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BREAKING: Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Rex Heuermann Pleads Guilty, Admits to Eight Murders - Crime House 24/7 | Wave AI Podcast Notes

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BREAKING: Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Rex Heuermann Pleads Guilty, Admits to Eight Murders

Crime House 24/7

Wed Apr 08 2026

Summary

Crime House 24/7 – BREAKING: Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Rex Heuermann Pleads Guilty, Admits to Eight Murders

Date: April 8, 2026
Host: Vanessa Richardson
Guests/Analysts: Morgan Absher and Kaylin Moore (Clues podcast segment)

Episode Overview

This breaking-news episode delivers a comprehensive update on the Gilgo Beach serial killer case. Rex Heuermann, long suspected in the notorious Long Island murders, has pleaded guilty to seven counts of murder and admitted to an eighth victim. The story unfolds from initial discoveries in 2010 to the ultimate confession, with an especially thorough segment led by true crime sleuths Morgan Absher and Kaylin Moore, who revisit the evidence, missed opportunities, and the human stories behind the headlines.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Courtroom Confession

[00:01–05:09] Vanessa Richardson (Crime House 24/7)
- Rex Heuermann, 62, former architect, pleads guilty to seven murders and admits to an eighth in Suffolk County court, ending over a decade of suspense in the case.
- When asked by the judge if pleading guilty was in his best interest, Heuermann replied, “Yes, Your Honor.” He then confessed to strangling eight women over 17 years and dumping the bodies at Gilgo Beach ([00:56]).
- Victims who received justice today: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainerd Barnes, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Castilla. Heuermann also admitted to killing Karen Vergada.
- He described strangling each victim and disposing of their bodies in a similar manner.
- Notable Quote:
  “Do you feel it is in your best interest to plead guilty rather than go to trial?”
  “Yes, your honor.” — Rex Heuermann ([01:30])
- The plea comes after mounting evidence, including DNA from a pizza crust, extensive digital forensics, and surveillance tying Heuermann to the crime scenes.
- As part of the plea, Heuermann faces life sentences with no possibility of parole and waives his right to appeal. He also agrees to cooperate with the FBI on further open and unidentified cases.
- The families of the victims—many having waited nearly twenty years—were present for the emotional hearing.

2. Case Timeline and Victim Stories

[05:47–43:04] Morgan Absher & Kaylin Moore (Clues podcast)
- Deep dive into the personal stories of the victims, missed opportunities, and recurring failures by law enforcement due to the victims’ marginalized status as sex workers.
- Victim Profiles and Key Investigation Misses
  - Maureen Brainerd Barnes (2007): Single mom from Connecticut, desperate for cash. Disappearance ignored by police after learning she was a sex worker. ([09:18])
  - Melissa Barthelemy (2009): Lured to NYC with promises of business opportunities, coerced into sex work. Family stalked and taunted by the killer — chilling phone calls to her sister Amanda by the perpetrator, “Do you think you’ll ever see her again? … You won’t. I killed her.” ([19:49])
  - Shannon Gilbert (2010): Her panic-driven disappearance led to the discovery of the Gilgo Beach remains. The police minimized her fears and failed to launch a timely search, revealing patterns of institutional neglect ([23:36]).
  - Megan Waterman & Amber Costello (2010): Both sex workers, disappeared after last being seen by suspicious clients; Amber’s roommates provided a distinct profile of the suspect — 6’8”, 350 lbs, “ogre-looking,” driving a green Chevy Avalanche. ([32:12])
- Institutional Failures & Family Persistence
  - Police often dismissed missing persons reports upon learning of sex work, refusing to enter names into databases ([13:04], [37:39]).
  - Families, especially sisters and friends, relentlessly searched for answers and generated many leads that were initially ignored.
- Discovery of the Bodies (2010–2011)
  - Search for Shannon Gilbert uncovers four, then eleven, sets of remains — mostly petite women in their 20s — in varying states of decomposition (wrapped in burlap, bound, etc.).
  - Investigators initially discount a serial killer theory, but mounting evidence and similarities between victims force reconsideration.

