A 62-year-old New York serial killer, whose victims included a woman originally from Sangre Grande, was sentenced yesterday to spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole.The consecutive sentences, imposed by Suffolk County Court Judge Timothy Mazzei in Riverhead, Long Island, ensure that Rex Heuermann—husband, father and former Manhattan architect—will die in a maximum-security prison.Heuermann pleaded guilty two months ago to torturing, mutilating, and murdering seven women, and formally admitted to killing an eighth.
First known victim: Sandra Rajcoomar Costilla, originally of Sangre Grande.
His first known victim was Sandra Rajkumar-Costilla, who grew up on Foster Road, Sangre Grande, and later lived on Quesnel Street, Arima. Sandra migrated to the United States in 1982 at age 17. Eleven years later, in 1993, she was mutilated, stabbed and strangled by Heuermann. She was 28.At yesterday’s emotional sentencing hearing, 13 victim impact statements were delivered to the court.While Sandra’s stepsister, Ruth Ramos, was not present in the courtroom, her words were read into the record by Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.Ramos said she took comfort in knowing Heuermann would never see freedom again.“While justice cannot bring [the victims] back, it ensures they are no longer forgotten, and it brings our families peace knowing the person responsible for our irreversible pain can never harm anyone else,” Ramos’ statement read.Describing the sentencing as a deeply meaningful day of reckoning, Ramos added, “Sandra had endless potential. My hope was that someday the person who was responsible would be held to account, and that day is here.”Sandra leaves behind a son, who was just two years old when his mother went out one evening and never returned. Ramos highlighted the devastating, lifelong effect the disappearance had on the boy, who is now 35.“Losing a mother has robbed him of her guidance and love,” Ramos wrote. “Never knowing her is irreversible. My heart is with all the families and the children left behind, and I hope that they have beautiful memories in honour of their mothers.”Given the opportunity to address the court, Heuermann declined to offer an apology, uttering only a few cryptic words: “There are words I could say. I am responsible for all that was said in this room. The words I would say have no meaning.”Relatives of victims confront Heuermann Yesterday relatives of women murdered by Heuermann laid into him before he was sentenced to life in prison.“A million years isn’t enough,” Jasmine Robinson, a cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, said. “Nothing will ever make this right.”“You fill me with so much repugnance, I can’t stand it,” she added.As a series of victims’ kin spoke, Heuermann sat with his hands on the defence table, looking straight ahead and lightly tapping his fingers.Then Amanda Funderburg, victim Melissa Barthelemy’s sister, commanded Heuermann to look at her. He glanced in her direction, but his eyes were slightly downcast.“I hope you suffer,” said Funderburg, as she recounted getting a taunting phone call from him days after Barthelemy disappeared, when Funderburg was 15 years old.JoAnn Mack, the mother of victim Valerie Mack, told the killer that her daughter “had dreams, and you took them all away from her”.“Justice has been done, but it can’t replace what has been taken,” Mack said.Heuermann pleaded guilty in April to charges that he murdered seven women: Barthelemy, Mack, Taylor, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and Sandra Costilla.Heuermann also admitted in court to killing an eighth victim, Karen Vergata, though he was never charged in her death. He said he strangled his victims, many of them sex workers, and dismembered some of their bodies.“Are you at least a little sorry?” Judge Timothy Mazzei asked yesterday in an indignant voice.Heuermann nodded and appeared to mouth “yes”.“You are disgusting—a despicable man, if you are a man at all,” the judge said, his voice rising. “And you are a coward.”Victims’ families recount a confounding loss Liliana Waterman, who was three when her mom vanished, said she has been waiting her entire life to confront her mother’s killer.“She can finally rest in peace,” Waterman said outside the courthouse. “He can’t hurt anybody else.”Most of the women disappeared between 2000 and 2010 and their remains were all found on Long Island. Most were along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. Costilla’s remains were found in 1993 in the Hamptons, while Vergata’s remains were found in 1996 on Fire Island.Brainard-Barnes’ two children, who were seven and one when she disappeared in 2007, underscored yesterday how her absence shaped their lives and how she never got to know the adults they grew up to be.Her sister, Melissa Cann, sobbed deeply as she described wondering for decades if she could have done more to protect Brainard-Barnes. But, she said, that guilt is “not mine to carry. It is for Rex and Rex alone”.Heuermann’s ex-wife and two adult children said they did not attend the sentencing out of respect for the victim’s families. The sentencing capped an extraordinary investigation that solved one of New York’s most perplexing mysteries. The seemingly unconnected and largely overlooked disappearances of young women became the focus of true-crime documentaries, books and podcasts after police began discovering the victims’ skeletal remains in the sandy scrub along a coastal parkway.Life behind bars Heuermann will soon be transferred to a state prison after having spent the past three years alone in a segregated cell at the Suffolk County jail, reading crime novels and striking up a brief correspondence with the infamous “Happy Face Killer”.Calling him “a monster”, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney declared there was nothing Heuermann could say to mitigate his deeds.“There is no doubt this defendant is sorry,” Tierney said. “He is sorry he got caught.”His lawyer, Michael Brown, said Heuermann has cried and there may be “some sincerity in his expressions of remorse”. His client appeared “as normal as they come” during their interactions, in contrast with his horrific crimes.“He’s somewhat of a charismatic figure when you talk to him,” Brown said.As part of his guilty plea, Heuermann agreed to cooperate with the FBI’s behavioural analysis unit to help catch other serial killers. As the sentences were finalised, Heuermann was immediately led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, walking a gauntlet of jeers, insults, and tears from the victims’ families.—with reporting by the Associated PressThe case spilled into view in 2010, when investigators started to find remains along Ocean Parkway while looking into the disappearance of another sex worker, Shannan Gilbert, whose death was ultimately ruled an accidental drowning.The case went cold until 2022, when detectives linked Heuermann to a pick-up that a witness reported seeing when one of the victims disappeared in 2010.Eventually, they matched DNA from a pizza crust Heuermann discarded in a Manhattan trash can to genetic material extracted from highly degraded hair fragments found on the women’s remains.Investigators amassed other evidence, including cellphone and tracking data showing Heuermann arranged meetings with some victims shortly before their disappearances.After Heuermann’s 2023 arrest, prosecutors recovered what they described as a “blueprint” for the killings from his computer files. Among the documents was a series of checklists with reminders to limit noise, clean the bodies and destroy evidence.
