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The Gilgo Beach Murders: The Case Against Rex Heuermann

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.

  1. REX CHANNEL — REX HEUERMANN PART 1

    1H AGO

    REX CHANNEL — REX HEUERMANN PART 1

    He said it. After years of standing stone-faced in court, after denying everything, after forcing investigators and families through years of legal proceedings — Rex Heuermann stood in Suffolk County Court and pleaded guilty to killing seven women. He admitted to killing an eighth, Karen Vergata, whose case will not be separately charged under the plea deal. For the families of Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, and Megan Waterman — this is the formal legal confirmation of what they have been carrying for years. Some wept in the courtroom as Heuermann detailed his crimes. This is what resolution looks like when it comes too late and still isn’t enough. Heuermann’s ex-wife Asa Ellerup sat in the last row with their daughter Victoria. Asa told reporters her thoughts and prayers are with the victims. Victoria has previously stated publicly that she believes her father most likely committed the killings. A wrongful death lawsuit has been filed against all three of them by the son of Valerie Mack. On Hidden Killers Live With Tony Brueski & Robin Dreeke, defense attorney and former prosecutor Eric Faddis and Robin Dreeke sit down for a panel discussion on what this plea means — legally, behaviorally, and for every family connected to this case. What the defense gained. What the prosecution traded. What the FBI cooperation opens up. And why his attorney chose the word “relief” to describe a man admitting to killing eight women. 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 #GilgoBeachKiller #GuiltyPlea #GilgoBeachVictims #KarenVergata #AsaEllerup #EricFaddis #HiddenKillersLive #Justice

    20 min
  2. Rex Heuermann's Alleged Phone Trail: Melissa Barthelemy and Gilgo Beach

    11H AGO

    Rex Heuermann's Alleged Phone Trail: Melissa Barthelemy and Gilgo Beach

    The cellphone evidence in Melissa Barthelemy's case maps Rex Heuermann's alleged movements with precision. Prosecutors say the burner phone she'd connected with traveled from Massapequa Park to Midtown Manhattan on the day she disappeared — mirroring Heuermann's daily commute. Hours later, Melissa's own phone traveled the reverse route — from Manhattan back toward Long Island. And then, for five weeks, someone used Melissa's phone to call her 15-year-old sister, taunting her with details of the killing. Under three minutes per call. From crowded Manhattan locations. Emotionally flat. Calculated. Episode 5 of "The Seven." Melissa was 24, from Buffalo, living in the Bronx, working escort ads on Craigslist because the cosmetology career she'd trained for hadn't taken off yet. She was four feet ten, 95 pounds. She had eight cats. Her landlady described her as a sweet girl. Her remains were the first found in December 2010 — discovered by a cadaver dog during a training exercise along Ocean Parkway. Prosecutors allege Heuermann's internet searches included more than 200 queries about the Gilgo investigation and images of the victims' families. The phone trail, the taunting calls, the DNA, the search history, and Melissa's full story — all covered here. 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. #MelissaBarthelemy #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #GilgoFour #LISK #CellPhoneEvidence #TauntingCalls #TheSeven #TrueCrime #GilgoBeachKiller

    14 min
  3. Rex Heuermann's Burner Phones and Maureen Brainard-Barnes: Gilgo Evidence

    19H AGO

    Rex Heuermann's Burner Phones and Maureen Brainard-Barnes: Gilgo Evidence

    Maureen Brainard-Barnes was the first of the Gilgo Four to disappear — July 2007. Three days later, her phone was used in Suffolk County along the Long Island Expressway. Prosecutors allege Rex Heuermann checked her voicemail after she was gone. Burner phone data from the phone that contacted Maureen traced back to "the box" — a tight cluster of cell towers surrounding Heuermann's Massapequa Park home. Every burner phone connected to the Gilgo Four pinged from that same area. Episode 4 of "The Seven." Maureen was 25, a mother of two, facing eviction, about to lose custody. She took the train from Connecticut to work as an escort in Midtown Manhattan because the money was the only thing standing between her and losing her children. At 11:43 p.m. on July 9, she called a friend and said she was going to meet a client. Nobody heard from her again for more than three years — until her remains were found in December 2010, wrapped in burlap on Ocean Parkway, alongside the other Gilgo Four victims. DNA on a leather belt used to bind her remains matched Heuermann's wife's profile. The belt also bore the initials "WH" — matching Heuermann's grandfather, William Heuermann. The cellphone evidence, the DNA, the family's fight for justice, and Maureen's full story — all covered here. 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. #MaureenBrainardBarnes #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #GilgoFour #LISK #BurnerPhone #DNAEvidence #TheSeven #TrueCrime #GilgoBeachKiller

