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The Gilgo Beach Murders: The Case Against Rex Heuermann

True Crime Today
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For nearly two decades, the remains of young women kept turning up along the desolate stretches of Long Island — in the scrub brush off Ocean Parkway, in wooded areas out east, in places no one was supposed to find them. And for most of that time, no one was held accountable. I'm Tony Brueski, and this podcast is my deep dive into one of the most chilling serial murder cases in modern American history — the Gilgo Beach murders and the case against Rex Heuermann, the New York architect now charged with the killing of seven women spanning from 1993 to 2010. This isn't a case summary. It's the full picture — the women who were allegedly targeted and discarded, the investigative failures that let a suspected killer allegedly operate in plain sight for decades, and the forensic breakthroughs that finally led to an arrest in July 2023. I break down the evidence prosecutors have built — DNA analysis, cellphone data, digital files allegedly recovered from Heuermann's own computer — and the defense strategy aimed at dismantling it. I cover the courtroom battles, the rulings on evidence admissibility, and every development as this case moves toward its next chapter. But more than anything, this podcast is about the women at the center of it all. Sandra Costilla. Valerie Mack. Jessica Taylor. Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Melissa Barthelemy. Megan Waterman. Amber Costello. They had names. They had people who loved them. And they deserve more than a headline. New episodes drop regularly as the case develops. If you want to understand the Gilgo Beach murders — the facts, the failures, and what justice actually looks like when it finally shows up — you're in the right place. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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    1 min
  2. Rex Heuermann: Seven Women Waited Over a Decade for This

    13H AGO

    Rex Heuermann: Seven Women Waited Over a Decade for This

    Melissa Barthelemy was 24. Megan Waterman was 22. Amber Costello was 27. Maureen Brainard-Barnes was 25. Jessica Taylor was 20. Sandra Costilla was 28. Valerie Mack was 24. Their remains were found scattered along isolated stretches of Long Island — some near Gilgo Beach, some in Manorville, some in remote wooded areas. For over a decade, no one was charged. Their families waited. And waited. And now, reportedly, the man accused of taking all of them is expected to stand in a Suffolk County courtroom and say the word "guilty." This week's look back at the most compelling developments in the Gilgo Beach case centers on what this expected plea means for the people who've carried this weight the longest. Rex Heuermann is reportedly set to change his plea on April 8. The deal is still being finalized. A judge must accept it. But if it holds, there will be no trial. No testimony. No cross-examination. The families who have waited since the first remains were discovered will hear the plea — and that may be the closest thing to a courtroom reckoning they get. His daughter has said publicly she believes he most likely did it. Files recovered from his computer allegedly contained checklists — a systematic approach to limiting noise, cleaning bodies, destroying evidence. His defense challenged the DNA evidence twice and lost. The motion to try the cases separately was denied. Life without parole was the only outcome either way. But a plea means the story ends on his terms — not theirs. And then there are the others. Andrew Dykes' arrest in the murder of Tanya Jackson — the woman known as "Peaches" — proved that Ocean Parkway was used by more than one killer. Four additional victims found along that corridor remain uncharged. Their families don't get a courtroom. They don't get a plea. They get silence. Someone needs to answer for all of them. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #LISK #GilgoFour #JusticeForTheVictims #LongIslandSerialKiller #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #OceanParkway #BringThemJustice

    46 min
  3. Rex Heuermann — Gilgo Beach Killer LISK: Plea, Evidence, and Unanswered Questions

    1D AGO

    Rex Heuermann — Gilgo Beach Killer LISK: Plea, Evidence, and Unanswered Questions

    Rex Heuermann is reportedly expected to plead guilty to the alleged murders of seven women. After nearly three years of maintaining his innocence, the accused Gilgo Beach Killer and Long Island Serial Killer is apparently done fighting — and the reasons why tell you everything about how this LISK case was built. Defense attorney and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis joins me for the complete breakdown of the Rex Heuermann case. We trace the prosecution's strategy from the 2022 cold case reopening through every charge, every denied motion, and every pretrial ruling that narrowed the Gilgo Beach Killer defense's options until a plea reportedly became the only path left. We examine the evidence in detail — the deleted Word document allegedly recovered from Heuermann's hard drive with sections on supplies, targets, disposal sites, and "Mindhunter" references. The DNA matched through whole genome sequencing, admitted in New York for the first time. The pizza crust surveillance. Faddis explains why the LISK defense challenged the DNA but not the document — and which piece of evidence he believes broke the accused Long Island Serial Killer's resolve. And we address what the Gilgo Beach Killer plea doesn't resolve. The remaining victims. Shannan Gilbert. The Bittrolff reversal on Sandra Costilla. The behavioral evidence — the planning, the timing, the alleged compartmentalized existence. Whether law enforcement keeps investigating. Whether the alternative suspect argument has any legal life. And whether a plea without a trial can ever be called justice. This is the definitive Rex Heuermann conversation. Every angle. Every question. No filter. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeachKiller #LISK #LongIslandSerialKiller #EricFaddis #GuiltyPlea #DNAEvidence #ShannanGilbert #GilgoBeach #TrueCrimePodcast

