Gilgo Beach murders - update: Police identify victim Karen Vergata but won’t comment on Rex Heuermann link

Updates on the Gilgo Beach serial killer case after Long Island police give press conference revealing identity of Fire Island Jane Doe following Rex Heuermann’s arrest

Search of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer’s home ends

The Gilgo Beach murders victim previously known only as Jane Doe 7 has finally been identified more than 26 years after her partial remains were first discovered along the Long Island shores.

In a press conference on Friday, Long Island officials announced that they had identified the victim as Karen Vergata, a 34-year-old who was last seen alive in Manhattan in 1996 while working as an escort.

Police refused to take any questions and would not comment on whether or not they believe her disappearance and murder may be linked to serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann.

This comes as prosecutors have asked the court to obtain a swab of DNA from Mr Heuermann and as his wife broke her silence in her first interview since his shock arrest to reveal she is filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” every night over the horror case.

Mr Heuermann, 59, was arrested on 13 July and charged with the murders of Amber Castello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy. He is also the main suspect in Maureen Brainard-Barnes’ killing.

The women all went missing in 2009 and 2010 before their remains were found along Gilgo Beach.

Key Points

• Jane Doe 7 identified as Karen Vergata
• Suspect’s family gets help from Happy Face Killer’s daughter
• Rex Heuermann’s wife breaks silence
• Prosecutors hand over 8 gigabytes of evidence
• ‘Massive amount’ of evidence recovered from Heuermann home

[3 August 2023 19:15 · Rachel Sharp]

Rex Heuermann’s wife says home was left in ruin from search

This week, Rex Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup broke her silence in her first interview since her husband’s arrest where she revealed that she has been left filled with “anxiety” and their two children “cry themselves to sleep” over the horror.

“I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering... anxiety,” she told The New York Post.

“My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they’re not children. They’re grown adults but they’re my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep.”

Rex A Heuermann, the architect accused of murdering at least three women near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, appears in Suffolk County Court on Tuesday

Their daughter Victoria has been left feeling “not human”, with Ms Ellerup’s lawyer Bob Macedonio explaining that the family had been treated “like animals”.

Ms Ellerup spoke out as she said that the family’s home in Massapequa Park had been left in tatters by investigators who spent almost two weeks combing through the property for evidence connected to the murders or for trophies the accused killer took from his victims.

Images show the bathtub with holes cut out and possessions strewn everywhere.

Mr Macedonio told the Post that he is making an itemised list of the damage to send to the DA’s office.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said last week that a “massive amount of evidence” had been recovered from the home which Mr Heuermann grew up in as a child – and which he went on to share with his family up until his sudden arrest.

No human remains were discovered, but a trove of around 270 guns were seized from the home.

The DA previously revealed that they believe at least some of the murders may have taken place inside the home.

[3 August 2023 19:41 · Megan Sheets]

Prosecutors seek Rex Heuermann DNA swab

Prosecutors in the Gilgo Beach murders case have asked the court to obtain a swab of suspect Rex Heuermann’s DNA.

CNN reported on the request on Thursday, two days after Mr Heuermann appeared in court for an evidentiary hearing.

Previous court filings revealed that investigators used discarded pizza crust to link Mr Heuermann to the killings.

Read more about prior evidence:

[3 August 2023 20:15 · Rachel Sharp]

Daughter of Happy Face Serial Killer launches GoFundMe for Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s family

The daughter of the notorious Happy Face Killer has launched a GoFundMe campaign to help the wife of Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann “start her new life”.

Melissa Moore announced her decision to try to help Asa Ellerup as she compared their experiences discovering that a close family member had spent years leading a “double life” as an alleged serial killer.

“Today, I have an opportunity to use my voice to help Asa, who isn’t in a place to speak about the terror and horror she and her family are experiencing at this moment,” she said.

Read the full story:

[3 August 2023 21:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Evidence against Rex Heuermann includes hundreds of hours of footage: prosecutors

The trove of evidence against Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann includes hundreds of hours of footage from his home in Massapequa Park and his office in Midtown Manhattan, according to prosecutors.

The accused killer appeared in court in Suffolk County on Tuesday for a brief preliminary hearing.

In the hearing, prosecutors outlined the wealth of evidence against him including 2,500 pages of documents, crime scene photographs, autopsy reports.

The evidence was turned over to Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei and Mr Heuermann’s attorney Michael Brown. It has been sealed under a protective order, limiting its release to the public.

[3 August 2023 22:15 · Rachel Sharp]

WATCH: Last known movements of Gilgo Beach victim Megan Waterman

[3 August 2023 23:00 · Rachel Sharp]

Who is Rex Heuermann?

His Manhattan business describes him as a registered architect with over 30 years’ experience.

His neighbours describe him as a “family man” living with his wife and two children in a tight-knit community in Suffolk County.

But now authorities are describing him as the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer who unleashed terror along the shores of Long Island more than a decade ago.

So who is Rex Heuermann?

[4 August 2023 01:00 · Rachel Sharp]

PICTURED: Search of Rex Heuermann’s home

Aerial view of the search at the home of suspect Rex Heuermann (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

New York State police officers move a metal cabinet

Authorities remove a picture frame as they search the home of suspect Rex Heuermann (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

Long Island Serial Killings (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

[4 August 2023 02:00 · Rachel Sharp]

How the Gilgo Beach serial killer turned the Long Island shore into a graveyard

For around two decades, the sands and marshes of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach kept a dark secret.

A killer or killers roamed the locality, luring in escorts and sex workers and brutally murdering them.

Body after body was dumped along the shoreline, hidden for months and even years without being discovered.

Then, in 2010, a chilling 911 call made by a woman in fear for her life led police to search the area.

What they discovered was far more horrifying than anyone could have imagined.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp reports:

[4 August 2023 04:00 · Rachel Sharp]

RECAP: The Gilgo Beach serial killer case

The Gilgo Beach murders had long stumped law enforcement officials in Suffolk County who believed it could be the work of one or more serial killers who targeted sex workers and dumped their bodies along the remote beaches on Ocean Parkway.

The case began in May 2010 when Shannan Gilbert vanished after leaving a client’s house on foot near Gilgo Beach.

She called 911 for help saying she feared for her life and was never seen alive again.

During a search for Gilbert in dense thicket close to the beach, police discovered the remains of another woman.

Within a matter of days, the remains of three more victims were found close by.

By spring 2011, the remains of a total of 10 victims had been found including eight women, a man, and a toddler. Police have long thought that it could be the work of one or more serial killers.

Gilbert’s body was then found in December 2011. Her cause of death is widely contested with authorities long claiming that it is not connected to the serial killer or killers but that she died from accidental drowning as she fled from the client’s home.

However, an independent autopsy commissioned by her family ruled that she died by strangulation and her mother believes she was murdered.

Like Gilbert, most of the victims targeted were sex workers, while some are yet to be identified.

[4 August 2023 05:00 · Rachel Sharp]

ICYMI: Long Island police dodge questions about crucial piece of evidence at Rex Heuermann home

Investigators in Long Island have dodged questions about a crucial piece of evidence believed to have been found inside the family home of Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney was grilled in a press conference last Tuesday about the chilling alleged discovery of a mattress inside a huge vault in the basement of his home in Massapequa Park.

The DA repeatedly refused to confirm or deny the existence of the potentially harrowing piece of evidence but did confirm the existence of the walk-in underground vault beneath the property that he shared with his family.

“The vault is big enough to walk into and it’s in the basement,” he said, adding that “like the rest of the house, [the vault] was cluttered”.