Rex Heuermann, the architect convicted in the killings of eight women, was sentenced Wednesday to multiple terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Heuermann, 62, admitted in April to strangling eight women and leaving their remains in remote areas of Long Island between 1993 and 2010, which have been dubbed the Gilgo Beach killings. The plea deal carried a guaranteed sentence of three consecutive life terms, which were imposed in a Riverhead, New York, courthouse.
Four of the victims’ remains were discovered in 2010 along a secluded stretch of Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach, a case that came to be known as the “Gilgo Four.” Prosecutors said Heuermann also confessed to killing four additional women whose remains were later linked to him.
Heuermann, who had maintained his innocence since his 2023 arrest, abruptly pleaded guilty in April, a move his attorney, Michael J. Brown, said was intended in part to spare the victims’ families and his own from the ordeal of a lengthy trial.
During Wednesday’s sentencing, family members of the victims delivered emotional statements about their loss.
“What you have done to our family is beyond what words can express,” said JoAnn Mack, adoptive mother of Valerie Mack, who disappeared in 2000.
When given the opportunity to speak, Heuermann told the court, “There are no words I can say. The words I would say have no meaning.” Asked directly whether he was sorry, he replied, “Yes, I am.”
Suffolk County Judge Timothy Mazzei condemned Heuermann before issuing the sentence.
“You are a disgusting, despicable, and small man, and you are a coward,” the judge said, ordering the life terms to be served concurrently without parole.
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“Get him out of here,” Mazzei added as spectators cheered in the courtroom.
Heuermann, who lived in Massapequa Park, a middle-class suburb about an hour east of Manhattan, was arrested in 2023 after investigators linked him to the killings using a range of forensic and digital evidence, including DNA recovered from a discarded pizza crust found in a Manhattan trash can.