The latest on the Gilgo Beach serial killings investigation

Our live coverage has ended. Read up on a timeline of the Gilgo Beach murders investigation here.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney speaks at a press conference on August 4.

Officials on New York’s Long Island say they are not immediately announcing new charges in the Gilgo Beach murder case after identifying a new victim, Karen Vergata, for the first time Friday.

“It’s important to note that there are no charges at this time,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said at a news conference. “Ms. Vergata’s disappearance was in 1996, which is 27 years ago. We are going to continue to work this particular case, as we did the Gilgo Four investigation.”

He did not comment on any potential suspects that investigators have at this time, saying it is a “confidential investigation.”

Remember: The sprawling case began with a search for a missing woman in 2010 and led to the findings of 11 sets of remains, 10 of which were believed to have been of homicide victims.

New York City architect Rex Heuermann was charged last month with three counts of first-degree murder for killings of three women who comprise the “Gilgo Four,” according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office. He is the prime suspect in the disappearance and death of the fourth woman.

After authorities in Suffolk County on New York’s Long Island identified a Karen Vergata as a Gilgo Beach murder victim who had previously gone nameless, CNN legal analyst Misty Marris said they are signaling that this is a separate investigation from the “Gilgo Four.”

“It doesn’t mean that they have excluded Rex Heuermann as being involved,” she said, referring to the New York architect who has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the killings of three women of the “Gilgo Four.” Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance and death of a fourth woman, according to a court document from prosecutors. Through his attorney, Heuermann has refuted the charges against him.

“But we have to remember. This was the Gilgo Beach task force. They were not just looking at these four bodies. They are looking 11 total bodies which were found in this area. So the investigation continues. And here, they’re trying to bring forth the identity of this victim, and this brings some solace to family members who have lost somebody who has been missing for so many years,” she said. 

An image of Karen Vergata is shown at a press conference on August 4.

Authorities in Suffolk County on New York’s Long Island have identified a Gilgo Beach murder victim who had previously gone nameless: Karen Vergata.

That victim had been known as Jane Doe 7 or Fire Island Jane Doe in the case that has spanned over a decade. She was 34 at the time of her death.

Vergata, who lived in midtown Manhattan, is believed to have been working as an escort at the time of her disappearance, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney. No missing persons report was filed.

Vergata’s remains — feet and legs — were found on April 20, 1996, on the bayshore side of Fire Island, which is a mile from Davis Park Beach, Tierney said. He added that 15 years later, on April 11, 2011, additional remains — a skull — were discovered in Nassau County.

Authorities determined in 2011 via DNA analysis that the legs and the skull belonged to the same person.

In August 2022, a DNA profile suitable for genealogical comparison was developed from the remains, and in September 2022, the FBI identified Vergata through genealogy review. Then in October 2022, using a buccal or cheek swab from a relative, authorities were able to definitively identify her as the victim, Tierney said.

Family members were contacted ahead of this press conference, he added.

CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia contributed reporting to this post.

Authorities in Suffolk County on New York’s Long Island are expected to identify a Gilgo Beach murder victim that has gone nameless in the case that has spanned over a decade, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

The source said authorities in a news conference Friday morning will name Jane Doe 7, whose remains were found in 2011 along Ocean Parkway during the expansive Gilgo Beach investigative search and later linked to remains first found on Fire Island in New York in 1996.

The Suffolk County district attorney, police commissioner, and sheriff, as well as representatives from the New York State Police and Federal Bureau of Investigation, will “hold a press conference to announce an update in the ongoing investigation by the Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force” at 10:30 a.m. ET, CNN previously reported.

The sprawling case, which began with a search for a missing woman in 2010, led to the findings of 11 sets of remains — 10 of which were believed to have been victims of homicide.    

No new charges anticipated against Rex Heuermann: Authorities are not expected to announce any new charges against New York architect Rex Heuermann.

Heuermann is charged with three counts of first-degree murder for the killings of Melissa Barthelemy in 2009 and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello in 2010, according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office.

