Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann no longer on Long Island

Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann is no longer on Long Island.

The Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office transported Heuermann on Thursday to the Green Haven Correctional Facility near Stormville, a 90-minute drive northeast of New York, a spokeswoman for the agency said.

On Wednesday, the former Manhattan architect was sentenced to multiple terms of life in prison without the possibility of parole plus 100 years after he admitted strangling eight women between 1993 and 2010.

Heuermann is undergoing admission processing at Green Haven, a representative of the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision said in an email.

Authorities at Green Haven will evaluate his 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 for the serial killer.

"Where he ultimately will be placed, I don’t know," Heuermann’s defense attorney, Michael J. Brown, of Central Islip, told Newsday. "We have to assume he’s going to be placed in a maximum security facility. New York State Department of Corrections, they’ll determine where he’s placed."

Green Haven is one of 11 maximum security correctional facilities in the state prison system, a list that includes Attica, Sing Sing and the Clinton Correctional Facility in Dannemora. 

Brown said the evaluation process normally takes a couple weeks, but it could be faster for Heuermann, given the high-profile nature of his crimes.

Heuermann, 62, had been in protective custody in Suffolk County, but has expressed a desire to serve his sentence in the general population, Brown said.

"It’s really better to be in a general population, but you also have to worry about the security threat, so that’s something he’s going to have to deal with," Brown said.

In a recent interview with Newsday, Suffolk Sheriff Errol Toulon Jr. said Heuermann will constantly have to look over his shoulder to avoid assaults from other inmates who want to avenge the sex workers he murdered, or simply want to make a name for themselves.

Heuermann will likely be incarcerated a long way from Long Island, which might limit visits from his ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and others, the sheriff said.

State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei sentenced Heuermann, a former Massapequa Park resident, to multiple life sentences for the Gilgo Beach slayings. Heuermann pleaded guilty in April to the murders of seven women and admitted he killed an eighth between 1993 and 2010.

Heuermann kept his eyes down as the relatives of the dead women delivered raw, emotional impact statements, unwilling to look at them as they described decades of pain and loss.

One of the most powerful moments of Heuermann’s sentencing hearing occurred when Amanda Funderburg, the younger sister of victim Melissa Barthelemy, demanded his attention as she delivered her victim impact statement.

"You can look at me when I’m talking," Funderburg said to the killer, forcing him to look up for the first time during the two-hour hearing. "It’s been 17 years since we last spoke."

Authorities said Heuermann used Barthelemy’s cellphone to make threatening and grisly calls to Funderburg after Barthelemy disappeared in July 2009, describing how he tortured her older sister before he killed her.

In addition to Barthelemy, Heuermann pleaded guilty to the murders of Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, and Sandra Costilla. He also admitted — but was not charged with — the slaying of Karen Vergata.

Heuermann gave a brief comment after his victims’ relatives blistered him with their statements. "I am responsible for what was said in this room today," Heuermann said. "The words I would say would have no meaning and I’m going to leave it there."

Mazzei, who wiped tears from his eyes as he listened to the victims' families describe the pain that had defined their lives for decades, snapped at the conclusion of the hearing. 

"Get him out of here," the judge ordered court officers, who then led the handcuffed killer out of the courtroom.

It is possible that Heuermann — the man dubbed "The Long Island Serial Killer" — will never see Long Island again — at least alive. 

"He will go off in a bus," Toulon said in the recent interview, "and come home in a body bag."