(NEW YORK) — Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann addressed by victims’ families at sentencing: ‘Disgusting coward’

Anguished relatives of the Gilgo Beach, New York, serial killing victims aimed decades of anger at their loved ones’ killer, Rex Heuermann, as they read victim impact statements at his sentencing on Wednesday.

“I can’t even put into words the eviscerating hatred I have for you,” said Jasmine Robinson, cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, who would have turned 43 on Wednesday. “You fill me with so much repugnance.”

Another cousin, Violet Swager, remembered Taylor as “fierce, kind, compassionate, beautiful and intelligent.”

She said to Heuermann, “You chose small women because you’re nothing more than a weak, disgusting coward.”

In April, Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to killing seven women: Taylor, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla. He also admitted to killing an eighth woman, Karen Vergata, though he was not formally charged in her death.

Brainard-Barnes’ sister Missy Cann broke down in tears as she read a statement prior to the imposition of the sentence.

“You are a coward who preyed on vulnerable, innocent women,” Cann said.

Mack’s parents, Ed and JoAnn Mack, said Heuermann robbed their daughter of the chance to achieve her dreams.

“I would like to say to Mr. Heuermann, what you have done to our family is beyond what words can express,” JoAnn Mack said. “Even though justice is done, it cannot replace what you have taken from us.”

At the April hearing, Heuermann agreed to serve three consecutive life sentences followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 years-to-life, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the New York City architect targeted sex workers, strangled them and dumped their bodies near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach over the course of 17 years.

Heuermann “walked among us, play acting as a normal, suburban dad, when in reality, all along, he was obsessively targeting innocent women for death,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in April.

The Gilgo Beach cases went unsolved for years, until Heuermann’s arrest in 2023.

Since then, Heuermann has been in custody at the Riverhead Correctional Facility. While in jail, Heuermann has been reading books about murder and serial killers, and he’s communicated with Keith Hunter Jesperson, a 1990s serial killer known as the Happy Face Killer, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon told ABC News.

Defense attorney Michael Brown said in April that the decision to plead guilty belonged solely to Heuermann. Brown said Heuermann would likely have more to say at sentencing.

Part of Heuermann’s plea agreement also requires him to be interviewed by the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann addressed by victims’ families at sentencing: ‘Disgusting coward’

Anguished relatives of the Gilgo Beach, New York, serial killing victims aimed decades of anger at their loved ones’ killer, Rex Heuermann, as they read victim impact statements at his sentencing on Wednesday.

“I can’t even put into words the eviscerating hatred I have for you,” said Jasmine Robinson, cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, who would have turned 43 on Wednesday. “You fill me with so much repugnance.”

Another cousin, Violet Swager, remembered Taylor as “fierce, kind, compassionate, beautiful and intelligent.”

She said to Heuermann, “You chose small women because you’re nothing more than a weak, disgusting coward.”

In April, Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to killing seven women: Taylor, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla. He also admitted to killing an eighth woman, Karen Vergata, though he was not formally charged in her death.

Brainard-Barnes’ sister Missy Cann broke down in tears as she read a statement prior to the imposition of the sentence.

“You are a coward who preyed on vulnerable, innocent women,” Cann said.

Mack’s parents, Ed and JoAnn Mack, said Heuermann robbed their daughter of the chance to achieve her dreams.

“I would like to say to Mr. Heuermann, what you have done to our family is beyond what words can express,” JoAnn Mack said. “Even though justice is done, it cannot replace what you have taken from us.”

At the April hearing, Heuermann agreed to serve three consecutive life sentences followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 years-to-life, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the New York City architect targeted sex workers, strangled them and dumped their bodies near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach over the course of 17 years.

Heuermann “walked among us, play acting as a normal, suburban dad, when in reality, all along, he was obsessively targeting innocent women for death,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in April.

The Gilgo Beach cases went unsolved for years, until Heuermann’s arrest in 2023.

Since then, Heuermann has been in custody at the Riverhead Correctional Facility. While in jail, Heuermann has been reading books about murder and serial killers, and he’s communicated with Keith Hunter Jesperson, a 1990s serial killer known as the Happy Face Killer, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon told ABC News.

Defense attorney Michael Brown said in April that the decision to plead guilty belonged solely to Heuermann. Brown said Heuermann would likely have more to say at sentencing.

