New York-based architect Rex Heuermann, who is the prime suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders, was on Tuesday (Dec 17) charged in the death of a seventh woman, American media reported.
Heuermann, 61, is charged with killing six other women whose remains were found on Long Island. He has pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
A report by the news agency Associated Press said that Heuermann was charged in the death of 24-year-old Valerie Mack, whose remains were first found on Long Island in 2000.
Heuermann pleads not guilty to killing Mack
The Associated Press report said that Heuermann pleaded not guilty to killing Mack.
Some of Mack’s skeletal remains were initially discovered in Manorville, New York; authorities found more of her remains about 80 kilometres west, in Gilgo Beach, more than 10 years later. They were unidentified until genetic testing revealed her identity in 2020.
In court papers, prosecutors said on Tuesday that human hair found with Mack’s remains was sent for testing earlier this year and found to be a likely match with the genetic profile of Heuermann’s daughter.
His daughter has not been accused of any wrongdoing and would have been 3 or 4 years old when Mack died.
The Gilgo Beach murders
The investigation into the case dates back to 2010, when police searching for a missing woman found 10 sets of human remains in the scrub along a barrier island parkway.
Over the years, investigators used DNA analysis and other clues to identify the victims, many of whom were sex workers.
Heuermann, who lived with his wife and two children in Massapequa Park on Long Island and commuted to a Manhattan architecture office, was arrested on July 13 last year. At that point, he was charged with murdering Barthelemy, Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello.
Earlier in 2024, he was charged in the deaths of three other women — Brainard-Barnes, Taylor and Sandra Costilla.
(With inputs from agencies)