Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Rex Heuermann Receives Life Sentence Without Parole

Rex Heuermann will spend the rest of his life behind bars.

The 62-year-old Long Island resident, identified as the perpetrator behind the Gilgo Beach serial killings, received three consecutive life sentences without the possibility of parole on Wednesday, June 17, along with an additional 100 years to life for the murders.

During the sentencing, Judge Timothy Mazzei delivered a scathing assessment of the defendant, according to reports. "You're a disgusting, small man. If you're a man at all. And you're a coward," the judge stated.

Victims' family members present in the courtroom responded with applause as Heuermann was escorted out, with some calling out "ogre."

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney offered his own assessment of the convicted killer's remorse. "I have no doubt this defendant is sorry. He is sorry he got caught," Tierney said.

In early April, Heuermann entered guilty pleas to seven murders and confessed to an eighth killing connected to the notorious unsolved string of homicides. He admitted in court to strangling all eight victims—many of whom worked as sex workers—and dismembering certain remains. The defendant also acknowledged using burner phones to establish contact with his victims and wrapping their bodies in burlap before abandoning them in isolated areas.

The killings spanned roughly 17 years, with numerous remains discovered scattered along Ocean Parkway in the vicinity of Gilgo Beach. The case remained unsolved for more than a decade before a breakthrough in the investigation, attracting significant media attention and inspiring true crime documentaries and the Netflix series Lost Girls.