    57 min
  4. Rex Heuermann Plea: The LISK Questions That Stay Unanswered

    1D AGO

    Rex Heuermann Plea: The LISK Questions That Stay Unanswered

    Rex Heuermann is expected to plead guilty to the alleged murders of seven women. But the Gilgo Beach Killer investigation uncovered eleven sets of remains — and the accused Long Island Serial Killer is not believed to be responsible for all of them. Shannan Gilbert's case remains uncharged. The Sandra Costilla murder was once attributed to convicted killer John Bittrolff before prosecutors reversed course and charged Heuermann. Defense attorney and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis joins me to examine what a Gilgo Beach Killer guilty plea doesn't resolve. We walk through the remaining LISK victims and whether law enforcement continues investigating once the primary defendant is resolved. We examine the Bittrolff reversal in detail — what it means when the prosecution's own prior theory contradicts their current charges — and whether that argument has any legal life in a potential appeal. Faddis addresses the behavioral evidence — the alleged timing of killings when Heuermann's family was away, the planning document references, the internet search history — and what the totality of that evidence suggests about how the accused Long Island Serial Killer allegedly compartmentalized his existence. We talk about the systemic failures that allowed someone to allegedly target marginalized women for nearly two decades. And we close with the question at the center of the Gilgo Beach Killer case: is a plea without a trial justice — or is it just an ending? For anyone who has followed the Rex Heuermann case from the beginning, this is the conversation about what happens after the plea. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeachKiller #LISK #LongIslandSerialKiller #ShannanGilbert #JohnBittrolff #EricFaddis #GilgoBeach #TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast

    20 min
  5. Rex Heuermann's Deleted Blueprint and the DNA That Caught the Gilgo Beach Killer

    1D AGO

    Rex Heuermann's Deleted Blueprint and the DNA That Caught the Gilgo Beach Killer

    Prosecutors in the LISK case recovered a Word document from Rex Heuermann's basement hard drive — allegedly created in 2000 — that outlined how to select victims, dispose of remains, and avoid capture. They matched the accused Gilgo Beach Killer's DNA to hairs found on and near multiple victims using whole genome sequencing, admitted for the first time in New York history. And the original break came from a pizza crust the accused Long Island Serial Killer discarded during surveillance. Defense attorney and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis joins me to walk through both pillars of the Gilgo Beach Killer evidence. We examine the planning document's alleged contents — sections on supplies, problems, disposal sites, targets, and references to "Mindhunter" — and why the LISK defense reportedly never challenged its authenticity. We trace the DNA chain from a piece of trash to matches across multiple crime scenes spanning years. And we break down the Frye hearing that admitted whole genome sequencing — what the defense argued, what the judge ruled, and why it matters. Faddis explains what the forensic recovery of deleted files from over 350 seized devices actually involves, where the science has vulnerabilities, and which piece of evidence he believes is the reason Rex Heuermann is reportedly pleading guilty. For anyone who wants to understand the evidence at the center of the Gilgo Beach Killer case — this is the deep dive. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeachKiller #LISK #LongIslandSerialKiller #PlanningDocument #DNAEvidence #EricFaddis #GilgoBeach #WholeGenomeSequencing #TrueCrimePodcast

    16 min
  6. Rex Heuermann Expected Guilty Plea — Every LISK Defense Motion Failed

    1D AGO

    Rex Heuermann Expected Guilty Plea — Every LISK Defense Motion Failed

    Rex Heuermann's legal team tried everything to fight the Gilgo Beach Killer charges. They moved to exclude the DNA evidence connecting the accused Long Island Serial Killer to the victims. They fought to break the LISK case into separate trials spanning different decades and different alleged methods. They filed a 178-page omnibus motion seeking dismissal of the Sandra Costilla charge and review of grand jury proceedings. They pointed to convicted killer John Bittrolff as an alternative suspect. Every motion was denied. And now, according to multiple reports, the accused Gilgo Beach Killer is expected to plead guilty to the alleged murders of seven women on Long Island. Defense attorney and former felony prosecutor Eric Faddis joins me to trace the line from Heuermann's arrest to expected plea — explaining how each failed defense motion narrowed the LISK defendant's options until a guilty plea reportedly became the only path left. Faddis walks through the specific rulings, what the defense was strategically trying to accomplish with each one, and why the court rejected them. We also examine the negotiation between defense attorney Michael Brown and DA Ray Tierney. What's being discussed? What can either side realistically offer? And we address the judge's role — whether Judge Mazzei could reject the Gilgo Beach Killer plea, and what would have to go wrong for that to happen. For anyone who has followed the Rex Heuermann investigation from the beginning, this is the conversation that explains how the legal endgame unfolded. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeachKiller #LISK #LongIslandSerialKiller #GuiltyPlea #EricFaddis #DefenseMotions #GilgoBeach #TrueCrime #TrueCrimePodcast

