RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — The former New York architect accused of killing several sex workers and dumping their bodies on a Long Island beach was charged Thursday with two more killings, bringing the total of possible victims to at least six.
Rex Heuermann, 60, was formally told of new charges — second-degree murder in the deaths of Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla — in front of Suffolk County Superior Court Judge Timothy Mazzei in Riverhead.
Heuermann was arrested last July 14 as he was casually walking on a busy New York City street after work, apparently unaware he was being followed by police.
He was originally charged with murder in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27. Earlier this year, he was charged in the killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
The victims were among several found around Gilgo Beach, on Long Island’s South Shore, in cases that went unsolved for more than a decade.
The 20-year-old Taylor disappeared in July, 2003, while working as an escort in New York City, and her remains were found in two grisly incidents, that year and in 2011.
A dog walker in 2003 found Taylor’s body which had been mutilated, with her head removed and arms severed below the elbows, officials said.
A tattoo of hers was also mutilated and “were acts perpetrated by Rex A. Heuermann to … inhibit the identification of the victim via facial recognition, fingerprints and/or tattoo identification,” prosecutors said in court documents.
“Ms. Taylor’s skull, hands, and forearm were discovered along Ocean Parkway, just east of Gilgo Beach,” on March 29, 2011, prosecutors said.
At the time of Taylor’s slaying, Heuerman’s family was on vacation in Vermont with the family of his daughter’s kindergarten classmate. But Heuerman did not go along, prosecutors said.
A pickup truck, seen parked near where Taylor’s body was found, resembled one that Heuermann owned at the time, prosecutors said.
And a hair found on Taylor’s body was matched, with 99.96-percent certainty, to Heuermann, prosecutors said.
Costilla was found by hunters in an wooded area of Southampton on Nov. 20, 1993.
“The victim’s shirt had been pulled up over her torso and head, exposing the victim’s breasts,” according to court documents. “The victim had numerous sharp force injuries to … her face, torso, breasts, left thigh, and vaginal area.”
Hairs found on Costilla’s body also matched Heuermann with 99.96-percent certainty, prosecutors said.
Heuermann wore a suit and tie with his hands handcuffed behind his back throughout Thursday’s brief hearing.
The judge ordered Heuermann to remain behind bars without bail. His next court date is set for July 30.
Carolina Gonzalez reported from Riverhead, New York, and David K. Li from New York City.
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