    14 min
  4. Asa Ellerup: Inside the Mind of a Killer's Ex-Wife

    1D AGO

    Asa Ellerup: Inside the Mind of a Killer's Ex-Wife

    She built her life around him. He allegedly built something else entirely. Rex Heuermann is charged with the murders of seven women along Long Island's Gilgo Beach corridor — killings that reportedly spanned from 1993 to 2010. He is expected to enter a guilty plea, according to multiple reports. If accepted, he faces life without parole. But for the people who lived inside that house, the legal outcome is only the beginning. Asa Ellerup shared nearly three decades with Heuermann. She has said she would have known if something was wrong. Prosecutors allege he was methodical — allegedly timing the crimes for when his family was away, maintaining violent content and detailed checklists on his devices. Her own hair was reportedly found on victims. And yet she has maintained he isn't capable of what he's accused of. Their daughter Victoria has publicly said the opposite — that she believes her father most likely committed the killings. That split is where this conversation lives. Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott joins me to unpack how a person's entire psychological identity can be anchored to someone who, according to prosecutors, was hiding a monstrous second life. How does the brain protect itself from a truth it cannot survive? How are partners allegedly selected for their vulnerability? What does it look like when the wall finally breaks? If you've been following this case and asking yourself how someone doesn't know — this is the episode that answers that question. The answer is more unsettling than most people are ready for. 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 #AsaEllerup #GilgoBeach #LISK #GilgoBeachKiller #VictoriaHeuermann #SerialKillerFamily #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #LongIslandMurders

    23 min
  5. Heuermann's Guilty Plea Means No Trial for the Families

    1D AGO

    Heuermann's Guilty Plea Means No Trial for the Families

    They were bracing for a trial. The mothers, the sisters, the children of the women Rex Heuermann is charged with killing — they were preparing to sit in that courtroom and hear every piece of evidence laid out publicly. To watch the prosecution present the DNA, the cellphone records, the alleged murder blueprint recovered from his computer. To see a jury decide. Now, reportedly, that's gone. Heuermann is expected to plead guilty to seven murders after nearly three years of maintaining his innocence. His defense challenged the DNA twice. They fought to separate the cases. They filed a 178-page motion for every form of legal relief available. Every challenge was denied. Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta examines what those systematic denials mean for the attorney-client conversation that leads to a plea, and what this moment costs the families who wanted — and arguably deserved — a full public accounting. Melissa Barthelemy. Maureen Brainard-Barnes. Amber Lynn Costello. Sandra Costilla. Valerie Mack. Jessica Taylor. Megan Waterman. They disappeared between 1993 and 2010. A guilty plea gives their families an admission. It also takes away the trial. Motta breaks down whether that exchange is justice — or just an ending. 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 #GilgoBeachKiller #LISK #GuiltyPlea #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers #GilgoFour #SerialKiller #VictimJustice

    18 min
  6. Rex Heuermann's Laptop and Jessica Taylor: Gilgo Evidence Revealed

    1D AGO

    Rex Heuermann's Laptop and Jessica Taylor: Gilgo Evidence Revealed

    The planning document changed this case. Prosecutors say a digital file recovered from Rex Heuermann's basement laptop contained all-caps checklists for committing murder — organized by phase, with notes on sleep, evidence cleanup, alibi preparation, and what prosecutors believe are references to violence against victims. Jessica Taylor's case is where that document hits hardest, because the forensic evidence from her body allegedly aligns with what was written in it. Episode 3 of "The Seven." Jessica was 20, working in Midtown Manhattan near Port Authority — the same neighborhood as Heuermann's office. Her torso was found in Manorville in 2003. Her head and hands were found alongside the Gilgo Four in 2011. A hair on a surgical drape under her body matched Heuermann's DNA. The tool marks on her bones matched those on Valerie Mack. The garbage bags at both scenes matched in color, seal, and construction. This episode connects the forensic dots between the Manorville and Gilgo Beach dump sites — and lays out what prosecutors describe as a method that was practiced, documented, and refined over years. Jessica's life, the evidence, and the full prosecution case — all covered here. 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. #JessicaTaylor #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #PlanningDocument #LISK #DNAEvidence #Manorville #TheSeven #TrueCrime #GilgoBeachKiller

    17 min
  7. Rex Heuermann's Alleged Souvenirs: Valerie Mack and Gilgo Beach

    2D AGO

    Rex Heuermann's Alleged Souvenirs: Valerie Mack and Gilgo Beach

    Prosecutors say Rex Heuermann kept newspaper clippings about his alleged victims — including a 2003 New York Post article about Valerie Mack's remains. They describe these as "souvenirs" and "mementos." They also say the planning document from his laptop included instructions to "remove head and hands" — matching exactly what was done to Valerie's body. And a female hair found on her remains matched the DNA profiles of Heuermann's wife and daughter, who was a toddler at the time of Valerie's death. Episode 2 of "The Seven." Valerie Mack spent twenty years as Jane Doe Number Six. Nobody reported her missing. She was 24, a mother, adopted, working as an escort in Philadelphia. Her dismembered torso was found in Manorville in 2000. More remains surfaced along Ocean Parkway in 2011. Genetic genealogy identified her in 2020. Heuermann was charged with her murder in late 2024. The DNA, the souvenirs, the matching dismemberment patterns between Valerie and Jessica Taylor, the forensic anthropology connecting tool marks on both victims' bones, and who Valerie was before all of this — the foster care, the adoption, the son she left behind, the family that waited decades for answers. All of it covered here. 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. #ValerieMack #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #LISK #DNAEvidence #ColdCase #GilgoBeachKiller #TheSeven #TrueCrime #LongIslandSerialKiller

    17 min

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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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