    21 min
  7. LISK Guilty Plea Explained: Gilgo Beach Killer's Last Blueprint

    3D AGO

    LISK Guilty Plea Explained: Gilgo Beach Killer's Last Blueprint

    For nearly three years, the accused Long Island Serial Killer maintained his innocence. His attorney said there was no Gilgo Beach plea deal. The DA said the same. They were heading to trial in the biggest LISK proceeding in New York history. And then, reportedly, everything changed. Sources say Rex Heuermann is expected to plead guilty on April 8 to murdering seven women in the Gilgo Beach serial killings. I go deep on why — not just the legal collapse that made a Gilgo Beach trial unwinnable, but the psychological architecture of a man prosecutors allege was the LISK, now making his last controlled decision. The Gilgo Beach DNA evidence survived two challenges. Severance was denied. The planning document — the alleged murder checklist found on the LISK suspect's own computer — was going to sit over all seven Gilgo Beach charges in a single trial. The prosecution's case was a fortress. But the sentence was always going to be the same: life without parole. So this Gilgo Beach plea isn't about avoiding a harsher punishment. It's about avoiding the process — the months-long LISK trial spectacle, the evidence performed publicly, the family exposed further. For the man prosecutors say was the Long Island Serial Killer, someone who allegedly compartmentalized murder the same way he managed architectural projects, a plea is order. A trial is chaos. I also cover the health questions, the fractured Gilgo Beach narrative after Andrew Dykes' arrest proved Ocean Parkway was never one killer's corridor, and why this plea — even if it closes the LISK criminal case — doesn't close the Gilgo Beach story. Other victims along Ocean Parkway remain unidentified. Other questions remain unanswered. The Gilgo Beach investigation isn't over. It's just entering a different phase. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #LISK #GilgoBeach #GilgoBeachKiller #RexHeuermann #LongIslandSerialKiller #GuiltyPlea #OceanParkway #GilgoFour #TrueCrime #SerialKiller

    19 min
  8. Gilgo Beach Victims: The Question No Plea Can Answer for Their Families

    4D AGO

    Gilgo Beach Victims: The Question No Plea Can Answer for Their Families

    Seven families may be getting a phone call soon. Sources report that Rex Heuermann is expected to plead guilty on April 8 in the Gilgo Beach serial killing case — a case that went cold for over a decade before investigators finally broke it open. That plea hasn't happened yet. But if it does, it would represent the legal resolution these families have been waiting for since their loved ones went missing years ago. Four more families won't be getting that call. Their loved ones are connected to this investigation, but the expected plea structure doesn't reach them. No charges. No resolution. And if this holds, no trial that might have brought information to light. That's where we're focused today — not on case mechanics in the abstract, but on the people whose lives were changed by what Heuermann allegedly did. The families who may finally get an answer and are already trying to understand what closure looks like in practice. The families who won't. The daughter who has said she believes he most likely did it — and what that kind of knowledge costs someone. The ex-wife who once called him her hero, who now has to rebuild everything she believed about her own life. Retired FBI Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program Chief Robin Dreeke joins me to go through your listener questions — and the ones that stood out most were about these people. Not case mechanics. The human beings left inside this story as a plea negotiation plays out. One listener wrote in and said she couldn't even formulate a question — she just needed to talk about what it means that his family's DNA was allegedly on those victims through ordinary household items. We're going to talk about it. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice. #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #GilgoFour #GilgoBeachVictims #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #SerialKiller #VictimJustice #LongIslandSerialKiller #CrimePodcast

    27 min
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About

For nearly two decades, the remains of young women kept turning up along the desolate stretches of Long Island — in the scrub brush off Ocean Parkway, in wooded areas out east, in places no one was supposed to find them. And for most of that time, no one was held accountable. I'm Tony Brueski, and this podcast is my deep dive into one of the most chilling serial murder cases in modern American history — the Gilgo Beach murders and the case against Rex Heuermann, the New York architect now charged with the killing of seven women spanning from 1993 to 2010. This isn't a case summary. It's the full picture — the women who were allegedly targeted and discarded, the investigative failures that let a suspected killer allegedly operate in plain sight for decades, and the forensic breakthroughs that finally led to an arrest in July 2023. I break down the evidence prosecutors have built — DNA analysis, cellphone data, digital files allegedly recovered from Heuermann's own computer — and the defense strategy aimed at dismantling it. I cover the courtroom battles, the rulings on evidence admissibility, and every development as this case moves toward its next chapter. But more than anything, this podcast is about the women at the center of it all. Sandra Costilla. Valerie Mack. Jessica Taylor. Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Melissa Barthelemy. Megan Waterman. Amber Costello. They had names. They had people who loved them. And they deserve more than a headline. New episodes drop regularly as the case develops. If you want to understand the Gilgo Beach murders — the facts, the failures, and what justice actually looks like when it finally shows up — you're in the right place. Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/ Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1 Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/ Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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