Liliana Waterman, daughter of Megan Waterman, a victim of Rex Heuermann, spoke to the media outside the Arthur M. Cromarty Criminal Court Complex alongside other family members on June 17, 2026, in Riverhead, New York. The families of eight women killed by Heuermann addressed the court at the Gilgo Beach killer's sentencing on Wednesday, more than three decades after the 62-year-old Manhattan architect began his killing spree.
Heuermann pleaded guilty to murdering seven women and admitted to killing an eighth victim in April. Just before being sentenced to life in prison without parole on Wednesday, he offered a weak, generalized apology. "Everything that has been said is true," he said. "There are no words I can say. The words I would say have no meaning."
Judge Timothy Mazzei exploded in response, calling the serial killer a "disgusting and pathetic, small man, if you are a man at all. You are a coward." Those sentiments were echoed in statements by family members. Kimberly Overstreet, sister of victim Amber Costello, called Heuermann "a raging, murdering sex addict."
Liliana Waterman, who was three when her mother was killed, recalled learning about what happened: "I came across an article about her. That was the moment I truly understood what happened. I remember asking what 'prostitute' and 'pimp' meant." Waterman said her heart had been broken and "for years I tried to find a place where I felt like I belonged." Her aunt, Elizabeth Meserve, told the serial killer: "Begone, you evil demon."
Jasmine Robinson, a cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, told Heuermann: "You fill me with so much repugnance, I can't stand it." "A million years isn't enough," Robinson said of the sentence. "Nothing will ever make this right." JoAnn Mack, mother of victim Valerie Mack, said: "Justice has been done, but it can't replace what has been taken. She had dreams, and you took them all away from her."
Maureen Brainard-Barnes' two children and sister were also in court. Her sister, Melissa Cann, said she has lived with "survivor's guilt" for decades. "It was a weight I carried everywhere," Cann said, sobbing deeply. But she added that guilt is "not mine to carry. It is for Rex and Rex alone."
As sentencing concluded, Judge Mazzei said: "Alright, get him out of here." The courtroom then erupted in chants of "ogre, ogre" and rounds of applause. Earlier, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told the court that Heuermann was continuing to profit from and control his ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, through her participation in a recent documentary. "He has sought to enrich and manipulate from behind bars," Tierney said, adding: "Eight young women were needlessly and brutally murdered at the hand of this defendant." He described the effect on victims' families as "overwhelming" and said their suffering "will never end." "This defendant is incapable of rehabilitation," he continued.
Tierney slammed Heuermann for calling Amanda Funderburg, sister of victim Melissa Barthelemy, with Barthelemy's phone to taunt her. Funderburg described the call in which Heuermann told her what he had done to her sister. In one of the most powerful moments, Funderburg demanded that Heuermann, seated mere feet away and looking down, look at her while she spoke. "I hope you suffer in the way my sister suffered," she said. "Save a spot in hell, I'll see you there."
Outside court, John Ray, attorney for the family of Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance led to the discovery of the Gilgo Four, said the victim impact statements were "extraordinarily well done." "They had the impact on us that they should have had," he said. "But they have absolutely no impact on him, as he himself admitted. They had no effect on him whatsoever." Ray also said Heuermann "very likely murdered in other states," citing "credible evidence" from women who had come forward. "He was very much into stalking. That was one of his hobbies. He stalked women in Florida, Virginia, Philadelphia and possibly Anchorage, Alaska. These are people who survived him but there may have been people he killed there too."
The sentencing concludes an investigation that began in 2011 when four sets of remains were discovered along Long Island's South Shore, later known as the Gilgo Four. Remains had previously been found in the area, leading to fears of a serial killer. All of Heuermann's victims were sex workers, and for years, Suffolk police faced accusations of carelessness, bureaucratic incompetence, and corruption for failing to identify a suspect. A change in police leadership led to a taskforce in 2022, and the FBI was brought in. Within months, Heuermann was connected to a dark Chevrolet Avalanche spotted at the time of Amber Costello's disappearance—vehicle information that had been in police files all along. DNA and cellphone records shored up investigators' identification, and he was arrested on a Manhattan street in 2023. Heuermann remained largely silent throughout the judicial process. In April, when he pleaded guilty to seven charged murders and confessed to an eighth, he said only that he used "strangulation" on all his victims: Barthelemy, Mack, Taylor, Waterman, Costello, Brainard-Barnes, Costilla, and Vergata.
