Gilgo Beach killer updates: Presser on suspect Rex Heuermann’s family set to reveal new evidence

Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann was arraigned on murder charges in the 2003 dismemberment death of 20-year-old Jessica Taylor and the 1993 death of 28-year-old Sandra Costilla.

The new charges come after authorities found a damning document in which he discussed his crimes in “excruciating detail.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney revealed that Heuermann kept a “blueprint” of his crimes on a hard drive in his basement of his Massapequa Park home which was recently searched for a second time.

Tierney said Gilgo Beach Task Force believes “this planning document that was used by Heuermann to plot out his kills with excruciating detail.”

Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the shocking charges that came just days after another exhaustive search at his Long Island home.

At Rex Heuermann’s court hearing in April, his estranged wife Asa Ellerup showed up to support her husband after she vowed to give him the “benefit of the doubt” over his alleged involvement in the notorious Gilgo Beach murders.

Ellerup, his wife of two decades and mother of his adult children, was seen arriving at the Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead but gave no answer when asked by reporters why she had decided to turn up.

She was not at the courthouse for his most recent hearing last when he was charged with two additional murders. Her attorney said she was out of the state and would return this week.

In March she released a statement in which she insisted her husband is “not capable of the crimes he is accused of”.

“I will listen to all of the evidence and withhold judgment until the end of trial,” she wrote. “I have given him the benefit of the doubt, as we all deserve.”

Ellerup – who filed for divorce just days after his July 2023 arrest in the high-profile case – has visited Heuermann “several times” and “she doesn’t believe he’s capable of this”.

Ellerup’s attorney said that she also wanted to extend her “heartfelt sympathies” to the victims and their families.

“Nobody deserves to die in that manner,” she said in the statement.

Attorney John Ray, who represents some of Heuermann’s alleged victims, as well as Shannan Gilbert’s family, is holding a press conference today where he is expected to announce new evidence in the case.

The presser will be held at 11:15am at Ray’s office in Miller Place, Suffolk County.

Today’s new charges against suspected Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann significantly expand the timeline of his alleged crimes.

Now, he faces new charges for the 2003 dismemberment death of 20-year-old Jessica Taylor and the 1993 death of 28-year-old Sandra Costilla.

This means Heuermann is now accused of crimes dating back over thirty years.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney says this new timeline “doesn’t change anything” for prosecutors.

“It underscores that which we already knew, that we have an individual who we are alleging meticulously planned and executed six separate murders,” Tierney told reporters on Thursday morning.

Suffolk County, New York District Attorney Ray Tierney said testing of biological samples found on Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla revealed they likely belonged to suspected Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann, leading his office to an indictment this morning.

A male hair was found on Costilla’s body, which a lab revealed likely matched Heuermann or someone with his DNA profile.

“It was 4.347 times 10 to 332nd power more likely to have come from a person genetically identical to Rex Heuermann than from an unrelated individual,” Tierney said of the results. He called it an “astronomically large number.”

A male hair was also found on Taylor’s body. That sample was tested and also found to likely belong to Heuermann or “someone matching the defendant’s DNA profile.”

Tierney said of the match results: “That number is 1.837 times 10 to the 603rd power…That number doesn’t exist, that’s so big.”

Family members of Jessica Taylor, who was murdered and dismembered in 2003 at 20 years old, are speaking out about her death.

“Jessica was a beautiful person,” her cousin Jasmine Robinson said in a statement. “Simple memories such as sitting down to dinner together, drawing pictures, dancing, jump rope, and sleepovers with her and my sister are memories I cherish.”

Rex Heuermann was charged this morning with Taylor’s murder. The Suffolk County District Attorney also charged him with the 1993 death of 28-year-old Sandra Costilla.

“Jessica was my daughter,” her mother Elizabeth Baczkiel said in a statement, read by attorney Gloria Allred to the media.

“She was loving and compassionate and so funny…I miss how she called me ‘mommy’ and ‘mama,’” she continued. “It is a tragedy she never had children. Jessica would have made a great mother.”

“Jessica, my darling daughter, you will never be forgotten. You will always be missed. You will forever be in our hearts.”

Rex Heuermann was charged with two new murders on Thursday morning after prosecutors say they found new evidence on a hard drive.

The bail document released Thursday says prosecutors identified a “planning document” on a hard drive in his basement used to “methodically blueprint” his killings, the Associated Press reports.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said the Gilgo Beach Task Force believes “this planning document that was used by Heuermann to plot out his kills with excruciating detail”

“His motivations, meticulous planning, and clear intent were obvious,” Tierney said. “His intent was nothing short but to murder these victims.”

Attorney John Ray, who represents the victims’ families, said this digital data was essential to the new charges.

“He didn’t think that any of these things that he listed would ever be found because they were buried within his electronic devices that he had erased a long time ago,” Ray told reporters on Thursday morning. “What he didn’t recognize is the sophistication of modern electronic data investigation, and that’s what these things turned around.”

Heuermann was charged this morning with the 2003 dismemberment death of Jessica Taylor, 20, and the 1993 death of Sandra Costilla, 28.