Rex Heuermann, a Long Island architect accused of seven murders known as the Gilgo Beach killings dating back to 1993, pleaded guilty on Wednesday and added an eighth murder to his gruesome tally.
Heuermann, who has been held in custody since he was arrested on a Manhattan street in July 2023, appeared in court in Riverhead, Long Island, and changed his plea to guilty in the murders of women whose remains were found years after they disappeared.
Their remains were mostly found in marshland along Long Island’s south coast, including and most notably on Gilgo Beach.
Many of the victims, who were mostly sex workers, remained unidentified for years, but a break in the long-running mystery came through the identification of Heuermann’s car, cellphone records and mitochondrial DNA matches to the victims. After his arrest, Heuermann pleaded not guilty.
Judge Timothy Mazzei asked Heuermann a series of questions about his readiness to enter a guilty plea on Wednesday. He said he was entering the plea of his own free will.
“Yes, I am,” Heuermann said.
Of the first charge to be addressed by prosecutors, on the murder of Melissa Barthelemy in 2009, Heuermann said he had caused her death. Asked how, he said: “Strangulation.”
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