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It began with a haunting 911 call one night in May 2010.
Shannan Gilbert, a 23-year-old woman terrified for her life, begged for help after going to visit a sex work client in Oak Beach on Long Island, New York.
Her subsequent disappearance prompted a huge search in the dense brush along Ocean Parkway – and led to the discovery of a serial killer’s graveyard.
Within months, the remains of 11 victims had been found along Ocean Parkway, a stretch of highway close to Gilgo Beach.
For more than a decade the case went cold and the identity of the Gilgo Beach serial killer remained a mystery.
That is until 2023 when Rex Heuermann, an architect and married father-of-two who lived on Long Island and commuted into Manhattan each day, was suddenly arrested as the suspected killer.
Rex Heuermann, a 62-year-old architect from Long Island, is accused of being the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killer
The backyard of Rex Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park during a search in June 2024
Now, Heuermann is charged with the murders of seven women – Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack – between 1993 and 2010.
Since his bombshell arrest, the 62-year-old architect has fought the charges and pleaded not guilty.
But now, months before his trial is set to get underway, there has been a shock development in the case.
In an upcoming court hearing, Heuermann is expected to plead guilty to all charges – in a move that could finally bring justice to the victims’ families and an end to an alleged three-decade reign of terror.
Melissa Barthelemy (top left), Amber Costello (top right), Megan Waterman (bottom left), and Maureen Brainard-Barnes (bottom right) became known as the ‘Gilgo Four’
Sandra Costilla (left), Valerie Mack (center) and Jessica Taylor (right). Heuermann is charged with the murders of seven women
In this new episode of The Trial USA, Crime Correspondent Rachel Sharp and Senior Reporter Ruth Bashinsky unpack every twist and turn of the case that they have reported on for years, from the young victims’ stories to the moment police realized they were dealing with a serial killer and the evidence that ultimately led them to the suspect.
The team also takes listeners inside the chaotic scenes outside Heuermann’s home after his arrest and into the courtroom as the case headed to trial – as well as everything in between.
And they break down what a guilty plea could now mean – for the case, for the families, and for other potential victims still out there waiting to be found.
Rex Heuermann returns to court in Riverhead, Long Island, on April 8.
