Witnesses describe encounters with Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann
- Heuermann is being held without bail at Suffolk County Jail
- He was arrested on July 13, 2023
- Two of the witnesses have signed sworn affidavits
Testing widget old system
GILGO BEACH, N.Y. (NewsNation) — Attorney John Ray, representing victims of an alleged Long Island serial killer, is expected to provide evidence connecting suspect Rex Heuermann to the cases of Shannan Gilbert and Karen Vergata.
Ray said four women have recently contacted him and detailed past experiences with Heuermann, and two of them signed affidavits.
“These women were uniquely credible. They had details that they could express, each of them, that certainly makes you say, ‘Those details don’t just pop up because somebody invents them,'” Ray said.
The new evidence connects Heuermann with Gilbert and Vergata, who were found dead on Long Island in 2011 and 1996, respectively, according to a news release from Ray’s law firm.
One of the witnesses who spoke with Ray said she had previously encountered Heuermann at a well-known swinger’s club near Heuermann’s Manhattan office.
The witness told Ray she ended up at Heuermann’s home, where another woman, identified as Vergata, was seen running out of the house naked.
It wasn’t until media reports about Heuermann’s arrest that she recognized him and Vergata.
Another woman, who was working as a cab driver at the time, said she had a disturbing encounter with Heuermann at a motel she was called to by her dispatcher.
She told Ray she saw Heuermann in the parking lot, and moments later, a woman came out of a room crying. The cab driver identified the woman as Gilbert, who she then drove to a local train station.
The case first drew headlines in 2010 when police began searching for Gilbert near Gilgo Beach. Instead, they discovered 10 sets of remains of other people: eight women, one man and a toddler.
Vergata’s body was identified in August 2023, 27 years after her body was first found.
Heuermann, 60, was arrested July 13 on murder charges in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, three of the women whose bodies were found along Gilgo Beach.
He pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail at Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
