REX Heuermann, the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer, is reportedly expected to plead guilty to murdering seven women in a sinister move to avoid risk and to control how the case ends, a defense attorney said.
Heuermann and his defense attorney are reportedly working on a plea deal with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office that could see the hulking 62-year-old architect avoid trial, which was slated to begin in September.
Ray Tierney, the Suffolk County district attorney, told reporters on Friday that he’s taking a “wait and see” approach on whether Heuermann will change his plea.
“Nothing is done and so we wait. It’s not my decision and I’m not a party to that decision,” Tierney told reporters at an unrelated news conference.
Heuermann is charged with the murders of seven women, all of whom were sex workers whose remains were found scattered throughout Long Island between 1993 and 2010.
The women have been identified as Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello – the latter four collectively known as the Gilgo Four.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all counts; however, he intends to change his plea at his next court hearing on April 8, according to Newsday.
The details surrounding the reported plea agreement have not been made public and Judge Tim Mazzei, who is presiding over the case, can overrule any deal the defense and prosecutors reach.
Heuermann’s defense attorney, Michael Brown, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The U.S. Sun.
Todd Spodek, a New York-based criminal defense attorney at Spodek Law, believes Heuermann’s reported plea change is a move to “avoid trial risk and control how the case ends.”
Spodek, who is not involved in the case, told The U.S. Sun, “If he pleads guilty, the outcome is straightforward: he’s going to spend the rest of his life in prison.
“In New York, first-degree murder carries life without parole. Even if some counts are resolved as second-degree murder, once you’re dealing with multiple homicide counts, the sentences are structured in a way that makes release a non-issue.
“From a defense standpoint, the value of a plea in a case like this isn’t about shaving years off a sentence, it’s about certainty, avoiding trial risk, and controlling how the case ends.”
Kenneth Belkin, a New York-based criminal defense attorney, suspects Heuermann’s attorneys are considering pleading guilty to avoid consequences at trial.
“On a case like this, he’s obviously taking a plea because if he goes to trial, he’s charged with six murders, they’re about to charge him with a seventh, I believe, and if he goes to trial and he loses, he would be facing sentences of 25 to life on each count to run consecutively, meaning it would be like he’s never getting out of jail,” Belkin told The U.S. Sun.
“He would die in jail. I’m not sure what his attorneys have worked out with the DA’s office. No one does.
“But it must be something to avoid that potential consequence at trial. So, there must have been something enticing him to make a deal.
“What it is, I don’t know, but certainly I don’t expect him to get any sentence less than 25 to life,” added Belkin, who is not involved in the case.
Family members of the victims found near Gilgo Beach were notified of the potential guilty plea, according to Newsday.
Heuermann was arrested on July 13, 2023, outside his office in Midtown Manhattan.
Surveillance footage captured the moment about a half-dozen detectives surrounded the 6-foot-4 Heuermann on a Manhattan street corner.
“What is this about?” Heuermann asked FBI officials and Suffolk County police officers, before again demanding answers, “What did I do?”, “It’s a mistake,” prosecutors said in court documents.
Investigators matched his DNA from a discarded pizza crust to hair found on a victim.
Prosecutors said authorities uncovered a trove of sadistic evidence at Heuermann’s home in Massapequa in Nassau County on Long Island, including magazine and news clippings of the Gilgo Beach killings, an arsenal of firearms, and digital evidence.
Among the digital evidence recovered by investigators included a disturbing Microsoft Word document, which Heuermann allegedly used to”methodically blueprint and plan out his kills,” prosecutors said.
The document, which was created in 2000 and modified between 2001 and 2002, contained four category sections, underlined with the headings “PROBLEMS,” “SUPPLIES,” “DS,” AND “TFG.”
Prosecutors believe the “DS” heading was an acronym for “dump site.”
The section referenced two separate “dump sites” connected to Valerie Mack’s murder, one being Mill Road, which was listed as “DS-1, Mill Rd,” the indictment read.
“As detailed previously, ‘TRG’ appears to be a reference to target or victim,” the document read.
“It is important to note that, at the time of Ms. Mack’s disappearance and murder, she was approximately 5’0′ tall and weighed less than 110 pounds, fitting the ‘SMALL IS GOOD’ note in the HK Planning Document regarding the type of victims targeted by the Defendant.
“The ‘SUPPLIES’ section also includes notes to utilize ‘ROPE/CORD’ and
‘BAGS/TAPE,’ each of which were recovered with the remains of the victim.”
A separate file with a list of bullet points under the section “BODY PREP” included a note to “remove ID marks and tattoos.”
“Recently, the Gilgo Homicide Task Force interviewed several witnesses, who confirmed Valerie Mack had a tattoo on her foot/ankle, which depicted her son’s name,” the indictment said.
“The examination of the victim’s body in 2000 revealed no tattoos on the victim’s left foot/ankle.
“Accordingly, the Gilgo Homicide Task Force members believe Ms. Mack’s tattoo, of her son’s name, was on her right foot/ankle.”
Belkin, the New York-based criminal defense attorney, believes the discovery of Heuermann’s alleged planning document hampered his defense.
“At the beginning, when he was charged, I thought there might have been a path to some reasonable doubt that maybe he was just some poor schlub that happened to have had relations with some of the same prostitutes who were murdered,” Belkin told The U.S. Sun.
Source :https://www.the-sun.com/news/16147413/gilgo-beach-killer-rex-heuermann-plea-change-expert/