The Massapequa Park man who killed eight women from 1993 to 2010 will spend the rest of his days behind bars. Judge Timothy Mazzei sentenced 62-year-old Rex Heuermann to life in prison without the chance of parole on the top charge.
Heuermann was arrested in July 2023, and eventually charged with seven murders between 1993 and 2011: Sandra Costilla, Amber Lynn Costello, Jessica Taylor, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Valerie Mack and Megan Waterman.
He initially pleaded “not guilty” to killing the women, whose remains were found scattered around Long Island, before changing his plea to guilty in April, 2026. At that time, he admitted to an eighth murder: Karen Vergata.
On Wednesday, family members of six of his victims delivered emotional impact statements to Heuermann.
“Even when justice is done, it cannot replace what you have taken from us," said Joanne Mack, the adoptive mother of Valerie Mack. “She had hopes and she had dreams and you took it all away from her."
A member of the district attorney’s office read a statement from Mack’s son, Benjamin “Aaron” Torres: “The amount of pain and loss you have caused in my life is indescribable.”
Nicolette Brainard-Barnes was seven years old when her mother, Maureen Brainard-Barnes of Norwich, CT was killed. She said Maureen was more than a sex worker, and told Heuermann the women he targeted were not “disposable.”
She said her mom was funny, loved music and wrote poetry. “You make me sick, and I don’t forgive you,” she said.
This is a developing story.
