Sentencing falls on birthday for one Gilgo Beach victim
Today marks what would have been the 43rd birthday of Gilgo Beach victim Jessica Taylor, who had recently turned 20 when she was killed by Heuermann in July 2023.
Taylor grew up in Poughkeepsie, where she loved dancing, drawing, jumping rope and cuddling on the couch with her brothers while watching television, according to family members.
"I was lucky to share my childhood with her and I wish every day that we got the chance to create new memories," Taylor's cousin, Jasmine Robinson, said at a 2024 news conference following Heuermann’s arraignment on upgraded criminal charges. "When I think of her, I see her smile first, big and bright, lighting up her face, gleaming through her beautiful eyes."
Taylor's mother, Elizabeth Baczkiel, said her daughter worked hard at school, loved board games such as Monopoly and Candy Land, and enjoyed working with children, including as an aide at a summer camp.
"It is a tragedy she never had children," Baczkiel said at the news conference. "Jessica would have been a great mother. She loved kids and she loved working with them."
Taylor spoke to her mother on July 21, 2003, telling her she would visit her in Poughkeepsie later that week to celebrate her birthday.
When she did not show up and failed to answer calls, her mother called police. Taylor was last seen at the Port Authority bus terminal in Manhattan.
On July 26, 2003, Taylor's partial remains were discovered by a dog walker just west of Halsey Manor Road in Manorville. More of Taylor’s remains were discovered near Gilgo Beach in 2011.
Baczkiel and Robinson were present when Heuermann pleaded guilty to second-degree murder April 8. He will receive a sentence of 25 years to life in her killing, though his sentence in other deaths assures he would not be eligible for parole under current New York laws.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
'A million years isn't enough' NewsdayTV goes behind the scenes of the day Rex Heuermann was sentenced for the Gilgo killings.
