Who is the LONG ISLAND SERIAL KILLER? *ARREST JULY 2023*

Who is the Long Island serial killer? This is a general discussion thread about this terrifying case.

The Latest Discussion On The Long Island Serial Killer’s Trial: Join us for FREE to discuss this case and trial! Our members are AD FREE, too!

The Long Island serial killer (also referred to as LISK, the Gilgo Beach Killer or the Craigslist Ripper) is an unidentified suspected serial killer who is believed to have murdered 10 to 16 people over a period of nearly 20 years.

www.crimewatchers.net

MEMBER'S ONLY DISCUSSION/DOCUMENTS: https://www.crimewatchers.net/threa...other-sensitive-information.3498/#post-226869

 

[Tresir]

eh...... lame all stuff we already know..... victoria seemed normal..... Asa did too but she is in complete denial her husband did this

I just found this video reporting on the documentary. A short recap of it. Just under 2 minutes long.

 

[Tresir]

Judge Sets Date to Rule on Admissibility of DNA Evidence in Long Island Serial Killer Case

The judge overseeing the case of accused Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann has set a date to rule on the admissibility of the prosecution’s DNA evidence in the case, which will bring a months-long hearing on the matter to an end. State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei said Tuesday he...

www.crimeonline.com

State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei said Tuesday he would make a ruling on September 3 and gave defense attorneys until August 15 to file closing briefs, Newsday reported. Prosecutors will file their final brief a week later.
Heuermann, a Manhattan architect who has been behind bars since his arrest two years ago, is charged with multiple counts of first- and second-degree murder in the deaths of seven women between 1993 and 2010. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts.


The DNA issue involves a particular genome sequencing technique used by the California-based company that linked Heuermann to six of the murders. The defense contends that the relatively new technique does not meet the standards of “general acceptance” used in New York courts.


“We’ll have a decision on [Sept. 3] and that decision is going to dictate whether or not the court believes that it’s generally accepted within the relevant scientific community or not,” Heuermann defense attorney Michael J. Brown said outside court Tuesday. “If he decides it is and this evidence comes in at trial, we still have the opportunity to cross-examine these witnesses and attack all the same issues [at trial].”


“It’s novel,” Brown added. “It has not been used anywhere around the country [in courts] other than Idaho, which has a much different and lower standard. If the judge permits it in, he permits it in, but hopefully he agrees with our position.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has declined to comment on the specifics of the DNA issue, but prosecutors presented evidence that the use of Astrea Forensics’ techniques are spreading. Geneticists testifying in the hearing earlier this year praised the company’s methods.

 

[Cousin Dupree]

I just found this video reporting on the documentary. A short recap of it. Just under 2 minutes long.

The daughters drawings make me think she observed some of them.

 

[Takeitfromme]

The daughters drawings make me think she observed some of them.

i suppose it's possible or maybe even a hereditary darkness to her even if she's never actually harmed another person

 

[Tresir]

So just to remind/recap on the DNA use, D should have their closing brief in by tomorrow Friday 15th, the P's final brief should be in by next week Friday 22nd and the judge should rule on Sept 3rd.

Hopefully this trial can then move forward.

 

[Tresir]

Judge will now rule on the acceptability of the DNA evidence in 9 days time - Wednesday, Sept 3rd.

Prosecution submits closing arguments in Gilgo Beach murders DNA hearing

The Suffolk District Attorney’s Office says the method used to identify hairs found on the victims is widely accepted within relevant scientific communities.

longisland.news12.com

 

[Kimster]

I have not been following this case as closely as most of you, but have they ruled out that Shannon Gilbert didn’t knock on the RH’s door (in her frenzied state) and he could have killed her? Or was that ruled out?

 

[GrandmaBear]

I have not been following this case as closely as most of you, but have they ruled out that Shannon Gilbert didn’t knock on the RH’s door (in her frenzied state) and he could have killed her? Or was that ruled out?

I don't think they have done anything re Gilbert. Not that they have released to the public anyhow.

 

[Kimster]

I don't think they have done anything re Gilbert. Not that they have released to the public anyhow.

Oh wow! That's interesting. I'm sure he would be charged if they had some evidence of some sort.

 

[Guess Who]

Advanced DNA testing can be used in accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann's trial, a first in N.Y. state

Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann was linked to his alleged victims using DNA testing known as whole genome sequencing, prosecutors say.

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Takeitfromme]

Oh wow! That's interesting. I'm sure he would be charged if they had some evidence of some sort.

I would think RH house is way to far away from where she was and was found it's not walking or running distance

 

[Takeitfromme]

Judge will now rule on the acceptability of the DNA evidence in 9 days time - Wednesday, Sept 3rd.