3. Missed Clues & Breakthroughs

Key Evidence Overlooked
- Strong physical (height, build), vehicular (Chevy Avalanche), and geographic (Massapequa Park residency) clues were repeatedly given by witnesses but dismissed by police.
- Authorities ignored cell phone triangulation evidence, detailed suspect descriptions, and evidence of consistent MO.
- “How many 6’8” guys in Massapequa Park drive a green Chevy Avalanche?” ([41:43])
- The presence of corrupt police leadership (notably James Burke, who actively hindered the investigation and was later imprisoned for obstruction and assault) delayed progress for years ([51:16–54:47]).
- Quote:
  “It was one trip to the DMV. … That’s all it took to put this together and think about what this person could have been doing in the meantime.” — Kaylin Moore ([56:59])

4. The Turnaround: Modern Forensics & Digital Sleuthing

Breakthrough in 2022
- New Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison forms a task force with the FBI and state police; evidence is finally digitized and cross-referenced.
- Old witness reports, the unique Chevy Avalanche, and cell-phone pings quickly point to Rex Heuermann ([55:31–56:59]).
- Surveillance and DNA analysis (from a discarded pizza crust) yield a match to hair previously found on victims; modern technology now able to process previously unusable evidence ([59:51–61:47]).
- Notable Moment:
  The discovery of hundreds of electronic devices and a blueprint-like document on Heuermann’s computer detailing how to commit and conceal murders ([65:56–67:25]).
- “It’s basically a journal, a manifesto … how Rex planned, prepped, and killed his victims and how to do it more effectively in the future.” — Morgan Absher ([66:24])
- Forensic Finds: 350+ devices, 300 guns, a “blueprint for the killings” (word file), DNA links to multiple victims, incriminating search histories.
- Heuermann’s compulsion to track the case and even listen to podcasts theorizing about his crimes is described as “grandiosity and desire to bask in the glory of his work.”

5. Unanswered Questions and Impact

Status of the Shannon Gilbert Case
- While once discounted as a murder by officials, secondary forensic review indicated probable strangulation (damage to windpipe).
- Ongoing debate about whether she was a victim of Heuermann or a casualty of the dangerous world he helped create.
- Shannon, dubbed the “unintentional hero,” was the catalyst for discovery of all the other victims ([75:52]).
Additional Remains & Possible Victims
- Identification of “Peaches” and her daughter as Tanya Denise Jackson and Tatiana Marie Dykes; unconfirmed connection to Heuermann.
- Authorities expect the true victim count may never be fully known, with fears that Heuermann may be responsible for deaths beyond the known New York cluster (e.g., Las Vegas, New Jersey visits).
Victims’ Families
- Families’ persistence is credited with keeping the cases alive despite decades of dismissal.
- “Whoever you are, whatever path you choose to take in your life, there will always be someone out there who cares.” — Morgan Absher ([78:12])

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

“Yes, your honor.” — Rex Heuermann admitting guilt in court ([01:30])
“He has his eyes locked on Amber … and says to her in a very calm manner, ‘I’ll see ya.’” — Kaylin Moore, describing a chilling encounter ([28:58])
“How pathetic.” — Morgan Absher, on police refusal to enter sex workers into missing persons databases ([38:09])
“Third time they’re telling authorities, like, come on you guys, it’s time. This is what he looked like.” ([45:23])
“That’s all it took: one trip to the DMV.” ([56:59])
“Thank God he didn’t know how hard drives worked. This guy is a monster who was caught far too late.” — Reddit comment read aloud ([68:05])
“There’s hairs. How does his hair get on the body of all those people?” — Discussion on the weight of DNA evidence ([72:10])

Key Case Timeline

2007–2010: Multiple women (mostly sex workers) disappear in Long Island.
2010: Search for missing Shannon Gilbert leads to discovery of 4+ remains at Gilgo Beach.
2011–2015: Additional remains and evidence are unearthed; ineffective police leadership hinders progress.
2022: New task force digitizes evidence & links Chevy Avalanche and DNA to Heuermann.
July 2023: Heuermann arrested after DNA from pizza crust matches evidence.
June 2024: Heuermann linked by DNA to three more victims.
April 2026: Heuermann pleads guilty to seven counts, and admits to an eighth murder, receives consecutive life sentences.

Final Notes

The investigation remains open, with authorities seeking leads on additional victims (“If you have any information … tips can be submitted to 1-800-244-8477 or www.nassaucountycrimestoppers.com.” ([77:45]))
The Clues hosts close by highlighting the deep frustration over systemic failures, the eventual triumph of persistence and modern forensics, and the hope that justice, no matter how delayed, can be achieved.
Press conference scheduled in Brentwood, NY for further public updates.

For Listeners: Where to Learn More

See Crime House’s socials and Clues Podcast Instagram for case visuals ([08:47]).
To connect with the Clue-minati community, share theories, or offer tips, check socials and podcast descriptions.

