Gilgo Beach serial killings
The Gilgo Beach serial killings were a series of killings between 1996 and 2011 in which the remains of 11 people were found in Gilgo Beach, located on the South Shore of Long Island, New York, United States. Most of the known victims were sex workers who advertised on Craigslist. The perpetrator in the case is known as the Long Island Serial Killer.
| Gilgo Beach serial killings | |
|---|---|
Exit for Robert Moses Causeway on the Ocean Parkway, near where the first body was found | |
| Location | Gilgo Beach, South Shore of Long Island, New York, U.S. |
| Date | 1996–2011 |
Reward amount | $25,000 |
Capture status | Suspect in custody |
Attack type | Serial killing, murder of sex workers |
| Victims | 10–11 |
| Charges | First-degree murder (3 counts)
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The victims' remains were found over a period of months in 2010 and 2011 after the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert resulted in a police search of the area along the Ocean Parkway, near the remote beach towns of Gilgo and Oak Beach in Suffolk County. The remains of four victims designated "The Gilgo Four" were found within a quarter of a mile of each other near Gilgo Beach in December 2010. Six more sets of remains were found in March and April 2011 in Suffolk and Nassau counties. Police believe the latter sets of remains predate the four bodies found in December 2010.
Gilbert's remains were found a year after the remains of "The Gilgo Four" were discovered. Her cause of death remains contested with police claiming accidental drowning while an independent autopsy determined possible strangulation.
In July 2023, Rex Heuermann, a resident of Massapequa Park on Long Island, was arrested in Midtown Manhattan and charged in the murders of three of "the Gilgo Four" victims: Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Costello. He was also named as the prime suspect in the murder of the fourth of the "Gilgo Four", Maureen Brainard-Barnes. In January 2024, Heuermann was charged with the murder of Brainard-Barnes.