Prosecution submits closing arguments in Gilgo Beach murders DNA hearing

The Suffolk District Attorney’s Office says the method used to identify hairs found on the victims is widely accepted within relevant scientific communities.

longisland.news12.com

Im so happy it was a success for the prosecution I knew it would be!!! Cry baby's atty is appealing tho as I expected

 

[Tresir]

Yeah i forgot this decision was due this week.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/03/us/gilgo-beach-rex-heuermann-dna-ruling

Judge allows cutting-edge DNA technology in case against suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer​

By
Michelle Watson
,
Mark Morales
,
Rebekah Riess
Updated 23 hr ago

Suspected serial killer Rex A. Heuermann ...

Riverhead, New York — ​

Evidence derived from cutting-edge DNA technology that prosecutors say points directly at Rex Heuermann being the Gilgo Beach serial killer will be admissible at his trial, a Suffolk County judge ruled Wednesday.
The decision by Suffolk County Supreme Court Judge Timothy Mazzei is an important win for prosecutors and a blow for the defense team that challenged the validity of this type of technology that specializes in extracting nuclear DNA from damaged or hard-to-get samples, such as rootless hair.
It was these types of individual stray hairs that were found on six of the seven victims prosecutors say Heuermann killed, according to court records. Heuermann is charged with murder in the deaths of the seven women and has pleaded not guilty.
Heuermann’s defense attorney Michael Brown had argued the DNA technology, known as whole genome sequencing, has not yet been widely accepted by the scientific community and therefore shouldn’t be permitted. He said he plans to argue the validity of the technology before a jury.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have argued this type of DNA extraction has been used by local law enforcement, the FBI and even defense attorneys elsewhere in the country, according to court records.
“The science was on our side and that’s why we won,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said after the court deemed the technology admissible.
Tierney thanked his team and expert witnesses, saying he is “very thankful that this result is behind us.”
Related article

A timeline of the Gilgo Beach serial killings case and the investigation that led to a suspect
Brown said Heuermann was disappointed by Wednesday’s decision. “We disagree with the court’s decision,” Brown said, later adding, “We think the evidence is clear that they didn’t sustain their burden.”
“It doesn’t mean we can’t cross-examine these witnesses at trial,” Brown noted.
Attorneys for Heuermann have now filed a new motion citing a public health law to challenge the DNA evidence, which “criminalizes this very type of action, which is an out-of-state, non-permitted laboratory for profit to test and offer into evidence in the state of New York on a criminal case,” Brown said.
The district attorney said he was not concerned about the new motion by the defense. “We went through the FBI. We followed all the rules and the mandate,” Tierney said.
Heuermann is due back in court for a status conference hearing September 23. “We’re fast reaching the pretrial stage and we’re hurdling towards the trial stage,” the district attorney said.

Crime laboratory officers search the New York home of Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann in 2023.
Yuki Iwamura/AFP/Getty Images

A full genetic ‘blueprint’​

The DNA analysis in the case was conducted by California-based Astrea Forensics, a company that specializes in whole genome sequencing.
Whole genome sequencing is “a method that attempts to read nearly all of a person’s DNA, covering the entire genetic code of about 3 billion bases,” or letters, said Daniele Podini, an associate professor at George Washington University.
The key difference, Podini said, is conventional testing provides a limited DNA “fingerprint,” like a barcode on a supermarket product, while whole genome sequencing (WGS) offers a full genetic “blueprint” with much more detailed insights.
Though the type of analysis has “not yet been subject to an admissibility hearing in the State of New York,” prosecutors said in their argument to the judge earlier this year, the technique is commonly used across numerous scientific and forensic fields, including virology, health care and criminal justice — and by law enforcement, prosecutors and defense attorneys.
New technologies are always up for examination before becoming routine, said Nathan Lents, a professor of biology at the City University of New York’s John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
“Forensic methods are subject to intense legal scrutiny before they are accepted as common practice, and that’s what we are seeing here,” Lents said. “This is the normal way that new techniques are introduced into the legal forensic toolkit, in test cases with a great deal of scrutiny and expert testimony.”
“This decision and this litigation marks a significant step in forensic DNA analysis,” Tierney said following the judge’s ruling Wednesday. “This is where we’re headed in the science.”
CNN’s Mark Morales reported from Riverhead and Michelle Watson reported from New York. CNN’s Rebekah Riess wrote and reported from Atlanta.

 

[GrandmaBear]

I heard it last night. Great news! It's too bad we can't see any of the proceedings as i am sure the prosecution put up a good case of this being reliable science, etc.

 

[Kimster]

I would think RH house is way to far away from where she was and was found it's not walking or running distance

Thank you! I didn't realize his house was far away from where she was when she was distressed.