This episode meticulously documents the tragic failures and belated successes behind the Gilgo Beach murders, the dogged efforts of victim’s families, and the critical importance of forensic technology in achieving justice. Anyone seeking a full understanding of what happened, why it took so long, and what comes next will find both clarity and compassion here.

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Transcript

A (0:01)

Hi, listeners, it's Vanessa Richardson. Real quick, before today's episode, I want to tell you about another show from Crime House that I know you'll love, America's Most Infamous Crimes, hosted by Katie Ring. Each week, Katie takes on one of the most notorious criminal cases in American history. Serial killers who terrorized cities, unsolved mysteries that keep detectives up at night, and investigations that that change the way we think about justice. Listen to and follow America's Most Infamous crimes Tuesday through Thursday on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Breaking news out of Long island this morning, and it is major. Rex Heuerman, the man accused of being the Gilgo beach serial killer, has pleaded guilty to murdering seven women in a Suffolk county courtroom and admitted he killed an eighth woman. He is never getting out of prison. I'm Vanessa Richardson. This is crime house 247 and we are all over this story today. Here's what we know this morning in Riverhead, New York. Before Judge Timothy Mazet, Rex Heuerman, a 62 year old former Manhattan architect, stood in that courtroom in a dark suit, his hands shackled behind his back, and said the word guilty. When the judge asked him directly, do you feel it is in your best interest to plead guilty rather than go to trial? Heuerman answered, yes, your honor. He then, one by one, admitted to strangling eight women over a 17 year period and dumping their bodies near Gilgo beach on Long Island's south shore. The seven women he formally pleaded guilty to killing are Melissa Bartalami, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainerd Barnes, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, and Sandra Castilla. He also admitted to an eighth killing, 34 year old Karen Vergada as part of the plea agreement. Even though he had never been formally charged in her death, the prosecutor asked him point blank, you killed each victim in the same manner, namely strangulation? Heuerman answered, yes. To understand why this moment matters, you have to remember where this case started. It was December 2010 when police searching for a missing woman named Shannon Gilbert began combing the brush along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. What they found instead were the remains of four young women wrapped in burlap, discarded along a remote stretch of Long Island's coast. As the search expanded, the remains of more victims surfaced, 11 in total, scattered across Gilgo Beach, Manorville and Southampton. Though investigators do not believe all 11 were killed by the same person. And then nothing. The cases went cold for over a decade. That changed in 2022 when a newly formed task force identified a Chevrolet Avalanche connected to a witness sighting near one of the disappearances and traced it to Rex Heuerman, a respected architect. Massapequa park investigators placed him under surveillance. They recovered a pizza crust he had thrown away and used it to develop a DNA profile that linked him to the victims. His phone records placed him near the scenes. And when they searched his home after his July 2023 arrest, they found what prosecutors called a blueprint for the killings, detailed checklists on his computer outlining how to commit and conceal murder. He was charged with seven counts of murder. He pleaded not guilty to all of it, and his trial had been set for September of this year. But this morning, that trial will never happen. Under the terms of his plea agreement, Heuermann will face three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole, followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 years to life. He also waived his right to appeal. Sentencing is scheduled for June 17. His former wife, Asa Ellerup, who divorced him in 2024, was seated in the courtroom this morning alongside their daughter. After the hearing, she released a brief statement saying, quote, my thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families. Their loss is immeasurable. As part of the agreement, Heuermann must cooperate with the FBI going forward. What that cooperation could reveal about unidentified remains, about open cases, about what he knows is something we'll be watching very closely for the families of these eight women, some of whom waited nearly 20 years for answers this morning is something words can barely hold. Members of the victim's families were in that courtroom. A press conference is scheduled this afternoon in Brentwood, New York. And coming up next, we're handing things over to Clues with Morgan Absher and Kaylin Moore, who previously covered the Gilgo beach case, diving into the investigation, the evidence, and all the lives lost. Everything you need to know when we come back.

