Gilgo Beach serial killings

Gilgo Beach serial killings
Exit for Robert Moses Causeway on the Ocean Parkway, near where the first body was found
Date	1993–2011
Reward amount	$25,000
Capture status	Suspect in custody
Attack type	Serial killing, murder of sex workers
Victims	11+
Charges	First-degree murder (3 counts) Second-degree murder (6 counts; three lesser included offenses and three individual charges)[1]

The Gilgo Beach serial killings were a series of murders spanning from the early 1990s until 2011. Many of the victims' remains were found over a period of months in 2010 and 2011 during a police search of the area along Ocean Parkway, near the remote beach town of Gilgo in Suffolk County, New York. The search was prompted by the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, who, like many of the known victims, was an escort who advertised on Craigslist. The perpetrator in the case is known as the Long Island Serial Killer, the Manorville Butcher, or the Craigslist Ripper.

The remains of four victims designated "The Gilgo Four" were found within a quarter of a mile of each other near Gilgo Beach in December 2010. Six more sets of remains were found in March and April 2011 in Suffolk and Nassau counties.^[2][3][4] Police believe the latter sets of remains predate the four bodies found in December 2010.^[5] Gilbert's remains were found a year after the remains of "The Gilgo Four" were discovered, approximately nine miles from where the 10 sets of remains had been found. Authorities believe Gilbert became lost in the marsh land and died either from exposure or accidental drowning.

As of June 6, 2024, Rex Heuermann, a Manhattan architect and resident of Massapequa Park on Long Island, has been charged in the murders of six women: each of "the Gilgo Four" victims, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, as well as Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla.^[6] According to his indictment, Heuermann is under investigation for the 2000 death of Valerie Mack.