Who are "Gilgo four" murder victims? Identity explored amid Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann’s arrest

An architect, who has been identified as Rex Heuermann, was arrested after being accused of being involved in the infamous Gilgo Beach murders. The victims have been identified as Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, and Megan Waterman. The bodies of the four girls were discovered close to each other in 2010.

The Gilgo Beach murders grabbed attention a decade ago when the remains were discovered along a beach highway in New York. Around thirteen years after discovering the victims’ remains, authorities captured Rex Heuermann. He has currently been charged with murder in connection to the death of the girls around a decade back. According to neighbors, the suspect has been described as a “quiet businessman” and a “regular family man.”

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Rex Heuermann has been arrested in connection to the horrific deaths of at least ten people around a decade ago

The Gilgo Beach murders gained attention when cops discovered the bodies of at least ten individuals over a decade ago. Till now, they have identified the identities of five victims only. Around 13 years later, Rex Heuermann was taken into custody. The first victim has been identified as 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who was reported missing in June 2007 while working as an escort in New York City.

Apart from her, 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy went missing in July 2009. Just a few weeks later, Melissa’s sister received frightening phone calls from a man. According to cops, the man who called her possibly killed Melissa Barthelemy. In September 2010, 27-year-old Amber Costello vanished after she left her residence in Long Island to meet a client.

In 2010, Megan Waterman was last seen leaving a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge. The same year, cops discovered the bodies of the victims across a New York highway. The mystery of the unsolved murders was the primary plot of the 2020 Netflix film Lost Girls. Authorities further confirmed that most of the bodies belonged to women who were working as s*x workers.

That year, 24-year-old s*x worker Shannan Gilbert also went missing, following which the search for her led to exposure of a bigger mystery. Gilbert disappeared shortly after she left a client’s residence, which was located in the seafront community of Oak Beach.

A few months later, when cops were looking for Gilbert’s remains, they came across the body of a different woman. Shortly after that, cops discovered the remains of three other women. By 2011, cops ended up discovering the remains of ten individuals, amongst which eight were females.

Now, almost thirteen years later, Rex Heuermann was charged with the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello on Friday, July 14, 2023. However, he was not charged with the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. The four victims came to be known as the “Gilgo Four” since their remains were discovered within a quarter mile of each other.

The victims’ families have expressed a sense of relief after Rex Heuermann was arrested the other day. According to John Ray, an attorney representing Shannon Gilbert’s family,

“We breathe a great sigh of relief. Finally, something has been done and finally, someone has been caught.”

On Friday, Rex Heuermann was charged with six counts of murder in the horrific murders of the three women.