C (9:18)

Okay, so there's a lot of different places where you could start this story. But for the sake of this show, I want to start today in July of 2007 with a woman named Marine Brainerd Barnes. A little bit about Maureen. She's 25, she's a single mom, she lives in Norwich, Connecticut. She has a lot of money problems. Things are not going very well, and her landlord was actually threatening to evict her. And on top of all that, Maureen has a court hearing that's going to affect the custody of her five year old son. And it's scheduled in just a few days. Basically, she needs about $3,000 to help cover all these costs and then she should be somewhat. Okay. So Sometime around Friday, July 6, 2007, Maureen and her friend Sarah make the 135 mile trip into Manhattan. And Maureen calls her sister Melissa that night and she tells her who she's with. But she's not that honest with her sister about exactly what's going on. So her sister Melissa thinks that Maureen is a model, but in reality, she and her friend Sarah are actually sex workers. There's a couple different ways to be a sex worker in New York, but they typically find their own clients, mostly through Craigslist, which you cannot do this today, but at the time you could use Craigslist to like solicit sex work. And they always work together in order to keep each other safe. So the plan for the two girls, Sarah and Marine, is to spend the entire weekend in New York and then try to make as much money as possible just so that Maureen can get that $3,000 she needs and then go home and kind of start working on the issues that she has. So the two of them get this hotel room, and over the course of the weekend, they do get some decent business. But then Monday comes around, and Maureen counts all the money that she's made, and she's still short that $3,000. She just needs, like, a little bit more. And at that point, Sarah tells her that she's gonna go home, but Marine is like, I have to stay. Like, I. I just have to do a little bit more work. And at some point that day, Marine calls her sister Melissa again and asks her to come pick her up and give her a ride home from New York City. It's a pretty long drive. It's 135 miles. So her sister Melissa isn't, like, able to do that for her that day. So Marine says, never mind, it's fine. I'm just going to take the train. Don't worry about it. The next day, though, Tuesday, July 10, Maureen doesn't show up to her court hearing. And Melissa also can't get a hold of her. So Sarah tries calling her. Sarah also cannot get a hold of her. And that's when they both get this feeling that something is wrong. Maureen is not the type of person to miss a court date like this. So Sarah feels obligated to tell Melissa the truth about what they were doing in New York for work. This is basically the first time Melissa learns that her sister was involved in sex work. And it really scares her because now she realizes that Marine could be in a lot of danger. So she ends up sending their brother and her husband into New York to search for Maureen. And they scour the neighborhood where she and Sarah stayed the previous weekend. They even walk around and start showing people pictures of Maureen, but no one has seen her. Like, no one recognizes her. Days go by. There's no sign of Maureen. No phone calls, no text, nothing. But Melissa is, like, not ready to give up yet. She contacts numerous police precincts in the area. She wants to get some help from the cops, but every time that she tells someone that her sister was working as a sex worker, they tell her they can't help. It's like they'll be interested in what she's saying. And the second she's like, oh, yeah. Also My sister was a sex worker. They're like, she probably left on her own accord.

C (13:12)

So two more weeks go by, there's no progress. No one is willing to help out with this case. But then one day, Sarah ends up getting a phone call. And she checks her phone and it's coming from a blocked number, which she's a sex worker, not very unlikely to get a call from a block number. So she picks up. But when she starts talking to the person on the other end, she hears that there's this man's voice, kind of what she was expecting. She doesn't recognize the voice. This is not a client that she's talked to before. And he doesn't give his name, but there's something really. She describes him as being so calm and like pretty well spoken. He asks her if she knows an escort named Marie from Connecticut, and that was Maureen's alias. Before Sarah can say anything to this guy, he starts describing Maureen in like really specific detail. He says that she's short, she has blue eyes, she. He even knows about this tattoo that she has on her right arm. So Sarah tells this guy, actually, if you know Maureen, she's missing, do you know, do you know anything about what's going on? Do you know where she could be? And the caller says that she's actually not missing. She's at, quote, a whorehouse in Queens. Like I said at the beginning, they work for themselves. It's not really like Maureen to be at, at a brothel like that. So Sarah immediately is like, I don't, I don't think she is. So she tries to get more information just to see if she can figure out whatever is happening, but the guy quickly hangs up on her. And after that, she never hears from that guy. He does not call her back. But Sarah feels like she has to go tell Melissa, Maureen's sister, what happened. And Melissa ends up telling the police this. And even after they get this weird phone call, the police still won't help. They just don't do anything about this. So there's no investigation that gets launched into Maureen's case. It not at least not one that's like meaningful in any way. And so Maureen's case just starts to go cold. Everyone in her life has to just deal with the fact that she apparently vanished into thin air. Okay, so Fast forward to two years later, July 2009. There's a 24 year old woman named Melissa Bartholomey who moves to New York City from Buffalo. She just got her cosmetology license and she wants to open her own business. And this is a really sad fact I learned about this case, but her family remembers Melissa meeting this guy named Johnny. And her family basically gets this very bad feeling about Johnny right away. He does not seem like a good guy, but he tells Melissa that he essentially has the tools to be able to help her open her own business. So she gets involved in this guy. Turns out that's not what happened at all. And it's believed that Johnny got or forced Melissa to into sex work. That when he took her to New York with him, that's like what he was having her do. And I. There's a lot of sad stories that come out about Melissa and her friends at this time. Like I was reading about how one of her closest friends was actually this girl who was kidnapped when she was 15 and forced into sex work.