He is also the prime suspect in the 2007 disappearance and death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, according to a court document from prosecutors.

Heuermann has not been charged in connection with that fourth homicide, but the investigation “is expected to be resolved soon,” the document says.

Through his attorney, Heuermann has refuted the charges against him.

CNN’s Kristina Sgueglia and Holly Yan contributed reporting to this post.

Rex Heuermann, the suspect in the Gilgo Beach killings, appeared in a Suffolk County court on August 1.

The investigations into Rex Heuermann have expanded to other parts of the country.

Police in Las Vegas are sifting through unsolved cases for any sign that Heuermann may have been involved, CNN has reported.

Though they lived on Long Island, the suspect and his wife had bought two timeshare condos in Las Vegas between 2003 and 2005, according to property records obtained by CNN. The couple sold the first property, the records show, and it is unclear whether they still own the second.

And in northern South Carolina’s Chester County, where tax records show Heuermann owns four large parcels of land, the sheriff’s office says it has been gathering evidence since before the suspect’s arrest.

A search warrant for South Carolina property owned by the suspect sought possible “trophies,” among other items, the suspect may have taken after the killings, according to the Chester News & Reporter, which has seen the warrant.

The warrant shows a long list of items under “property sought,” many of which are listed as “trophies,” the newspaper reported.

That list includes phones, articles of clothing, jewelry, identification, notebooks, ledgers, Bibles, personal effects and/or photographs or recordings depicting the victims, according to the paper.

Other “trophy” items were separately listed, according to the paper, including condoms, black leather belts, knives, scissors, devices used to stamp letters on leather goods, and “Bounty paper towels specifically from the Bounty Modern Print Collection.”

CNN has reached out to South Carolina authorities to obtain the search warrant.

Forensic and trace evidence was also sought, the newspaper reported, including anything that could provide DNA like fingernails and hair.

The warrant also reveals authorities are looking for other items that may have been used in the killings and any items from locked rooms or storage areas on property owned by Heuermann, the paper reported.

Officials are expected to provide an update on the Gilgo Beach murders investigation Friday at 10:30 a.m. ET, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s announced. 

New York City architect Rex Heuermann was charged last month with three counts of first-degree murder for killings of three women who comprise the “Gilgo Four,” according to the Suffolk County district attorney’s office. He is the prime suspect in the disappearance and death of the fourth woman.

The four bodies were among a string of 11 sets of human remains found scattered along Long Island’s South Shore between 2010 and 2011, sparking what police have called “one of the most consequential homicide investigations” in the island’s history.

Authorities investigate at the home of suspect Rex Heuermann in Massapequa Park, New York, on July 24.

Rex Heuermann was arrested in New York City and charged with murder in the deaths of three of the “Gilgo Four” – a group of four women whose remains were found along a short stretch of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach in 2010.

He has pleaded not guilty in the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello.

The 59-year-old architect is also the prime suspect in the disappearance and killing of the fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, but he has yet to be charged in that case.

The technology authorities are using to search the backyard will “help us … identify anything in that backyard that we need to take into our possession,” Harrison. Investigators will likely continue their work at the Massapequa Park site for another day or two, he said.

Since this spring, investigators probing the case have been operating on the theory that Heuermann committed the killings in his home, CNN has previously reported.

The home is just a few miles from where the women’s remains were found.

A source involved in the investigation has told CNN the fact that the disappearances occurred during times that Heuermann’s family was out of town suggests he may have lured victims to his Long Island home, where the suspect lived with his wife, their daughter and stepson.

Investigators believe committing the killings at home would have given Heuermann control of the environment and access to materials that were found at the crime scene, including tape and burlap bags, the source said.

Investigators found a hoard of between 200 and 300 guns stashed in a walled-off vault which was locked behind a metal door in the home, a source told CNN. Harrison confirmed there was a vault with guns at the home, but denied reports of a “soundproof room” in the house.