(NEW YORK) — Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann has been charged with two additional murders and is now accused of killing six women dating as far back as 1993, according to a court document unsealed Thursday.
Heuermann is accused of the 2003 murder of Jessica Taylor, whose remains were found on Long Island in Gilgo Beach and in Manorville, and accused of the 1993 murder of Sandra Costilla, whose remains were found in North Sea, Long Island, in 1993, according to court documents.
These developments significantly expand the timeline in the Gilgo Beach case.
Taylor, who was a sex worker like the other victims, was decapitated and her arms were severed from her torso, officials said. Her skull, hands and forearm were discovered along Ocean Parkway, just east of Gilgo Beach, near the spot where the remains of other victims were discovered, according to officials.
Investigators linked Heuermann to Taylor’s death in part through DNA from hair recovered from a surgical drape that had been underneath her body, according to a newly unsealed court document.
Investigators also said phone records established that Heuermann’s wife and children were out of town when Taylor was killed, “which would have allowed Defendant Heuermann unfettered time to execute his plans for Ms. Taylor, which included the decapitation, dismemberment, and transportation of her remains, without any fear that his family would uncover or learn of his involvement in these crimes,” court documents said.
DNA also linked Heuermann to Costilla, prosecutors said.
“Pornographic images accessed by Heuermann … notably and largely coincide with how” the remains of Taylor and Costilla were found, according to court documents.
Heuermann, an architect and father, was arrested in July and initially charged with murdering three escorts: Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy. He was charged in January with the murder of a fourth escort, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
The remains of all four women were found in 2010 in desolate spots along the ocean near Gilgo Beach. Six additional sets of remains were also found in the area.
Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the four murders.
Investigators searched Heuermann’s Long Island home as recently as May. Authorities also searched a wooded area in Manorville on Long Island in April as part of the investigation, according to law enforcement sources.
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