Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann moved to Clinton Correctional Facility, state correction official says

Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann has been moved to Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate Dannemora as prison officials continue the classification and assessment process, a state Department of Corrections spokesperson said. 

Prison officials offered the clarification Friday after an online record of Heuermann's custody status was updated to say he is serving a life sentence at Elmira Correctional Facility. Elmira is where his records were sent to be entered into the system, the Department of Corrections later confirmed.

Heuermann, 62, of Massapequa Park, was initially transferred from the Suffolk County Jail to Green Haven Correctional Facility for admission processing June 18, a DOC spokesperson said last week. 

During admission processing, authorities evaluate an inmate's criminal history, security risk, medical status, mental health and program needs, and then use that information to determine which state prison is the best fit.

No reason was given for Heuermann's move to Clinton, more commonly referred to as Dannemora, and it is not clear how long he will remain there.

Dannemora is home to several high-profile Long Island killers, including serial killer Joel Rifkin, 67, of East Meadow. Former NYPD officer Michael Valva, 47, of Center Moriches, who was convicted of killing his son Thomas in 2020, is also incarcerated there. Manorville carpenter John Bittrolff, convicted of two killings in the early 1990s, whose case is often associated with Heuermann's, is also serving his sentence there.

Robert Macedonio, attorney for Heuermann's former wife, Asa Ellerup, said his client has not spoken to or visited the killer since his sentencing last week. 

"She believes the sentence he received is appropriate and he is taking responsibility for his actions," Macedonio said Friday.

Heuermann, who pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder April 8, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole June 17.

He admitted strangling eight women — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack and Karen Vergata — and dumping their bodies across Suffolk County, including near Gilgo Beach.

The admitted killing spree began with Costilla’s murder and the discovery of her remains in North Sea in 1993 and continued until 2010, when Waterman and Costello were killed, their remains found months later near those of Brainard-Barnes and Barthelemy.

The discovery of the remains along Ocean Parkway beginning in December 2010 set off a 13-year search for a potential serial killer that attracted global interest and spawned a Hollywood movie.

Partial remains of Mack and Taylor were found in 2011 in the scrub near Gilgo Beach, after earlier discoveries of additional remains found near each other in Manorville. Vergata’s remains were also found along Ocean Parkway in 2011 and earlier on Fire Island.

Heuermann was arrested July 13, 2023, and initially charged in three of the killings. He was later indicted three more times and charged with seven murders. He was never charged in Vergata’s 1996 killing, but admitted it while pleading guilty to the others.

In 2022, six weeks after the formation of a Gilgo Beach task force, detectives identified Heuermann as a suspect by using a vehicle registration database to connect him to a pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when Costello disappeared in 2010.

Heuermann lived for decades in Massapequa Park, about a 25-minute drive from where the women’s remains were found. Some of the victims were believed to have disappeared from that community and their cellphones were found to have pinged towers in the area, authorities said.

After the truck discovery, a grand jury authorized more than 300 subpoenas and search warrants, allowing the task force to dig into Heuermann’s life.

Detectives collected billing records for burner phones he used to arrange meetings with the women, retested DNA that linked the killer to the crime scenes and scoured Heuermann’s internet search history, which showed that he had viewed violent torture pornography and exhibited an intense interest in the Gilgo Beach killings and the renewed investigation. 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said erroneously Rex Heuermann had been moved to Elmira Correctional Facility to serve a life sentence.