The “Gilgo Four" Victims All Had These "Chilling" Traits in Common
The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets touches on the lives and deaths of victims Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, known as the Gilgo Four.
In December of 2010, the bodies of four women were found in the bramble of Long Island’s south shore, a disturbing collection of victims that became known as “The Gilgo Four.”
Officials believe the women are among the victims of suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann, whose reported double life is the focus of a gripping three-part documentary, Peacock's The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, now streaming.
The lives and deaths of The Gilgo Four — Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello, all of whom were discovered on Gilgo Beach in New York’s Suffolk County — are touched on in the documentary.
The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets also takes a close look at Heuermann, who's currently awaiting trial for the murders of seven women in total.
To learn more about the initial victims that authorities believe have links to Heuermann, read on below.
What did the Gilgo Four victims have in common?
“The commonality amongst the four women that were originally found was they were all bound, they were all Caucasian, they were relatively small in height, and small in frame,” Dr. Errol Toulon, the Suffolk County Sheriff, said in The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets.
As investigative reporter Mary Murphy explained in Episode 1 of The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, the victims and how they were found had other commonalities. "The Gilgo Four were found in very thick ramble, thick brush, just in about 30 feet on the westbound lane of Ocean Parkway," Murphy said. "They were all naked and they were all bound — three of them with tape and one was bound with belts. And three of them were wrapped in burlap.
"We’re asking ourselves all these questions — ‘How did they die?’ ‘Where were they killed?’" Murphy explained of reporters and investigators assigned to the case.
Investigative writer Shannon McGarvey added that the "Gilgo Four were all petite women, all under 5’5” — and that was chilling."
Each victim had been involved in sex work and all four posted their escort services on the Craigslist website, disappearing shortly after connecting with a client who used a burner phone.
RELATED: New Details about Gilgo Beach Murder Suspect Rex Heuermann's Life Behind Bars Revealed
About the Gilgo Four
Maureen Brainard-Barnes
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was 25 when she disappeared on July 9, 2007. The mother of two worked out of Manhattan, approximately 40 miles east of Gilgo Beach.
Her phone was used three days later in Suffolk County, along the Long Island Expressway, to place two outgoing calls, according to Murphy.
Melissa Barthelemy
Melissa Barthelemy was 24 and living in the Bronx when she disappeared in July 2009. On the day of her disappearance, the burner phone she’d connected with traveled from Massapequa Park in Nassau County to Midtown Manhattan, where Heuermann lived and worked, respectively. Hours later, Barthelemy’s phone traveled the same route in reverse.
Barthelemy’s phone was later used by a man to call and taunt the victim’s younger sister, just 15 at the time, as detailed in The Gilgo Beach Killer.
RELATED: Suspect in Long Island’s Gilgo Beach Serial Killings Charged with Death of Fourth Woman
Megan Waterman
Megan Waterman was 22 when she disappeared on June 6, 2010, not long after connecting with someone on Craigslist. As captured on surveillance video, she was last seen leaving a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge on Long Island, about 25 miles north of where her body was found months later.
Amber Lynn Costello
Amber Lynn Costello was 27 years old when she disappeared from Babylon, New York, just minutes from Gilgo Beach, on or around September 2, 2010. She and her roommate, Dave Schaller, had devised a scheme in which they invited johns to their residence under the pretense of exchanging sex for cash. Their plan included Schaller barging in and posing as an outraged boyfriend, scaring the customer off while the pair pocketed the money.
In Costello’s case, one john who experienced this later used a burner phone in Massapequa Park to text: “That was not so nice. Do I get credit for next time?” The same phone pinged in Midtown Manhattan hours later and then in Babylon the following day, after Costello agreed to a second meetup.
She was never seen alive again.
Schaller likened the man he saw to an “ogre.” He told police the man picked Costello up in a dark green, first-generation Chevrolet Avalanche.
When was Rex Heuermann arrested?
Heuermann was arrested in July of 2023. He is now charged with the murders of Brainard-Barnes, Barthelemy, Waterman, and Costello, as well as Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, and Sandra Costilla.
For the first time, Heuermann’s family is speaking candidly about his alleged crimes, taking audiences into the home prosecutors say he used to torture and murder his victims.
Hear what his family has to say in The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, available to watch now on Peacock.
