire Island’s Blue Point Beach. At the time of her disappearance, Vergata was believed to have been working as an escort. Two sets of Vergata’s remains were identified in August 2023.
Shannan Gilbert, 23
- Gilbert was a Craigslist escort who lived in Jersey City, traveled with her driver Michael Pak from Manhattan to meet a client, Joseph Brewer, at his home in the Oak Beach Association on the morning of May 1, 2010. She spoke with two neighbors before disappearing. Her body was discovered in a marsh near Oak Beach — about half a mile from where she was last seen alive — on December 13, 2011.
Jessica Taylor, 20
- Taylor, a 20-year-old woman working as an escort in New York City, were found in a wooded area in Manorville on July 26, 2003. Her additional remains — initially labeled “Jane Doe No. 5” — were discovered on March 29, 2011, along Ocean Parkway.
Sandra Costilla
- Costilla was murdered in 1993 but had not been included among the so-called Gilgo Beach victims — until now. Investigators suspected convicted serial killer John Bittrolff in Costilla’s death, but he was never charged in her slaying — which remains one of several unsolved Long Island murders.
Tierney stressed Monday that “the investigation is continuing” into Heuermann over the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, whose body was among those recovered at the beach.
“We feel confident that we’re going to be able to eventually charge that fourth murder,” said Tierney, repeating his earlier statement that an early arrest was needed out of “concern for both the integrity of our investigation as well as the safety of the community.”
As well as physical evidence, numerous women have since come forward about alarming run-ins with the suspected serial killer.
Police have removed weapons and a bag of video tapes from Heuermann’s house. Fox 5 NY
Investigators matched DNA from the crime scene to a pizza box found in the trash at Heuermann’s house. Suffolk County
Heuermann’s car seen outside of his house. Google MapsHeuermann’s neighbors on 1st Avenue have been also reacting in horror that his oddball behavior was a sign of something sinister.
Former neighbor Carol Bergen told Fox News Digital that Heuermann once asked her brother if he cried at their father’s funeral.
Michael Musto, a neighbor who regularly took the train into Manhattan with Heuermann, called it “disgusting” and “unconscionable” that the suspect could be “involved in something heinous like this.
“You never know who’s your next-door neighbor,” Musto told Fox. “It’s like Jeffrey Dahmer.”








