In 2010, the search for Shannan Gilbert, a 24-year-old aspiring actress from New Jersey, led authorities to the remains of 10 other people along Long Island's Gilgo Beach.
Almost 13 years later, police arrested architect Rex Heuermann, 59, in three of the deaths: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
More on the Gilgo Beach murders
- A decade later, an arrest is made
- What we know about Rex Heuermann, identified as the Gilgo Beach murders suspect.
- The mother of a Gilgo Beach victim says suspected serial killer should "suffer at the hands of other inmates."
He pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder in court Friday. His defense attorney said a tearful Heuermann declared, "I didn't do this."
The charges are the latest development in a case that has confounded detectives for over a decade.
May 2010: The search for Shannan Gilbert
Shannan Gilbert vanished on Long Island’s South Shore on May 1, 2010.
In May 2022, Suffolk County police released 911 audio related to Gilbert’s disappearance. The sex worker initially called 911 from inside the home of a client in Oak Beach shortly before 5 a.m. May 1, 2010.
"There is somebody after me," she told the dispatcher multiple times. “Somebody’s after me — please,” she said.
Gilbert didn’t give her location but said she was on Long Island. At times during the call, she was heard speaking to her driver and security, Michael Pak, saying “Please, get me out of here, Mike.”
During the search for Gilbert, authorities found the remains of four other women.
Gilbert’s remains were discovered in December 2011 in a marsh not far from where she was last seen.
Dec. 11, 2010: The remains of Melissa Barthelemy are found
On Dec. 11, 2010, human remains were found by a police officer and his police dog during a training exercise, according to court documents. They were later determined to belong to Melissa Barthelemy, 24.
Dec. 13, 2010: The remains of three others are found
Two days after Barthelemy was found, Suffolk County police found three more sets of human remains within a quarter-mile of the first discovery, according to court documents.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello were identified as the victims.
The cause of death of all four women was determined to be homicidal violence.
The victims' bodies were found not far from one another and about 22 to 33 feet from the edge of the Ocean Parkway. Authorities said they ranged in age from 22 to 27, were sex workers and described as petite.
Heuermann has been charged in connection with the deaths of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello.
March 29, 2011: The remains of Jessica Taylor are found
Some of the bodies found on Gilgo Beach were partial, and the rest were found in a wooded area of Manorville, Long Island, years before the search for Shannan Gilbert.
Jessica Taylor was one of those. Taylor’s skeletal remains were found in Manorville on July 26, 2003 — but additional remains were found along Ocean Parkway on March 29, 2011, during the search for Gilbert, police said.
April 4, 2011: The remains of Valerie Mack are found
The remains of Valerie Mack, 24, who was last working in Philadelphia, were found in Manorville and Gilgo Beach years apart, according to police.
Partial skeletal remains were found in Manorville in September 2000, the same year she went missing. On April 4, 2011, her dismembered remains were found on Gilgo Beach.
She was known as “Jane Doe #6” until May 2020, when investigators used genetic genealogy to identify her. She had last been seen by her family in Port Republic, New Jersey, in 2000.
April 4, 2011: The remains of a toddler are found
That same day, investigators found the remains of a child, believed to be around 2 years old, who is still unidentified. The remains were found along Ocean Parkway near where Mack's remains were found, police said.
April 4, 2011: The remains of an Asian male are found
On April 4, 2011, the remains of an unidentified Asian male were found along Ocean Parkway. He was estimated to be between 17 and 23 when he died, which authorities believe was likely 5 to 10 years before the discovery.
He is listed as a victim on a police website containing information about the Gilgo Beach cases.
April 11, 2011: Two more bodies are found
Two sets of remains were found off Ocean Parkway about 7 miles from Gilgo Beach.
One person has not been identified and is known as “Jane Doe 7,” according to the police website about the cases.
The second set is believed to be those of the mother of the toddler whose remains had previously been found.
Jan. 16, 2020: Police release new evidence, announce website
In an effort to generate leads, Suffolk County police released new information about evidence and said a website would be launched, Gilgo News, to help advance the case.
The revelations included details about a belt with the initials “WH or HM” that police believed the then-unknown suspect handled at one of the crime scenes.
Feb. 15, 2022: Police create task force
The Gilgo Homicide Investigation Task Force included state and federal agencies.
Heuermann is believed to have searched the Internet between March 2022 and June 2023 about serial killers, how police investigate them, and also for information about the task force, according to court documents.
March 14, 2022: Pickup registration led to Heuermann investigation
As part of a renewed investigation, officials discovered a first-generation Chevy Avalanche was registered to Heuermann at the time of the murders, according to court documents.
"This was significant, because a witness to the disappearance of Amber Costello identified a first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche as the vehicle believed to have been driven by her killer," prosecutors wrote in opposing any bail for Heuermann after his arrest.
The discovery of the Avalanche, a pickup, led to a "comprehensive investigation" of Heuermann, with more than 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other ways to get or process evidence, prosecutors wrote in court documents.
Billing records connected Heuermann to cell site locations where "burner phones" were used to arrange meetings, according to the document.
The records allegedly show Heuermann was in the same location as the burner cellphones used to contact Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello.
In one case on July 10, 2009, records show the burner phone and Heuermann’s phone were in the same location and traveled together from Massapequa to New York City, prosecutors wrote.
Then, both Barthelemy’s phone and Heuermann’s phone traveled eastbound toward Massapequa, according to the court document filed by prosecutors.
July 10, 2009, was the last day Barthelemy was seen alive, according to prosecutors.
Feb. 24: Hair analysis allegedly shows links
In July 2022, a Suffolk County police detective took 11 bottles from the trash outside Heuermann's home for testing.
On Feb. 24, a forensic lab concluded that a hair found on Waterman's remains matched the DNA from the bottle, according to court documents.
That is believed to have been from Heuermann's wife, prosecutors wrote. His wife was out of New York at the times of the murders, according to the document.
A hair from Costello's remains was tested and also was a match for the DNA on a bottle, it says. Prosecutors wrote that means it's likely the burlap, tape, vehicles or other things used in the killings came from his home, or was transferred to them from his clothes.
July 13: Heuermann is arrested
Suffolk County police officers arrest Heuermann at his home on the evening of July 13. Searches are ongoing, officials said.
July 14: Indictment announced
A grand jury indicted Heuermann in connection with the deaths of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said July 14.
Tierney said the investigation into Brainard-Barnes is ongoing.
He said that after the bodies were found in December 2010, the cases went cold.
“And then there was nothing, absolutely nothing,” he said. “For the next 13 years, their cases went unsolved — until today.”
Tierney said Friday that "this case is not over, it's only beginning," and that more search warrants would be sought.
CORRECTION (July 17, 2023, 2:44 p.m. ET): A previous version of this article misstated when Valerie Mack was identified. It was in May 2020, not May 2022.
