- Rex Heuermann, 62, was sentenced to three life terms without the possibility of parole and an additional 25 years to life each for the murders of seven women between 1993 and 2010
- The murders went unsolved until Heuermann’s arrest in 2023
- Heuermann also admitted in April to killing an eighth woman whose death he was not charged in
Convicted Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann spoke briefly at his sentencing hearing Wednesday, June 17, after the loved ones of his victims condemned him — with one ordering that he look at her while she delivered her victim-impact statement and others calling him a coward.
“There are no words I can say,” Heuermann said in the packed Riverhead, N.Y., courtroom after Judge Timothy Mazzei asked whether he wished to address the court. “The words I would say have no meaning.”
Mazzei then asked Heuermann whether he felt any remorse for what he had done to his eight victims.
“Yes, I am,” Heuermann replied.
The judge said he agreed with Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, who moments earlier told the court: “I have no doubt this defendant is sorry. He is sorry he got caught.”
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“You’re a disgusting and despicable small man,” Mazzei told Heuermann. “If you’re a man at all.”
“And you’re a coward,” the judge added. Mazzei then sentenced Heuermann and ordered court officers to remove him from the courtroom. “Get him out of here,” Mazzei said, which elicited cheers. As Heuermann was led away, some of the victims’ families erupted in applause and chanted “ogre.”
Heuermann, 62, lived in Massapequa Park and worked in Manhattan before his arrest. He pleaded guilty in April to charges that he murdered seven women: Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. He also admitted to killing Karen Vergata in 1996, though he was never charged in her death.
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During her victim impact statement, Barthelemy’s sister, Amanda Funderburg, ordered Heuermann to look at her as she spoke, which prompted him to look up.
Days after Barthelemy disappeared, Funderburg recalled how Heuermann had called and taunted her and described in graphic detail what he had done to her sister. Funderburg was 15 years old at the time.
“I was robbed of my youth, I was robbed of my young adulthood and I still feel robbed today,” she said.
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Funderburg concluded her remarks by acknowledging that several loved ones of other victims who spoke before her had mentioned heaven — but she would not.
“Do me a favor — save me a spot in hell, because I’ll see you there,” she said.
Heuermann kept his head down as most of the victim-impact statements were read. Before his brief remarks, Tierney told the judge that Heuermann was beyond redemption or rehabilitation and that nothing he could say or do could mitigate what he had taken from the victims and their families.
Heuermann admitted in April to strangling all of his victims over a 17-year span beginning in 1993.
He was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole for three counts of first-degree murder and 25 years to life each for each of the four second-degree murder counts.