Rex Heuermann Pleads Guilty in Gilgo Beach Murders

Overview

• Heuermann, who pleaded guilty Wednesday, April 8, admitted killing eight women, entering seven murder pleas and confessing to an additional homicide in court.
• He will be sentenced in June to life in prison without parole, a schedule that relatives and his lawyer said avoids a painful public trial.
• Heuermann told the court he strangled every victim and dismembered some, with most remains found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach and others recovered on Fire Island and in the Hamptons.
• Detectives tied him to the case using DNA from a discarded pizza crust in Manhattan that matched evidence on a victim, along with burner-phone records, cell-site data, a witness-linked pickup truck, and internet searches for violent content.
• The plea requires full cooperation with the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit for a research exercise that authorities say could improve understanding of how serial offenders operate.