Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann thought women ‘were his to destroy,’ victim’s sister says at sentencing

The sister of one of Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann’s victims lashed out at him in court Wednesday, saying he believed women were “his to destroy” and accusing him of lacking any remorse for his horrific crimes.

“He is a selfish, entitled man who felt like my sister and the others were his to destroy,” Danielle Mack said at the start of Heuermann’s sentencing in Riverhead, New York, according to CNN.

Victim Valerie Mack’s sister also said Heuermann, 62, didn’t “have the humanity to feel remorse.”

Heuermann, wearing a black suit, light blue shirt and yellow tie, looked down with his hands in his lap as Danielle Mack spoke.

The scene played out during a series of victim impact statements before Judge Timothy Mazzei sentenced Heuermann to life in prison without parole for murdering Valerie Mack and six other women: Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla.

Heuermann —who strangled his victims and dismembered some before dumping their remains along Ocean Parkway near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach — also admitted killing an eighth woman, Karen Vergata, during his grisly crime spree from 1993 to 2010, despite not having been charged in her slaying.

Heuermann chose not to speak in court but agreed as part of his guilty plea to cooperate with criminal profilers in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit to help authorities identify and arrest other serial killers.

In a statement read by Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, Valerie Mack’s son, Benjamin “Aaron” Torres, said there was “no possible excuse” for Heuermann’s “evil and selfishness.”

“You will reap what you have sown. No one is exempt from that universal truth,” the statement added.

Many of Heuermann’s victims were sex workers and Danielle Mack acknowledged her sister’s “struggles” but said Valerie Mack “had a fire inside of her that lit up the world around her.”

Adoptive mother JoAnn Mack also told Heuermann in court: “You can never give back what you took from her and her son. You took away a lifetime for him of his mother’s love.”

“She had hopes, and she had dreams, and you took it all away from her,” JoAnn Mack said before warning Heuerman, “Unless you get yourself right before God, Valerie is the one who is free today, and you are not.”

The families of seven victims told prosecutors they wanted to make statements either in person or in writing before Mazzei imposed Heuermann’s sentence.

Heuermann worked as architect in New York City and was a married father of two before authorities revived a stalled investigation and arrested him in July 2023, citing cellphone records and DNA evidence from a pizza crust he tossed in a trash can near his Manhattan office.

During Wednesday’s court proceeding, the sister of victim Melissa Barthelemy was midway through her statement when she stopped to scold Heuermann for avoiding eye contact with her.

“You can look at me while I’m talking,” Amanda Funderburg snapped.

The remark prompted Heuermann to briefly glance at her before turning away and staring straight ahead.

Funderburg said her sister’s slaying caused her to suffer ongoing anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and she described having stared at her phone as a teen while fearfully awaiting another call from her older sister’s killer.

Funderburg and other members of her family received a series of calls from Barthelemy’s cellphone after the 24-year-old disappeared in 2009, with a male voice taunting them and ultimately admitting that he’d killed her.

In court, Funderburg said she agreed with news reports that called Heuermann an “ogre” because “that’s truly what you are.”

“I hope you suffer to the fullest extent,” she said.

Dyllan Haggett, son of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, said he was only 1 when she was killed, leaving him without any memories of her.

“I never had her when I needed her,” Haggett said. “She never got to see who I have become.”

Daughter Nicolette Brainard-Barnes also said she “was shaped as much by my mother’s absence” as her presence, adding, “I will never be someone who can relax because I had such fear at such a young age.”

Nicolette Brainard-Barnes said that “like every sex worker, my mom was an entire human being” who was “deeply loved and cannot be replaced.”

“She loved, she struggled, she mattered. And she deserved the chance to keep living,” her daughter added.

Elizabeth Meserve, aunt of victim Megan Waterman, said Heuermann “not only took Megan’s hopes and dreams, he also shattered our family,” and she took note of his hulking, 6-foot4-inch height and weight, which was reportedly 240 pounds when he was arrested.

News reports have said he’s apparently put on even more weight since then.

“When you compare his size to these smaller victims, it’s clear: He was not a fearsome predator, but rather a cowardly opportunist,” Meserve said. “Begone, cowardly demon.”

Jasmine Robinson, a cousin of Jessica Taylor, told Heuermann that “you fill me with so much repugnance it’s suffocating,” and another cousin, Violet Swager, noted that Taylor would have turned 43 on Wednesday.

“I’m so grateful for this day of justice and I know she is, too,” Swager said. “Happy birthday, Jess.”

In written statements read in court, Kimberly Overstreet said that although sister Amber Costello “was a sinner, she was forgiven,” and Ruth Ramos, sister of Sandra Costilla, said that “it brings our families peace knowing the person responsible for our everlasting pain can never harm anyone else.”

Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, divorced him after his arrest and didn’t attend his sentencing, with her lawyer releasing a statement last week that said she “believes this day should be centered on the victims, their families, and the profound impact these crimes have had on their lives."