The Gilgo Beach Murders: The Case Against Rex Heuermann cover art

The Gilgo Beach Murders: The Case Against Rex Heuermann

The Gilgo Beach Murders: The Case Against Rex Heuermann

By: True Crime Today
Listen for free

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.

Real Story Media
Politics & Government True Crime
Episodes
  • The One Line in Rex Heuermann’s Plea Deal That Protects Him in Three States
    Jun 28 2026

    Melissa Barthelemy’s sister answered a phone call from the man who had just killed Melissa. He described what he did. That detail emerged during the sentencing of Rex Heuermann — three consecutive life terms, a hundred years, families chanting ogre as officers removed him from the courtroom.

    The sentence is supposed to be the end. But inside the plea deal is a question the families can’t let go of. Heuermann confessed to killing Karen Vergata during a proffer session — a woman he was never charged with. He brought her up himself. He volunteered it for credit. The judge said “eight that we know of.”

    The plea covers New York. Heuermann owned property in South Carolina and Nevada. Both are death penalty states. Women disappeared near those properties. If Heuermann’s cooperation was designed to close the case in the one state that can’t execute him while keeping the other jurisdictions quiet, the families who chanted ogre in that courtroom may not have gotten the full accounting they deserve.

    A look back at the most compelling stories of the week.

    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 #Heuermann #MelissaBarthelemy #KarenVergata #SuffolkCounty #TrueCrime #HiddenKillers

    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 10 mins
  • What Rex Heuermann Wants FROM The FBI
    Jun 25 2026

    Rex Heuermann is sentenced. Life without parole. Eight murders. It’s over. So why would he agree to sit in a room with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and walk them through what he did?

    Former FBI behavioral analyst Robin Dreeke says the answer is simple: information is the only currency Heuermann has left. He’ll use it to stay relevant, to feel important, to maintain some sense of control from inside a cell. He’ll dribble out details and try to manage the flow. The FBI has known this dynamic since Edmund Kemper told Robert Ressler in a California prison that he could rip his head off before the guards arrived. They’ve been navigating killer ego for fifty years.

    The program started in the 1970s when Ressler and John Douglas interviewed thirty-six convicted killers to build the science of criminal profiling. It produced ViCAP, the national violent crime database. It produced the interview techniques that got Samuel Little to confess to ninety-three murders. It produced the six-month cooperation that led Gary Ridgway to the remains of four women nobody had been able to find.

    Now the FBI wants Heuermann. Not for the eight he admitted to — that’s settled. They want to know if there are more. They want to study the first digital-era serial killer who used burner phones, fifty-eight hard drives, and a written planning document to operate for nearly two decades. And they want to check what he says against the document he thought he’d deleted.

    Heuermann thinks the interview is his stage. The FBI has a different use for it.


    Links

    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


    Disclaimer

    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.


    Hashtags

    #GilgoBeach #RexHeuermann #GilgoBeachKiller #FBI #BehavioralAnalysis #LISK #SamuelLittle #GaryRidgway #ColdCase #TrueCrime

    Show More Show Less
    18 mins
  • Asa Ellerup’s Phone Calls With Rex Heuermann Reveal WHAT About Her?!
    Jun 25 2026


    Rex Heuermann is serving life without parole for the Gilgo Beach murders. He confessed to eight killings. Seven happened in the Massapequa Park basement. He admitted it privately to Asa and Victoria before his courtroom plea. He told Victoria the victims were not real people to him.And Asa Ellerup is still talking to him. Still visiting. Still managing the relationship on his terms. The Peacock documentary captured phone calls where Rex directed the family from his cell, insulted Asa and Victoria’s ability to communicate, and still ran the room. And Asa’s response on camera — what she said about those calls and what she will not say to Rex — tells you who this version of Rex actually serves.She was adopted and never bonded with her family. She was assaulted as a teenager. Her first marriage collapsed. Then Rex showed up and built the only stable world she’d ever known. That world is still standing. She just remodeled 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.

    #GilgoBeach #RexHeuermann #AsaEllerup #GilgoBeachKiller #TrueCrime #GilgoBeachCase #TrueCrimePodcast #GilgoBeachMurders #SerialKiller #TrueCrimeCommunity

    Show More Show Less
    19 mins
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No reviews yet