The New York architect linked to a series of bodies found on Long Island’s Gilgo Beach last year has been charged with the murder of another woman, increasing the number of body charges against him, according to a filing on The superseding indictment unsealed on Tuesday has increased it to seven so far.

Rex Heuermann is accused of murdering Valerie Mack, a companion who disappeared in 2000 and in whose death he was a suspect, prosecutors said. Prosecutors say DNA evidence established the forensic link that analysis of a hair found among Mack’s remains linked him to Heuermann’s wife and daughter.

Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the new charge on Tuesday. He also pleaded not guilty to the other murder charges against him. A judge remanded him in custody without bail after the hearing.

Mack, 24, had worked as an escort in Philadelphia and was last seen by her family in New Jersey the year she disappeared. According to prosecutors, Heuermann’s so-called “planning document,” which was seized from a PC during a summer search, refers to the landfill where parts of Mack’s body were found.

That document was created in 2000, the year Mack disappeared and was killed, according to prosecutors’ bail application. They also allege Heuermann mutilated Mack’s right leg, the same leg on which her son’s name was tattooed, to thwart efforts to identify her.

Read the superseding indictment

In addition, prosecutors say their searches of Heuermann’s home yielded multiple magazine and news reports about the Long Island serial killer, which allegedly served as “souvenirs or memorabilia” of his alleged crimes

Authorities are also investigating the death of Karen Vergata, whose remains were first discovered in 1996 and finally identified in 2022 after new DNA analysis. There was no immediate update on her case Tuesday.

Heuermann, 61, was first arrested in July 2023 in connection with the deaths of three of the so-called “Gilgo Four,” whose remains were found in burlap sacks on a remote stretch of Ocean Parkway in 2010. He was later charged with the fourth.

The bodies of Maureen Brainard-Barnes Amber Lynn Costello, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman were discovered during a search for a missing companion, Shannan Gilbert, who was later found dead in a swamp. Her case was ruled an accidental drowning, although her family’s lawyers claimed the autopsy was inconclusive.

Investigators say Gilbert’s case is not related to the others. Additional remains were also found during the search for Gilbert. Authorities are still trying to identify some of them, including the remains of an “Asian doe.”

In June, authorities charged Heuermann with two other murders: Jessica Taylor, whose hands and forearm were found on Ocean Parkway years after her torso turned up in the Manorville woods; and Sandra Costilla, who allegedly died a violent death at his hands in November 1993.

Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the charges. His lawyer Michael Brown did not initially comment on the new allegations on Tuesday.

Heuermann has been held without bail since his first arrest.

gilgonews.com