C (16:10)

And was just like taken one day somewhere up like in New York or New England, and was just like driven like a thousand miles south. Has no idea where she ended up, but was just like in this house and was part of this ring. And like, those are a lot of the stories you hear coming out of like sex workers in this area at the time. And it's just like horrible. So on July 12th of that year, which is almost two years to the date that Maureen was last seen, Melissa's landlord's daughter sees her outside of her building. It kind of looks like she's waiting for someone, maybe a friend, maybe a client. And after that sighting, Melissa doesn't come home that night. That's the last time she was seen. Weeks go by, no one hears from her. So her sister Amanda starts getting like really worried about what's going on. I'm not sure exactly how much Amanda knows about what Melissa does for work. And so maybe she wasn't assuming that something really bad happened to Melissa yet because she doesn't call the police right away. But then a week after Melissa was last seen, Amanda also gets a call from Melissa's cell phone. So she picks it up. She's probably ready to yell at her sister for not contacting her for over a week now, but when she answers, she hears this creepy voice on the other end that she doesn't recognize. It's a man who is very calm, pretty well spoken, and he starts saying a lot of really racist and sexist things about Amanda, who is mixed race. And he also starts saying all these horrible things about Melissa. And when Amanda asks the man on the phone to tell her where her sister is, thinking that maybe this guy knows something, he says that he's watching Melissa's body rot somewhere. He doesn't say where. He doesn't give any clues. So Amanda hangs up. She goes straight to the police, and she tells him every detail about what this guy said over the phone and how her sister's been missing. She even tells him that he sounds white and middle aged. She's able to kind of get a profile of this guy just based on their conversation. And at that point, the police actually do offer a little bit of help. They decide to monitor Amanda's phone just in case this guy calls again. So I can't imagine being in this position where you're terrified of this person calling, but you're also praying that he calls back so that the police can get a ping on, like, where he is or who this person is. And over the next few days, he actually calls her seven times. And this ends up being, like, a pretty big clue in the case.

C (21:11)

