Riverhead, NY – Suspected Long Island serial killer Rex Scheuermann was back in New York court Thursday charged with killing two other women.
Scheuermann was indicted on two new murder charges in the deaths of Jessica Taylor in July 2003 and Sandra Costilla in November 1993.
Authorities also revealed in court records that during the course of the investigation they discovered a document on Scheuermann’s computer that they believe was a “planning document” that he used to “methodically develop blueprints and ‘plan’ His ‘Kill'” which includes some sections on things to remember, questions, supplies, preparations, dumps, and goals.
Last year, police arrested the 59-year-old New York architect in connection with three unsolved murders, and months later prosecutors charged a fourth victim. He appeared briefly in court Thursday wearing a suit and handcuffs and is expected to return on July 30.
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Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Scheuermann, center, in a courtroom at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead on Thursday, June 6, 2024. (James Carbon/Newsday)
The Gilgo Beach murders remained unsolved for more than a decade. And the scope of cases is expanding.
A task force of state and local investigators pieced together evidence that led them to the Ogre suspect: eyewitness descriptions of his green Chevy Avalanche, records from numerous burner phones, crime scene DNA and discarded pizza peels.
On July 26, 2003, Taylor’s body was found in Manorville, Suffolk County. Her head had been decapitated, her arms had been severed, and her tattoos had been destroyed. Her other remains were found March 29, 2011, along Ocean Boulevard east of Gilgo Beach, near where the remains of other Gilgo victims were found.
On November 20, 1993, Costilla’s body was found in a wooded area in Southampton.
An evidence photo shows Rex Hoylman keeping a personal copy of “The Cases That Haunt Us,” a book detailing several famous serial murders, in his home office. According to court documents, the book was discovered when authorities executed an initial search warrant in July 2023. (Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office)
Police arrested Heuermann outside his Manhattan office in July 2023 and spent nearly two weeks searching his Massapequa Park home, 24 years after police found 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy. The bodies were found about 20 minutes away; Megan Waterman, 22; and Amber Costello, 27, in 2010.
Prosecutors later filed murder charges against 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose remains were found next to the bodies of others.
The “Gilgo Four” clockwise from upper left: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. The background shows a wooden cross in a marsh next to Gilgo Beach, New York, where their remains were found in brush just yards away from Ocean Parkway. (Suffolk County Police/Mega for Fox News Digital)
The women are collectively known as the “Gilgo Four” because they were found in close proximity and in similar circumstances.
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On December 13, 2011, Shannan Gilbert’s body was found near Oak Beach, New York. (Shannan Gilbert’s family)
Another woman, Shannan Gilbert, disappeared into the night after panicking 911 for help, and police later found their bodies in brush along Ocean Parkway.
Police found seven more bodies heading east along the highway. Most of the deaths remain under investigation. Gilbert was the last in 2011.
John Ray, an attorney for the Gilbert and Taylor families, said after Thursday’s court appearance that Scheuermann’s notes mentioned Stockholm Syndrome, suggesting he kept his alleged victims locked up for an unknown amount of time.
“How long he kept them alive is the big question,” Ray said.
Ray said he had evidence linking Heuermann to Gilbert and he didn’t think anything listed in the planning documents would be discovered.
Michael Brown, right, attorney for Rex Heuermann, arrives in court on Thursday, June 6, 2024, in Riverhead, New York. He is accused in the deaths of two other women and leaving their bodies near Gilgo Beach on Long Island. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Police said in 2020 that Gilbert’s death appeared to be an accidental drowning, although her official cause of death has not been determined and a private autopsy conducted by Dr. Michael Baden found evidence of “homicidal strangulation.”
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An evidence photo shows phone records from Rex Heuermann’s Massapequa Park address to a Vermont address his family visited in July 2003. (Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office)
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Another victim of the Long Island homicides was Valerie Mack, who was dismembered and abandoned.
More of her remains were found near Gilgo’s victims.
Jessica Taylor (left) and Valerie Mack (right) were both murdered and dismembered. Suffolk County police discovered the partial remains of each victim along Ocean Drive near Manorville and Gilgo Beach, New York. (Suffolk County Police Department/Handout)
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K-9 units conducted a search warrant in Manorville in April and then served a second search warrant on Scheuermann’s house in May.
The prime suspect in Costilla’s death was previously another serial killer, former Manorville carpenter John Bittrolff, who is currently in prison for two other murders.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney arrives at the Riverhead Municipal Court on Thursday, June 6, 2024. women and left their bodies near Gilgo Beach, Long Island. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
If Scheuermann was responsible for any of the deaths in the East, his alleged massacre may have begun decades earlier than previously known.
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Hoylman has pleaded not guilty to murder charges in connection with the Gilgo Four.
