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By Monica Sager and Jenna Sundel
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Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney is holding a press conference now following the two new murder charges for Rex Heuermann.
The alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer, is now charged two additional murders on Thursday: that of both Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor.
"The investigation continues," Tierney said. "That investigation has been expanded, both to the bodies that have been found on Gilgo and beyond. That has come into fruition today with these two new charges."
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Newsweek reporter Jenna Sundel is livestreaming the press conference on Instagram.
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The 60-year-old was first arrested in July 2023 for the deaths of four women whose remains were found in burlap sacks along the Ocean Parkway in New York over a decade ago.
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Heuermann already faces charges in connection to the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello and Maureen Brainard-Barnes - also known as "The Gilgo Four."
"The families have been nothing short of incredible," Tierney said. "The way that they continue to support each other and their loved ones is inspiring to us."
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The new cases
Jessica Taylor, 20, was a sex worker near the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City.
Taylor spoke last to her mother July 21, according to Tierney during a press conference on Thursday. Less than two hours later, she made her last outcall.
Tierney said Taylor's family notified the police that she was missing on July 25 when she did not show up for her mother's birthday.
Taylor's remains were found in July 2003 in the wooded area of Manorville, where Heuermann's Massapequa Park home is located. A woman walking her dog found Taylor's nude body just off of Halsey Manor Road and the Long Island Expressway. Taylor's body was decapitated, her hands and arms were obliterated, according to Tierney on Thursday.
Eight years later, on March 2011, more of Taylor's remains, including her skull, hands and forearm, were found on Gilgo Beach.
"They were found less than a mile away from the Gilgo four," Tierney said. "All of the remains were found less than 50 feet away from the roadway."
Photos as well as phone and financial records show that Heuermann's family were out of state during the time of Taylor's murder. They were in Virigina from July 20 to 27 that year, according to Tierney.
Two hunters discovered 28-year-old Costilla's body in a wooded area in North Sea, Southampton, on Nov. 21, 1993.
She had been strangled to death and left partially clothed. Her remains were in the woods for several days prior to being discovered.
Authorities identified Costilla by using her fingerprints, which had been entered into the system after she was arrested for jumping over a subway turnstile in 1992.
Tierney said at the press conference that Costilla's body had "numerous," 25 in total, "sharp force injuries" to various areas of her body. He believes they all occurred postmortem.
The Suffolk County Police Department recovered numerous items from Heuermann's home and business, including:
- 15 different types of cameras
- 27 computers
- Over 30 hard drives
- 46 cell phones
- 9 routers
- 17 tablets
- 42 usb devices
- 8 laptops
- 15 hotel cards
- 4 GPS
- 36 Sim cards
- 640 CD floppy discs and tapes
Detectives discovered on one of the laptops a Microsoft Word document called "HK2002-04," which seems to be Heuermann's "planning document." The document was recovered March 7, Tierney said in the press conference.
"It was originally written in 2000 and overwritten a number of times," Tierney said. "The task force believes that this is a planning document that was used by Heuermann to methodically plan his kills with excruciating detail.
"This was a significant investigative finding," Tierney said.
The methodology in the document is identical to the ways the six victims were allegedly killed by Heuermann.
"His intent was specifically to locate his victims, to hunt them down, to bring them under his control and to kill his victims," Tierney said Thursday. "His intent was nothing short to murder his victims."
Other victim names were mentioned in the court documents, but no charges beyond Taylor and Costilla were brought forward Thursday.
"We're going to continue to investigate," Tierney said.
Who is Rex Heuermann?
Heuermann graduated from the same local high school as actor Billy Baldwin who tweeted after the news broke about his 1981 classmate's arrest, describing it as "mind-boggling."
After getting a bachelor's degree from the New York Institute of Technology, Heuermann started his architecture firm RH Consultants in 1994. He did most of his architectural work in New York City, according to a company biography and the firm's website.
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Police have found Heuermann owned a book of other serial killers, authored by John Douglas, according to court records obtained by Newsweek.
Heuermann is currently being held at the Riverhead Correctional Facility in Suffolk County, about 50 miles from his home.
With the additional two murders, Tierney is asking for Heuermann's life incarceration to remain without bail.
Suffolk County Sheriff Dr. Errol Toulon Jr. said Heuermann busies himself with reading books, reading his discovery, watching TV and sleeping, according to an Oxygen article.
He has been separated from other inmates "for his safety," according to the article. Toulon called him "very compliant."
The next court date for this case will be July 30.
Check back for updates on this breaking news story.
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