The suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer charged with the murders of six women on New York’s Long Island was charged Tuesday with the murder of his seventh alleged victim.
Valerie Mack, 24, is the latest murder victim linked to Rex Heuerman.
Mack, of New Jersey, was known as “Jane Doe No. 6” for 20 years. Her torso was found in the woods in Manorville in November 2000, and the rest of her body, found 11 years later near Gilgo Beach, has since been identified. DNA of 2020.
Mack’s body was found on Gilgo Beach alongside the bodies of other women Heuerman, 61, allegedly targeted. Heuerman has been arrested and imprisoned since July 2023, awaiting trial.
Heuerman had pleaded not guilty to previous charges when he appeared in court Tuesday on charges related to Mack’s death.
“I am not guilty of any of these charges,” he said.
Local District Attorney Ray Tierney said at a news conference with Mack’s parents that the victims’ relatives and “the lives of these women matter most.”
“Our investigators understand that,” Tierney said. “No one understands that more than family.”
DNA tests linked the woman’s hair found on Mack’s body to Heuerman’s wife and daughter, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said a mitochondrial DNA test on hair found near Mack’s left wrist ruled out 99.65 percent of the North American population. Not excluded were Heuerman’s daughter, who was between 3 and 4 years old at the time of Mack’s murder, and his wife, Asa Ellerup.
Outside court, Ms. Heuerman’s lawyer, Michael Brown, challenged evidence presented in connection with Ms. Mack’s death, saying hair samples taken from her body were recovered more than a year ago. pointed out. She said the DNA technology used to link her client to her and other victims in the New York case was never deemed reliable.
He also claims that Tierney’s office has not yet produced evidence that the victim’s DNA was found in Heuerman’s home, including many weapons and tools seized in a recent search of the property. did.
“There’s something a little strange about these allegations,” Brown said. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
Prosecutors said Mack’s chest was severed and her body tied with rope in a manner similar to the pornographic images on Heuerman’s electronic devices at the time of her murder.
Prosecutors also said a purported planning document found on his device listed “foamy drain cleaner” among the items prosecutors believed he was looking for to cover up the alleged murder. said.
Investigators also recovered a collection of physical copies of magazine and newspaper articles about the killings, including copies of Newsday, the New York Post, People and New York magazine, which Heuerman kept in his Long Island home. said.
Prosecutors say six of Heuerman’s seven alleged victims are linked to him or his family through DNA evidence.
In addition to the mutilation, prosecutors said “two consecutive ragged defects” found on Mack’s chest were created after her death. Prosecutors suspect the alleged serial killer also removed a tattoo of her son’s name on Mack’s left ankle.
Mr. Heuerman became a suspect in Mack’s murder in June. Documents uncovered by prosecutors revealed that Heuerman referred to Manorville, near the gun club where he belonged, as a possible “dump site.”
Mack was last seen by his family in October 2000. She was a sex worker, along with six other victims (Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard Barnes, Jessica Taylor, and Sandra Costilla).
The bodies of four of the women were found unharmed along Gilgo Beach on southern Long Island. However, the remaining two had body parts separated at Gilgo Beach, Manorville and the North Sea. Investigators have long believed the deaths were related.
Heuerman, a New York architect, was initially charged with the murders of Waterman, Barthelemy and Costello, who were killed between 2009 and 2010. He was later charged with the murders of Taylor in 2003 and Costilla in 1993.
Prosecutors also named Heuerman as a suspect in the deaths of Karen Vergata, whose bodies were found in separate locations in 2011 and 1996, but she has not been charged in her death.
