Police charged the man who is accused of the Gilgo Beach killings with the murder of a seventh woman.
Rex Heuermann was charged in the death of Valerie Mack, The Associated Press said. Mack was an escort, working in Philadelphia and last seen in 2000 in New Jersey.
A hunter’s dog found her decapitated body in Manorville, New York, in 2000, ABC News reported. Her body was tied up with rope, inside a duct-taped black plastic bag. Her hands and one leg had been cut off. Additional remains were found near Gilgo Beach more than a decade later.
Those remains had been unidentified until genetic testing determined they were Mack’s in 2020, the AP reported.
A human hair found on the remains was sent for testing and they came back as a likely match to Heuermann’s daughter, who would have been three or four when Mack was killed. Heuermann’s daughter is not a suspect.
Investigators also connected Heuermann to Mack through the 350 electronic devices that showed “significant collection of violent, bondage and torture pornography” that dated to 1994. The images showed the similar bondage techniques found on Mack’s body, officials said, according to ABC News.
Plans attributed to Heuermann listed supplies, notes to remove certain body parts and an alleged dump site where Mack’s remains were found.
Heuermann was charged with a count of second-degree murder in Mack’s death.
He was first charged in July 2023 with the deaths of four women whose remains were found on Gilgo Beach in 2010. Two more charges were added in June 2024, CNN reported.
He pleaded not guilty to all of the murders of the women whose remains were found from 1993 to 2010, ABC News reported.
At least 11 sets of remains were found in the area since 2010, CNN reported.
Previous coverage:
- Gilgo Beach murders: Man charged with killing 3 women in Long Island serial killings (July 14, 2023)
- Wife of Gilgo Beach murders suspect files for divorce (July 20, 2023)
- Gilgo Beach murders: Another victim identified (Aug. 3, 2023)
- Gilgo Beach murders: Rex Heuermann charged in death of 4th woman (Jan. 16, 2024)
- Gilgo Beach murders: ‘Evil exists in this world,’ victim’s sister says (Jan. 17, 2024)
- Gilgo Beach murder suspect charged in deaths of 2 more women (June 6, 2024)