So a year goes by and there's not any similar disappearances in the area, at least that they knew of at the time. But then on April 30, 2010, this 23 year old woman named Shannon Gilbert leaves her home in Jersey City and she drives into Manhattan. She is also an escort, like Maureen Brainerd Barnes. And her friend Sarah Shannon also works for herself and mainly finds clients on Craigslist. Working for yourself also, from everything I read about, tends to be like a safer way to do this. It seems like one thing that Shannon does to keep herself safe is she has this friend who also works as her driver, who also works as her bodyguard named Michael Pack. So on that day, Shannon and Michael are driving around Manhattan when they get a phone call from a man who says his name is Joe Brewer. Joe saw Shannon's Craigslist ad and he wants to hire her. But he lives in Oak Beach, Long island, and that's about a 90 minute drive from Manhattan. Shannon doesn't have any other business that night, so she figures, why not? I'll go make this trip. I'll make the money. I'm not going to make any money otherwise, so might as well just, like, do this long trip. When they get there, Michael stays outside of Joe's house while Shannon goes inside. They have, like, a system set up, basically, where Shannon can call him if anything happens. They have, like, signals I'll give each other. Like, they're very close. And they have all these, like, safety mechanisms in case anything goes down. Michael is, like, very much there for her. And then just before 5am Joe Brewer, the man who hired Shannon, taps on Michael's car window. He comes out of his house, and he taps on Michael's car window. And he says something very strange to Michael. He says that Shannon won't leave his house. And Michael's like, what do you mean she won't leave your house? Like, she's a working professional. Like. Like she finishes her job and she leaves. Like this has never happened before. I'm sorry. Let me go see what's going on. So he goes inside, and he finds Shannon in the house completely panicked. Like, absolute fear in her eyes. She won't come anywhere near him. She's just begging Michael and Joe to leave her alone. Meanwhile, she has a phone in her hand, and she's actually on with 91 1. She's not really making any sense, though. There were two phone calls. So either this one or the next one she made was, like, 23 minutes with 91 1, which is, like, a very long time to be on the phone with 91 1. She keeps repeating over and over that someone is after her and that they're trying to kill her, but she doesn't say who, and she won't say where she is. And so after about 20 minutes, the local police route the call to New York State Police. And meanwhile, Shannon is getting more and more upset. Like, even having Michael there isn't calming her down at all. She won't go near either of the men, not even her friend Michael. And then at one point, she just gets up and runs out of the house screaming. She ends up going to another house that's down the street. She bangs on the door. So one of Joe's neighbors, this man named Gus Coletti, lets Shannon in, and he gets her to take a seat in the living room. And he's like, I want to help you. You're safe here. Like, let me go call 911 for you. And he. He goes and he calls 91 1. But when he tells Shannon that the police are on their way, she freaks out again. She jumps up and she runs away. And at this point, her driver slash friend slash bodyguard, Michael starts looking for her. And he knows a few really important things about Shannon that kind of help us understand maybe what's going on in the situation. He knows that one, Shannon has bipolar disorder and she was likely not taking medication for it. And two, he knows that at one point Shannon and Joe left the house for a little while while in Joe's car, and he believes it was so that they could go get drugs. So Michael thinks that maybe Shannon is having some sort of reaction right now or she could really be in huge trouble. It's hard to tell, but he just knows, like, we have to find her. That's the most important thing right now. And part of the reason he really wants to to figure out where she is is because behind this row of houses where they are, there's like this really dense marshland, water up to your neck and parts. It's really not safe to be out in, especially not at night. And eventually, while Michael's looking for her, he does spot Shannon behind one of these houses. And he starts chasing after her, trying to get her to calm down, trying to help. But then once again, he loses sight of Shannon when she darts behind the houses in the direction of the marsh. A few minutes later, officers from the Suffolk County Police Department show up. But by that point, Shannon is long gone. No one knows where she is. So Shannon's family reports her missing once again. As soon as the police hear this story, once they learn that she was a sex worker, no one seems interested in looking for her. And it's infuriating because they have the exact spot where she was last seen. Like these other women that they're looking for, they don't really know the exact location they were last seen, but Shannon, it feels like you would just be able to start searching and like, have a pretty clear idea of like the area you need to start, especially because she was by the houses with this like huge marsh in the background right there.

C (26:18)

They don't check the marsh for Shannon, though, at all. And so months go by, and again, there's no developments. So police are not really doing anything to look for Shannon. But disappearances keep happening in the area. On June 6, 2010, two months after Shannon Gilbert disappeared, a 22 year old sex worker named Megan Waterman is at a Holiday inn in Hopog, New York. It's a hamlet in Long island about 50 miles outside of New York City. And at 1:15am surveillance cameras catch Megan leaving a hotel, but she never returns. Her family quickly notices something is wrong because Megan doesn't really ever go a day without speaking to them. So they also contact the police. But just like all these other cases, they don't get any help the second the police learn that Megan was an escort. And then later that summer, there's a 27 year old sex worker named Amberlynn Costello, and she invites a client to her house in West Babylon, another Long island hamlet. He's only paid for a dance. There's not going to be any sex involved. And normally Amber has these two male roommates, these guys, Dave and Bear. And they similar to how Michael worked with Shannon. Like they're, they're also there to keep her safe. She'll have people over to the house, they kind of like keep an eye on everything. But that night they have to step out for a quick errand and they leave her alone. And while they're gone, it seems like this client had a change of mind and decides that he does want to have sex with Amber after all. So he starts grabbing at her while she's dancing. And he doesn't stop when she says no. He's not taking the hint. He's not. He's like really trying to cross a boundary with her. Thankfully, Amber is able to get away from him and she locks herself in the bathroom and calls Dave and Bear, who come rushing back to the house. And when Bear comes in to get rid of the client, he like stops in his tracks once he sees this guy. Because this is like the biggest guy he's ever seen. He is over 6, 4. He's built kind of like an ogre, Bear says. Like that's a description that we hear a lot, is like ogre ish. And eventually the two guys manage to get this client out of there, but they both recognize that this is like a very scary man. And as he's leaving, he has his eyes locked on Amber even as he's walking out of the front door. And before he leaves, he says to her in a very calm manner, quote, I'll see ya. And then they all watch as he gets into his car. They describe it as a dark colored Chevy Avalanche, probably green. It's a pickup. And then he drives off.

