A chronology of the investigation into the Gilgo Beach murders

Starting in 2010, police searching for a missing woman found ten human remains in the brush along a park road on a barrier island not far from the sands of remote Gilgo Beach in New York. Police almost immediately feared that some of them had been left behind by a serial killer.

Over the years, investigators used DNA analysis and other clues to identify the victims, in some cases linking them to remains found elsewhere on Long Island years earlier. Investigators concluded that an eleventh person found dead – the original target of their missing person search – drowned accidentally.

Prosecutors have charged Long Island architect Rex Heuermann with quadruple murder, but most of the killings remain unsolved.

Here is a timeline of the investigation:

April 20, 1996: The partial remains of Karen Vergata are discovered on Fire Island, a beach off the south shore of Long Island. Her name remains unknown to investigators until 2022, when new DNA analysis helps them make an identification. Vergata, 34, last had contact with her family on February 14, 1996. At the time of her disappearance, she was working as a prostitute.

June 28, 1997: The remains of a woman named “Peaches” by investigators after a tattoo on her body are found in a plastic tub at a state park in West Hempstead, New York. Her identity remains unknown.

September 2000: The partial skeletal remains of Valerie Mack, who worked as an escort in Philadelphia, are found in a wooded area in Manorville, New York. Mack, 24, was last seen by her family in Port Republic, New Jersey, in the spring or summer of that year.

July 26, 2003: The skeletal remains of Jessica Taylor are discovered in a wooded area of ​​Manorville. She was 20 years old when she disappeared and worked as an escort in New York City.

July 9, 2007: A friend last hears from Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who had traveled from her home in Norwich, Connecticut, to New York City to work as a sex worker. She says she is leaving her hotel to meet a client. Investigators later say cell phone records show her phone was last used on Long Island.

July 10, 2009: Melissa Barthelemy, a 24-year-old sex worker, is last seen in her Bronx apartment. She tells a friend she is going to meet a man and will be back in the morning. Her cell phone location data shows her last known location was on Long Island.

July 17, 2009: A man begins using Barthelemy’s cell phone to taunt her relatives. Further calls occur on July 23, August 5, August 19, and August 26. In one of them, a man claims he killed her.

May 1, 2010: Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker, disappears on the barrier island of Oak Beach, New York, after escaping a client’s home and banging on a neighbor’s door. In a recorded 911 call, she tells a dispatcher that people are after her, but is also heard refusing offers of help. Her pimp, the client and his neighbor tell police she appeared disoriented and ran off into the night alone.

June 6, 2010: Megan Waterman, 22, who had traveled from Maine to Long Island for sex work, is last seen at a motel in Hauppauge, New York.

September 2, 2010: Amber Lynn Costello, 27, is last seen leaving her West Babylon home to meet a sex client. A male friend later tells investigators he noticed a Chevrolet Avalanche believed to be driven by the client.

December 11, 2010: A police officer and his dog discover Barthelemy’s remains during a training exercise on Ocean Parkway.

December 13, 2010: Police find the bodies of Costello, Brainard-Barnes and Waterman on the same quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway where Barthelemy’s remains were found.

December 14, 2010: Suffolk County Police Chief Richard Dormer publicly announces the discovery of the bodies and says a serial killer may be behind them. Police are expanding the search to look for more remains or traces of Gilbert.

March 29, 2011: Some of Taylor’s remains are discovered on Ocean Parkway.

April 4, 2011: More remains of Valerie Mack are found along Ocean Parkway. Near these remains, investigators also find the remains of an unidentified female toddler, later identified through DNA as the daughter of “Peaches.” Elsewhere on the parkway, investigators discover the remains of an Asian male. Investigators estimate he died 5-10 years earlier and was in his late teens or early 20s. He still has not been identified.

April 11, 2011: More of Vergata’s remains are discovered along Ocean Parkway, several miles west of Gilgo Beach. Police also find remains of “Peaches” along Beach Parkway.

December 13, 2011: Gilbert’s skeletal remains are discovered in a tidal marsh near Oak Beach. After an autopsy and further investigation, Suffolk Police believe she most likely drowned accidentally. Her family still suspects she was murdered. An expert hired by the family said it was possible her death was homicide.

January 2022: The Suffolk County District Attorney appoints a new task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach murders.

July 13, 2023: Investigators arrest Heuermann and charge him with the murders of Costello, Waterman, and Barthelemy. They also believe he killed Brainard-Barnes, but do not initially file charges in her murder.

January 16, 2024: Heuermann is charged in Brainard-Barnes’ death. Prosecutors say a hair found on her body is genetically similar to a DNA sample from Heuermann’s wife.

Late April 2024: Police conduct another multi-day search of a wooded area in Manorville where Taylor and Mack’s remains were discovered over a decade ago.

May 20, 2024: Investigators start a new search of Heuermann’s house. It lasts almost a week.

June 6, 2024: Prosecutors plan to announce a “significant development” in the investigation.