 

[Tresir]

Thank you! I didn't realize his house was far away from where she was when she was distressed.

I also think LE are saying she drowned but a private autopsy disagreed IIRC. She was found very close to the guy's house. Brewer IIRC.

This article may clarify some things. It may have been posted before. The thing about Shannan is that the search for her is what turned up all the Heuermann victims. Without her disappearance, the other bodies may never have been found.

"48 Hours" uncovers missing escort Shannan Gilbert's final minutes

New information on the death of missing escort; Search for Gilbert led to discovery of serial killer's graveyard on Long Island

www.cbsnews.com

 

[Tresir]

As we have discussed the distances from Massapequa to the dump sites I thought i would research the distances and list them.

(NOTE The distances are all east of Massepequa except for Ocean Parkway, which is west.)

These are three that he has not been charged with so far.
Massepequa to
Oak Beach (Shannon) 22 miles
Tobay/Fire Island (Karen) 27 miles
Jones Beach (Tanya) 15 miles.

These are the seven he has been charged with at present.

Massepequa to
Gilgo (Melissa, Megan, Amber, Maureen) 17 miles
Ocean Parkway (Jessica, Valerie ) 35 miles West.
North Sea (Sandra ) 64 miles

 

[Tresir]

Looks like there could be a victim from 1989, that they were looking at in 2023. Carmen Vargas. Massepequa to Freeport is only 6 miles. RH was doing an internship in the Freeport area at the time.

https://pix11.com/news/local-news/possible-gilgo-beach-tie-to-woman-found-dead-on-long-island-parkway-being-investigated-family-says/?ipid=promo-link-block2

FREEPORT, N.Y. (PIX11) — The East Harlem woman who flagged Nassau County investigators about potential ties between her aunt’s 1989 murder and accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann seems to be getting results.
Felicita Figueroa notified PIX11 News that an assistant district attorney from Nassau County called her recently and said he would review the cold case file of Carmen Vargas. Vargas, 29, was discovered dead on the southbound side of the Meadowbrook Parkway in Freeport on Sept. 11, 1989.
The victim was bound around her ankles — with a rope on her neck and a towel over her face.
She was missing a piece of the hyoid bone in her neck.
Heuermann was doing an internship in the Freeport area in the late 1980s, and the Meadowbrook Parkway leads directly to Jones Beach, where Heuermann did seasonal work earlier in the decade. Meadowbrook Parkway also goes directly to the traffic circle where Ocean Parkway connects to Jones Beach. The Gilgo Four victims that Heuermann has been linked to were dumped in the brush off Ocean Parkway and discovered in December 2010.
‘Dumped on the parkway’: Retired detective thinks cold case could be linked to Gilgo suspect
The niece of Vargas, who was only 12 when her aunt disappeared, was the last person to see her aunt alive. The family had just returned from a visit to the Central Park pool in the summer of 1989.
“She got into a dark car,” Figueroa recalled. “I was only, like, 12 years old, so I couldn’t really see. But I could tell it was a white man with glasses.”
When PIX11 News contacted the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office Friday, Communications Director Brendan Brosh sent this statement: “We’re working with our law enforcement partners to review unsolved homicide cases that fit the alleged pattern of Rex Heuermann.”
Brosh pointed out that New York State Troopers would be the lead investigators on the Vargas case because she was discovered on a state parkway. The same state police division is also in charge of the 2008 cold case murder of Tanya Rush, a woman who was found dismembered in a black suitcase near the entrance ramp of the Southern State Parkway in North Bellmore.
Rush had turned to sex work in Brooklyn to pay for a drug habit. She was the beloved mother of three children, who remembered what their mom was like before the scourge of crack cocaine.
South Carolina cops investigating claim missing woman was seen with Gilgo Beach suspect
The niece of Vargas said her aunt also had issues with drugs and used to street walk.
“She was really little,” Figueroa recalled. “There are too many similarities” with the alleged Heuermann victims, Figueroa added.
Vargas wasn’t identified for three years. After her family in East Harlem saw a Nassau County Crime Stoppers report on TV in 1992, they contacted police.
A detective from Nassau County visited, and a sister of Vargas gave police dental records. The records identified Vargas as the 1989 victim from the Meadowbrook Parkway, who was missing three teeth.
Police interviewed serial killer Joel Rifkin, who was arrested in 1993, to see if he had killed Vargas. He denied her murder was his handiwork, even as he confessed to the killing 17 other women.
PIX11 News left a message for state police Friday to seek updates on the Vargas investigation.