C (29:25)

And so a few weeks later, on the night of September 2, 2010, she puts another ad up on Craigslist for more business, and she gets a hit. A client wants Amber to meet him at his parked car somewhere in her neighborhood. Usually, this is not the type of job that Amber would do. She prefers to work at home. It's much safer to have someone come into your space than for you to meet them in their space. Dave and Bear offer to come help if she needs them. But there's something different about this client that seems to make Amber, like, a little bit more comfortable. And part of that seems to be the fact that he's willing to spend a lot more than she's used to. He says he's going to pay her $2,500 for her to spend the next 24 hours with him. For Amber, that's a lot of money. It's more money than she's used to for that type of service. Yeah, she kind of jumps at the opportunity, and she actually leaves her house so fast that she forgets to bring her cell phone with her. Dave and Bear also said that whoever was on the phone with her might have offered. Might have told her to not bring her cell phone. I've heard, like, conflicting reports on this, that there was a chance that he said something like, you can just use my phone. Like, you don't need to bring your phone. You can just use my phone. Cell phone culture in 2010 was a lot different than today. Like, we didn't always have our phones on us all the time. So maybe that is what happened. Regardless of why she didn't bring her phone, that ends up being, like, literally the worst thing she could have done, because she doesn't have anything on her that tracks her. She doesn't have anything, any way to, like, contact the outside world. And after she leaves, Dave and Bear do not hear from her when they call her cell. It's ringing on her table at her house, which also means it's not able to help locate where she is. There's, like, nothing the cops can do. If they even wanted to look at the cell phone. And considering everything that's happened, Dave and bear start getting a really bad feeling. Because this is not like Amber. Something has to be wrong. So they go ahead and they file. Like we've talked about with everyone. They go ahead and they file a police report. And so they don't know who Amber met with, but they remember that he asked her to meet her in his parked car somewhere. And that's like, very different from services Amber would normally do. So they realized that if Amber felt safe enough to do this, it would be for a few different reasons. One, maybe because she had met him before and felt comfortable. Or two, maybe he was some sort of professional, like someone who wouldn't. Like there's too much at stake for them to hurt a sex worker. Like, maybe they're a cop. Maybe it's a judge or a lawyer or some sort of business owner, like someone with status. And they start to wonder if maybe that guy from a few weeks ago, the really big guy who Amber already had worked with, even though he was like, weird and aggressive, maybe he might somehow be involved in this.

B (33:16)

And that's something the DMV would know. Yeah, it's on most driver's license. They don't look into it, but the info does come in handy down the line. In the meantime, authorities do start looking for Shannon Gilbert, the woman who ran off into the night eight months ago. Shannon went Missing in this area of Long island called Oak Beach. So that's where authorities begin their search in that surrounding area. Why it took so long? We're not gonna go there. Officers look up and down the entire strip of shoreline, which is packed with this, like, super dense brush. And it's not an easy feat. But within days of starting their search, they do find something. On December 11, 2010, a cadaver dog locates a human skeleton on Gilgo beach, about seven miles west of Oak Beach. Which brings us to clue number three. Remains. The skeletons completely intact and wrapped in this coarse fabric called burlap. A clear indication that foul play was involved somehow. Now, officials are pretty sure this is Shannon, except when the remains are brought to the medical examiner's office, investigators discover something else. Shannon has a titanium plate in her jaw, actually, and the remains they found don't. And they definitely confirm it's not Shannon when they go even further and really start looking at dental records. So now the crime lab has to identify who this victim is, and police just keep searching the area. Maybe Shannon is out there still. And two days later, on December 13th, they find three more sets of female remains. They're all about 500ft from each other, not far off the road, basically, like, next to the shoulder. Like, we're gonna have an image right off the road. Yeah. And when you look at this image and see, you know, where these remains were found and how close to the road they are, it's. It's pretty surprising. But all of these victims were found in a similar manner. They were bound and wrapped in burlap, which. Burlap is often used for camouflage, so it's no wonder they weren't seen by anyone. Yeah, it would blend into all that brush. But it's pretty clear to investigators that all of these victims were probably killed by the same person. Which raises the terrifying possibility that Long island is dealing with a serial killer.

