Rex Heuermann, the man charged with seven of the Gilgo Beach murders that gripped Long Island, New York, is expected to plead guilty next month, according to a source.
He’s expected to enter the guilty plea in the serial killings April 8, according to a source familiar with the matter. Court records show an appearance scheduled for that day.
Two sources close to the case also confirmed the expected plea to NBC New York’s Greg Cergol. It was first reported by Newsday.
Heuermann, an architect who was married at the time with children, was arrested in July 2023, initially charged with three counts of first-degree murder. He now stands accused of killing seven women.
He was arrested as police were investigating the deaths of at least 10 people, most of them female sex workers, whose remains were found during searches in 2010 and 2011 along Long Island’s Gilgo Beach. Police do not believe all those deaths are linked to the same person.
Heuermann had maintained his innocence and previously pleaded not guilty.
His trial was set to begin in September. NBC News has reached out to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office for comment.
An attorney for Heuermann did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Heuermann was initially charged in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, who had been reported missing in 2009; Megan Waterman, 22, who disappeared in 2010; and Amber Costello, 27, who also was reported missing in 2010.
In 2024, he was charged killing four more women: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who went missing in 2007; Jessica Taylor, 20, who disappeared in July 2003; Sandra Costilla, 28, whose remains were found in a wooded area in Southampton in 1993; and Valerie Mack, 24, who disappeared in 2000.
His arrest at the time shocked his quiet village of Massapequa Park in Nassau County. He was known as a family man who commuted to work in Manhattan as an architect.
The bodies discovered near Gilgo Beach had long haunted the community. Those cases had gone cold after years of investigation, but in 2022 a joint law enforcement review focused on a Chevrolet Avalanche registered to Heuermann, which was flagged during Costello’s disappearance from a witness’ tip.
Authorities said cellphone evidence and DNA taken from a discarded pizza crust was used to build their case against Heuermann.
In September, a Suffolk County judge ruled that DNA evidence can be used in the trial, a move the defense sought to block.
