Rex Heuermann Sentenced To Consecutive Life Terms For Gilgo Beach Killings

Life Terms for Heuermann

Rex Heuermann, the Gilgo Beach serial killer, was sentenced on Wednesday to consecutive life sentences in prison after he admitted killing eight women and was ordered removed from the courtroom by Judge Timothy Mazzei.

At the hearing in Riverhead, Long Island, Heuermann, 62, faced victim-impact statements from relatives including Jasmine Robinson, who said, "I can't even put into words the eviscerating hatred I have for you," and Violet Swager, who remembered Jessica Taylor as "fierce, kind, compassionate, beautiful and intelligent."

Prosecutors said Heuermann targeted sex workers, strangled them and dumped their bodies near Long Island's Gilgo Beach over the course of 17 years, and in April he pleaded guilty to killing seven women including Jessica Taylor, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla.

ABC7 New York reported that when Heuermann indicated he wished to make a statement, the judge demanded, "Stand up!" and Heuermann replied, "There are no words I can say. The words I would say have no meaning and I'm going to leave it there."

The sentencing came after Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told reporters that his "greatest wish for this case" is for the victims' families to enjoy "great lives" and to heal and go on.

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Families Confront the Killer

Relatives confronted Heuermann in court with statements that included Jasmine Robinson saying, "A million years isn't enough," and Heuermann telling them, "I am responsible" for the crimes.

AP reported that Judge Timothy Mazzei asked whether Heuermann was sorry, and Heuermann nodded and appeared to mouth "yes" as the courtroom heard victim-impact testimony from family members including JoAnn Mack.

In the ABC News account, Heuermann responded to Mazzei's question about whether he was "at least a little bit sorry for that" with "Yes I am," and the judge then told officers to "get him outta here!" after pronouncing consecutive life sentences.

NBC News described Melissa Cann breaking down as she said her sibling was "not just murdered. She was the victim of a predator, a serial killer so evil, it has been unbearable," and Amanda Funderburg calling Heuermann an "ogre," a "repulsive monster" and a "demon inside and out."

After the statements, the courtroom erupted in chants of "ogre, ogre" and rounds of applause as Heuermann was cuffed and led out, while Tierney said the families' work would let them heal and move forward.

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What Comes Next

The sentence capped a case that prosecutors said involved evidence including cellphone location data and DNA recovered from victims' remains, and ABC7 New York said Heuermann pleaded guilty in April to seven murders while admitting to an eighth woman, Karen Vergata, though he was not formally charged in her death. NBC News and BBC both described the maximum terms as three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole plus additional 25 years-to-life sentences running consecutively, with BBC stating the judge sent Heuermann to prison for rest of life and ordered "Get him out of here." AP reported that Heuermann told the court, "The words I would say would have no meaning," and that the sentencing capped an investigation that solved a case that had become the focus of true-crime documentaries, books and podcasts after police began discovering victims' skeletal remains along a coastal parkway.

Fox News reported that Keith Jesperson, the "Happy Face" serial killer, warned that Heuermann could face prison violence, and said Jesperson wrote that the problem was "his size — he thinks prison will be a cake walk because of how big his ego is." Beyond the courtroom, Newsday reported that Heuermann's attorney Michael Brown said he does not know if his client is genuinely sorry, while Tierney said the question of whether Heuermann killed other people besides the eight acknowledged victims was irrelevant, and BBC said the murders took place between 1993 and 2010.

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