Accused killer Rex Heuermann linked to last ‘Gilgo Four’ victim via his daughter’s DNA on discarded coffee drink
Accused Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann has now been tied to the slayings of the women known as the “Gilgo Four,” including through a DNA sample from his daughter’s Monster energy drink — which investigators dug out of the trash after trailing her on the LIRR, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Heuermann, 60, was named in a new indictment unsealed in Suffolk County court charging him with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, the last of the four former escorts whose remains were found along Gilgo Beach in 2010 and whose killings remained unsolved for 13 years.
Investigators linked Brainard-Barnes’ murder to Heuermann via DNA from a female hair found on her body after samples were collected from the suspect’s wife, Asa Ellerup, and the couple’s 26-year-old daughter, Victoria, according to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.
One sample from Victoria Heuermann was picked up on May 25, when investigators followed her onto a Manhattan-bound Long Island Rail Road train, according to a new bail application filed by prosecutors Tuesday.
The investigator — who took covert photos of the woman — got off behind her at Penn Station and grabbed the gold-colored can of Monster Java she drank from after it was thrown into the trash, according to the court documents.
Hair samples found on three of the “Gilgo Four” victims were matches for DNA profiles investigators developed for Ellerup and her daughter, the filing states.
Both women were out of town when the murders took place, including in Atlantic City when Brainard-Barnes was killed — but Rex Heuermann was not, prosecutors said.
Other evidence, including cell phone records, helped tie him to all four of the victims, prosecutors said.
“This indictment marks a change in the investigation,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said. “The grand jury investigation of the so-called Giglo Four is over. It has concluded.”
The grand jury will continue to probe the other cases involving the more than 10 sets of human remains found along the desolate stretch of beach along Ocean Parkway between December 2010 and April 2011, the DA said.
Among the remains were those of Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Megan Waterman, 22 — who along with Brainard-Barnes became known as the “Gilgo Four.”
Prosecutors said Tuesday that a male hair they have allegedly tied to Heuermann was found at the bottom of a burlap bag that Waterman was wrapped in when her body was discovered.
Female hairs also tied to the accused killer were found with the bodies of Brainard-Barnes and Costello, prosecutors alleged.
Brainard-Barnes’ body was found tied up with three leather belts.
The new court docs also reveal how the accused killer used burner phones to reach out to sex workers as recently as last year, using the email account “[email protected].”
Heuerman allegedly emailed and texted the escorts when his wife and kids were out of town, and conducted sick online searches, prosecutors said.
Investigators also found “a collection” of violent, bondage and torture porn on Heuermann’s electronic devices — and said he used his computer to contact the escorts he’s now accused of killing using the name “Andy” or “Andrew,” his middle name.
“Hi, I saw your ad and wanted to see if we could set something up later,” Heuermann allegedly texted one of the victims on March 1, 2020.
“I’m don’t for the day,” the escort answered. “Does tomorrow work?”
Heuerman allegedly replied, “I am working all day. I was free today my wife is out for the day…. working Monday.”
Investigators had to tap the resources of the US Secret Service in order to crack the devices, Tierney said.
Heuermann “undertook numerous searches for software that could assist in erasing or wiping data from computer and digital devices such as Easy-Hide-IP and ShredderX, the DA said.
“He used those two applications to destroy evidence in this case,” Tierney told reporters. “We see that he continued to make prostitution-related searches before, during and after the disappearance and murder of the four victims in this case.”
Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the new charges Tuesday and is due back in court Feb. 6.
His lawyer, Michael Brown, called the new evidence “problematic.”
“All along we’ve been told there’s no nuclear DNA and now for the first time 13 years later, what was once unsuitable — we couldn’t get a DNA profile from a nuclear basis — is now nuclear-capable,” Brown told reporters.
“We’re going to look into that,” he added. “It’s problematic.”
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.
Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann were in court for the arraignment but did not speak to reporters.
Rex Heuermann has been held without bail since his arrest in July on charges that he murdered the other three victims and dumped them along the shore.
Tierney last year identified the hulking New York City architect as the prime suspect in Brainard-Barnes’ death and told The Post in November that his office was “very close” to linking Heuermann to her case.
Brainard-Barnes, 25, went missing on July 9, 2007 — the first of the “Gilgo Four” to disappear.
When her body was found on Dec. 13, 2010, Brainard-Barnes was reportedly bound with a belt stamped with the initials “WH,” which prosecutors have suggested may have belonged to Heuermann’s late father, William Heuermann.
Brainard-Barnes grew up in Groton, Connecticut, where she was a straight-A student before dropping out at 17 after she got pregnant, New York Magazine said in a profile in July.
She worked various jobs, including as a card dealer at the Foxwoods Resort Casino, at a local ShopRite, and an area gas station, the magazine reported.
In 2006, she replied to a modeling job ad in Manhattan and was soon working as an escort, selling her services on Craigslist in the city and on Long Island.
“For years it looked like there might not be charges filed against any suspect for the murder of my mother,” her daughter Nicole Brainard-Smith, 24, said after Heuermann’s arraignment on the new charge Tuesday.
“While the loss of my mother has been extremely painful for me the indictment by the grand jury has brought hope for justice for my mom and my family.”
Her sister, Melissa Cann, told New York Mag following Heuermann’s initial arrest that cops didn’t take Brainard-Barnes’ disappearance seriously when she went missing.
“I drove myself to the point where I didn’t want to get up in the morning to brush my teeth,” she said. “I didn’t want to go to sleep. I just wanted to figure out where my sister was.”
The first of the bodies were discovered while police searched for another missing escort, Shannan Gilbert, a Jersey City woman who disappeared in May 2010 and has not been linked to Heuermann.
John Ray, an attorney representing Gilbert’s sisters, told The Post this week that they reacted with “careful caution” when told of the new charges against Heuermann.
“Let’s not draw too many conclusions,” Ray said. “Let’s keep the pressure on the police to do the right thing and get this thing investigated and not let it drop because they now caught somebody.
“There can be no such thing as closure, especially in Shannan’s family, because the losses are so great,” he added. “The best one can say is that there might be a certain amount of an ability to accept that the murderers are on their way to being caught. That’s about it.”
Heuermann, a married father of two from Massapequa Park and an architect with offices in Midtown Manhattan, was linked to three of the women through DNA found on a discarded pizza.
Police later searched his home for additional evidence, and removed a cache of guns kept inside.
The murders had remained unsolved for years until Rodney Harrison, a former NYPD chief, took over as Suffolk County police commissioner in January 2022 and reopened the Gilgo Beach case — with Heuermann identified as the prime suspect within two months.