 

[GrandmaBear]

Looks like there could be a victim from 1989, that they were looking at in 2023. Carmen Vargas. Massepequa to Freeport is only 6 miles. RH was doing an internship in the Freeport area at the time.

https://pix11.com/news/local-news/possible-gilgo-beach-tie-to-woman-found-dead-on-long-island-parkway-being-investigated-family-says/?ipid=promo-link-block2

FREEPORT, N.Y. (PIX11) — The East Harlem woman who flagged Nassau County investigators about potential ties between her aunt’s 1989 murder and accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann seems to be getting results.
Felicita Figueroa notified PIX11 News that an assistant district attorney from Nassau County called her recently and said he would review the cold case file of Carmen Vargas. Vargas, 29, was discovered dead on the southbound side of the Meadowbrook Parkway in Freeport on Sept. 11, 1989.
The victim was bound around her ankles — with a rope on her neck and a towel over her face.
She was missing a piece of the hyoid bone in her neck.
Heuermann was doing an internship in the Freeport area in the late 1980s, and the Meadowbrook Parkway leads directly to Jones Beach, where Heuermann did seasonal work earlier in the decade. Meadowbrook Parkway also goes directly to the traffic circle where Ocean Parkway connects to Jones Beach. The Gilgo Four victims that Heuermann has been linked to were dumped in the brush off Ocean Parkway and discovered in December 2010.
‘Dumped on the parkway’: Retired detective thinks cold case could be linked to Gilgo suspect
The niece of Vargas, who was only 12 when her aunt disappeared, was the last person to see her aunt alive. The family had just returned from a visit to the Central Park pool in the summer of 1989.
“She got into a dark car,” Figueroa recalled. “I was only, like, 12 years old, so I couldn’t really see. But I could tell it was a white man with glasses.”
When PIX11 News contacted the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office Friday, Communications Director Brendan Brosh sent this statement: “We’re working with our law enforcement partners to review unsolved homicide cases that fit the alleged pattern of Rex Heuermann.”
Brosh pointed out that New York State Troopers would be the lead investigators on the Vargas case because she was discovered on a state parkway. The same state police division is also in charge of the 2008 cold case murder of Tanya Rush, a woman who was found dismembered in a black suitcase near the entrance ramp of the Southern State Parkway in North Bellmore.
Rush had turned to sex work in Brooklyn to pay for a drug habit. She was the beloved mother of three children, who remembered what their mom was like before the scourge of crack cocaine.
South Carolina cops investigating claim missing woman was seen with Gilgo Beach suspect
The niece of Vargas said her aunt also had issues with drugs and used to street walk.
“She was really little,” Figueroa recalled. “There are too many similarities” with the alleged Heuermann victims, Figueroa added.
Vargas wasn’t identified for three years. After her family in East Harlem saw a Nassau County Crime Stoppers report on TV in 1992, they contacted police.
A detective from Nassau County visited, and a sister of Vargas gave police dental records. The records identified Vargas as the 1989 victim from the Meadowbrook Parkway, who was missing three teeth.
Police interviewed serial killer Joel Rifkin, who was arrested in 1993, to see if he had killed Vargas. He denied her murder was his handiwork, even as he confessed to the killing 17 other women.
PIX11 News left a message for state police Friday to seek updates on the Vargas investigation.

I've heard the name before but keeping them straight is hard.

I was watching the Adelson case the other day (Guilty!!!) and someone asked the atty host what she was going to cover next and someone asked about covering this one. She said the only way one could was be attending as NY doesnt televise and they are pretty tight lipped in this one re the investigation and keeping it close to the vest as they are to do with investigations--just hard to get any info. It's true that what we have has come if the DA decides to share and he only shares judiciously and I also think this is going to take a very long time to address all victims, or investigate whether they were one of his, put each in front of a grand jury and so forth.

Other than that the only info that gets gleaned is from court filings and even with those, they aren't giving up any more than they have to at this point and of course they are all about the ones he is charged with. We never hear of what they are finding with investigating some of these others...

 

[Tresir]

I've heard the name before but keeping them straight is hard.

I was watching the Adelson case the other day (Guilty!!!) and someone asked the atty host what she was going to cover next and someone asked about covering this one. She said the only way one could was be attending as NY doesnt televise and they are pretty tight lipped in this one re the investigation and keeping it close to the vest as they are to do with investigations--just hard to get any info. It's true that what we have has come if the DA decides to share and he only shares judiciously and I also think this is going to take a very long time to address all victims, or investigate whether they were one of his, put each in front of a grand jury and so forth.

Other than that the only info that gets gleaned is from court filings and even with those, they aren't giving up any more than they have to at this point and of course they are all about the ones he is charged with. We never hear of what they are finding with investigating some of these others...

I think they will be happy to get him for the seven he is already charged with, maybe in the hope he will then confess to some of the others.