Disturbing new details have been revealed in the Gilgo Beach serial murders case, as suspect Rex Heuermann was charged Thursday with the murders of two additional women, bringing the total number of alleged killings to six.
Heuermann was charged Thursday with the 2003 murder of Jessica Taylor, whose remains were found on Long Island in Gilgo Beach and Manorville, and accused of the 1993 murder of Sandra Costilla, whose remains were found in the North Sea, on Long Island in 1993. according to court documents.
Investigators said they recovered a planning document from one of 350 electronic devices recovered from Heuermann’s Long Island home, containing a checklist of things to do in order to package a body for transport, avoiding leave traces of DNA and other steps. There were notes indicating actions to take “next time,” i.e. consider a blow to the face or neck “NEXT TIME” or use the heaviest rope for the neck, documents show judicial.
Court documents show he also allegedly had a “post-event” checklist, which appeared to be a “checklist of tasks following the ‘event’ or homicide to avoid apprehension, c ‘i.e….’BURN THE GLOVES’, ‘THROW OUT PICTURES’ taken of the victim, and ‘GET A STORY’ (e.g. alibi, story for family upon return, or forces of order, if an investigation is carried out).”
These developments significantly extend the timeline of the Gilgo Beach case, with the first murder Heuermann is accused of occurring in 1993.
Taylor was a sex worker in Midtown Manhattan, in the same neighborhood where Heuermann worked, and records showed Heuermann was in Midtown the day Taylor disappeared, according to court documents.
Taylor was decapitated and her arms were severed from her torso, officials said. Some of Taylor’s remains were found in 2003, but his head, hands and forearm were not found until March 2011, when they were discovered on the same side of the road as four of the others Heuermann’s alleged victims had been found a few months earlier in December. .2010, according to court documents.
Investigators linked Heuermann to Taylor’s death in part through DNA from hair recovered from a surgical drape that was under her body, according to a recently unsealed court document.
Investigators also said phone records established that Heuermann’s wife and children were out of town when Taylor was killed, “which would have given defendant Heuermann unlimited time to carry out his plans for Ms. Taylor, which included the decapitation, dismemberment and transportation of his remains, without any fear that his family would discover or learn of his involvement in these crimes,” court documents state.
Prosecutors also noted that “Heuermann accessed a Newsday article titled ‘Cops Seek Help Identifying Manorville Body,’ Regarding Discovery of Ms. Taylor’s Human Remains,” according to court documents.
DNA also linked Heuermann to Costilla, 28, whose body was found in a wooded area of the North Sea on Long Island in November 1993, prosecutors said.
“The pornographic images viewed by Heuermann… notably and largely coincide with the manner in which” the remains of Taylor and Costilla were found, according to court documents.
Heuermann, an architect and father, was arrested in July and initially charged with the murder of three escorts: Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy. He was charged in January with the murder of a fourth escort, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
The remains of the four women were found in 2010 in desolate locations along the ocean near Gilgo Beach. Six other sets of remains were also discovered in the area.
Heuermann had already pleaded not guilty to the four murders.
Heuermann appeared in court Thursday and his defense lawyer said he was also pleading not guilty to the two new murder charges.
He was remanded in custody without bail and is expected to return to court on July 30.
Investigators searched Heuermann’s Long Island home as recently as May. Authorities also searched a wooded area in Manorville on Long Island in April as part of the investigation, according to law enforcement.