C (35:28)

Yes, and that fact alone kind of makes the authorities start taking the investigation a little bit more seriously now. And the FBI very quickly joins the Suffolk county police in their search. Through a closer analysis, the team of investigators discovered that some of these bodies had small strands of hair left behind on them. So they collect these pieces of hair as evidence, but there's a few issues with them. They're really salty. It was, like, super sunny in the area, which kind of made the hair degrade a little bit. So where DNA technology was at the time, they weren't really able to do anything with these strands of hair, at least just yet. But they hold on to them, hoping that the technology will get better in the future. Still, they use dental records that they have access to, and they're able to determine that none of these bodies are Shannon Gilbert. It's still not the woman that they're looking for. But at this point, they found four bodies in the search for Shannon. So the question becomes, who are these women? Because you and I and everyone listening, we know that many women have gone missing in this area. But remember, the police were not really taking down any of these names or missing persons reports. So when they find these remains, they're like, oh no, how could this have happened? Like, who could have seen this coming? But then all of the families of all the girls that are missing are like, no, obviously, this is what's happening. So the Suffolk County Police Department immediately begins combing through their state missing persons database. That's where they decide to get started. And they can't link any of those cases to the remains they found because of what we've talked about this entire time. None of those women, despite being missing, despite their families reporting them missing, were in the missing person's database. So kind of on their own, the police start realizing, like, well, maybe these women were sex workers and they weren't from the area and they came to Long island to meet clients and they assumed that because these women were most likely sex workers, that their disappearances just weren't reported.

C (43:04)

That's just so wild. The public starts at this time really thinking that the remains are the work of a serial killer. And some people start calling him the Long Island Serial Killer. Maybe you've seen Lisk be thrown around. Now we know him as the Gilgo Beach Killer. But the police are not as confident in this theory just yet, especially because a lot of these victims were found in slightly different manners. And I wanted actually to take a moment in this script to shout out journalist Robert Kolker. He was covering this case at the time and he went on to write the book Lost Girls that the Netflix documentary is based on. And he really starts championing the idea at the time that this is the work of one person. Even though some of the MOs are a little bit different, some were found in burlap, some are not. He believes that it's the work of someone who is maybe learning as they go, and it's one person. And that's because he really identifies this pattern in all of the victims, and that's that most of them were sex workers like Marine, Melissa, Megan, Amber, and Jessica. They're also all in their 20s. They're also all petite. So was Shannon Gilbert, who, by the way, has still not been found amongst the remains, but is now kind of, at least by the public, starting to be believed to be a victim of the Gilgo beach killer at this time. And now there is even more pressure than ever to figure out who this person is. So the authorities at this point start deciding to work backwards. They start with Amber Castello, who was the last victim to be reported missing, and they go and they talk to her old roommates Bear and Dave, who end up giving the investigators the same exact description as before. The person who they think maybe has something to do with this, they say, again, he's six foot eight. He's 350 pounds. He's got these beady little eyes, brown hair, and he was driving a dark Chevy Avalanche that was possibly green. And at that point, like, you and I are sitting here now being like, that has to be one person.

B (46:51)

Yeah. On December 13, 2011, one year after the remains of the Gilgo 4 victims were discovered, Shannon Gilbert's body is found in a marshland near Oak Beach. Her body is pretty skeletonized at this point, and she's naked, which is strange because she was wearing those jeans, and it would have been hard for her to get them off in the marsh. And she was last seen kind of running. So that does confuse investigators. The working theory so far is that Shannon was also a victim of the Gilgo beach killer. But in the days that follow, the Suffolk county medical examiner says otherwise, kind of. He determines that Shannon's cause of death is, quote, undetermined. And that's when things change. The Suffolk county police hold this press conference, and they say they actually don't believe Shannon was murdered. Richard Dormer, the same commissioner who gave that last press conference, speaks again, and he says this, quote, this may be just a young lady who ran into the brush in hysterical state, fell down, and expired for some reason, end quote. So they think Shannon was actually just running through the marsh, then fell and drowned in the freezing cold water. But that doesn't really make sense to Shannon's family and many others who were following her case. They don't understand why, even if she was in, you know, a hysterical state for whatever reason, that her jeans would be near her body but not any of her other clothes. Where did, like, the rest of her clothing items go? Plus, why would Shannon remove her own jeans if she was running away in fear? So the family actually hired this forensic pathologist named Michael Baden to perform another examination of Shannon's body. Baden is very well known for investigating these high profile murder cases, and he finds something different than that initial medical examiner. He actually finds significant damage to Shannon's windpipe, which tells him that she was actually strangled to Death. You're here. But are you here Here? You go to Hawaii in your head all the time during meetings in the car. Hawaii is on the mind. But when you're ready to go, there's Expedia. The one place you go to go places. Flights, hotels, vacation homes, cars. You can save when you bundle or book as you go and still save. So what are you waiting for? Expedia, the one place you go to go places. Members only savings vary Zootopia 2 has come home to Disney. Let's go get ready for a new case. We're gonna crack this case and prove we're the greatest partners of all time.