Part of Heuermann’s plea agreement also requires him to be interviewed by the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann addressed by victims’ families at sentencing: ‘Disgusting coward’

Anguished relatives of the Gilgo Beach, New York, serial killing victims aimed decades of anger at their loved ones’ killer, Rex Heuermann, as they read victim impact statements at his sentencing on Wednesday.

“I can’t even put into words the eviscerating hatred I have for you,” said Jasmine Robinson, cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, who would have turned 43 on Wednesday. “You fill me with so much repugnance.”

Another cousin, Violet Swager, remembered Taylor as “fierce, kind, compassionate, beautiful and intelligent.”

She said to Heuermann, “You chose small women because you’re nothing more than a weak, disgusting coward.”

In April, Heuermann, 62, pleaded guilty to killing seven women: Taylor, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Lynn Costello, Valerie Mack and Sandra Costilla. He also admitted to killing an eighth woman, Karen Vergata, though he was not formally charged in her death.

Brainard-Barnes’ sister Missy Cann broke down in tears as she read a statement prior to the imposition of the sentence.

“You are a coward who preyed on vulnerable, innocent women,” Cann said.

Mack’s parents, Ed and JoAnn Mack, said Heuermann robbed their daughter of the chance to achieve her dreams.

“I would like to say to Mr. Heuermann, what you have done to our family is beyond what words can express,” JoAnn Mack said. “Even though justice is done, it cannot replace what you have taken from us.”

At the April hearing, Heuermann agreed to serve three consecutive life sentences followed by four consecutive sentences of 25 years-to-life, according to prosecutors.

Prosecutors said the New York City architect targeted sex workers, strangled them and dumped their bodies near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach over the course of 17 years.

Heuermann “walked among us, play acting as a normal, suburban dad, when in reality, all along, he was obsessively targeting innocent women for death,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said in April.

The Gilgo Beach cases went unsolved for years, until Heuermann’s arrest in 2023.

Since then, Heuermann has been in custody at the Riverhead Correctional Facility. While in jail, Heuermann has been reading books about murder and serial killers, and he’s communicated with Keith Hunter Jesperson, a 1990s serial killer known as the Happy Face Killer, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon told ABC News.

Defense attorney Michael Brown said in April that the decision to plead guilty belonged solely to Heuermann. Brown said Heuermann would likely have more to say at sentencing.

Part of Heuermann’s plea agreement also requires him to be interviewed by the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for Luigi Mangione plan to present an “affirmative psychiatric defense” at his state trial, alleging he was suffering an “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Judge Gregory Carro said at a hearing Wednesday.  

Carro ordered Mangione’s attorneys to turn over his psychiatric records to prosecutors immediately.

Carro also agreed to dismiss one of the criminal counts related to possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine.

Prosecutors consented to drop the charge after a ruling earlier this year that prohibited them from using the magazine at trial because it was improperly searched by the officers who arrested Mangione in Pennsylvania.

Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after he was arrested for allegedly gunning down Thompson, a husband and father of two, on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024.

Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8 and his federal trial is set for next year.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for Luigi Mangione plan to present an “affirmative psychiatric defense” at his state trial, alleging he was suffering an “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Judge Gregory Carro said at a hearing Wednesday.  

Carro ordered Mangione’s attorneys to turn over his psychiatric records to prosecutors immediately.

Carro also agreed to dismiss one of the criminal counts related to possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine.

Prosecutors consented to drop the charge after a ruling earlier this year that prohibited them from using the magazine at trial because it was improperly searched by the officers who arrested Mangione in Pennsylvania.

Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after he was arrested for allegedly gunning down Thompson, a husband and father of two, on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024.

Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8 and his federal trial is set for next year.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for Luigi Mangione plan to present an “affirmative psychiatric defense” at his state trial, alleging he was suffering an “extreme emotional disturbance” at the time of the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, Judge Gregory Carro said at a hearing Wednesday.  

Carro ordered Mangione’s attorneys to turn over his psychiatric records to prosecutors immediately.

Carro also agreed to dismiss one of the criminal counts related to possession of a large capacity ammunition magazine.

Prosecutors consented to drop the charge after a ruling earlier this year that prohibited them from using the magazine at trial because it was improperly searched by the officers who arrested Mangione in Pennsylvania.

Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after he was arrested for allegedly gunning down Thompson, a husband and father of two, on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024.

Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8 and his federal trial is set for next year.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.