Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Judge Roasts 'Disgusting' Gilgo Serial Killer, Locks Him Up for Life

Episode Date: June 18, 2026

Rex Heuermann, the confessed Long Island Serial Killer, is going to prison for the rest of his life for the horrific murders of seven women over 17 years. Heuermann pleaded guilty to seven murders and admitted to an eighth. Families of his victims spoke about their loved ones before the judge sentenced him and blasted Heuermann's lack of remorse. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy goes through the sentencing in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/crimefix to get an extra 25 cents bonus for every gallon on your first tank of gas.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest: Bob Macedonio https://www.instagram.com/bobmacedonio/CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You can look at you when you talk me. After decades of waiting, the tables have turned. Families of the victims of the Long Island serial killer finally got the chance to face the man who took their mothers, daughters, and sisters. And when Rex Eurman spoke, the judge didn't hold back. You can describe as a very big man. You're a disgusting and despicable small man if you're a man at all. And you're a coward.

From Suffolk County, New York, I'll take you inside that emotional sentencing and the chilling details behind what investigators say he planned for years. You know, before we get into this incredibly horrific case about the Gilgo Beach serial killings, I want to tell you about an app that I've been using that I really like. It's called Upside. And Upside will get you cash back on things you buy every day like gas, groceries, and takeout. Here's what you need to do. You download Upside for free. You claim an offer at one of their 100,000 plus locations, and you pay as usual with a credit card. Then you verify the purchase, and boom, you get money back.

So say I need to get gas or I want takeout one night. I'll search for upside offers first. After I spend money, the money appears in my app, and then I can transfer that right into my bank account. Upsides frequent users earn an average of $254 back a year, which is amazing. To start getting your cash back, click the link in the description, or scan the QR code that you see on your screen and use our promo code Crime Fix to get an extra 25 cent bonus on every gallon on your first tank of gas. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is a special edition of Crime Fix coming to you from Suffolk County Long Island. We're here at the courthouse,

and this is where the victims of Rex Hureman were able to speak from the heart today. They got to address the man who stole the lives of their mothers, daughters, and sisters. They faced him after he so senselessly and brutally took their lives. A chance that she ever had these past 26 years since you took her life to attain any of the goals that she had set for herself, and she did. She had hopes and she had dreams and took it all away. Judge Timothy Maisie didn't hold back when addressing Rex Hewerman. You'll see that in just a bit.

but this day was really about the eight known victims. Sandra Castilla, Karen Vergata, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Marine Brainerd Barnes, Megan Waterman, Melissa Bartholomey, and Amber Costello. They were young women who had families who loved them. The women had hopes and dreams, but were targeted by a sadistic monster because of their small size and simply because they were vulnerable, working as sex workers. The murders began in 1993 with the death of six.

Sandra Castilla. The last victim, Amber Costello, was murdered in 2010. Her body and the bodies of Marine Brainerd Barnes, Megan Waterman and Melissa Bartholomew were discovered later that year in December. Melissa's younger sister, Amanda, was just a teenager when her sister vanished. I was 15. 15 years old. I really don't care. I was just going into 10th grade and I never got to finish because even when I was in school, my mind wasn't actually present. I was wrong. I was robbed of my youth. I was robbed of my young adulthood, and I still feel robbed to this day. There were so many years that I didn't want to be on this earth anymore. Then there was an incredibly powerful moment when Amanda Funderberg turned to Rex Ehrmann and ordered him to look at her.

You could look at me a little bit. He charged the relationship between my mother and I for a while. She was afraid for me because of you. She was afraid when I left the house that I wouldn't work her. It was also hard for her to be there for me the way I needed her to be. when she herself was fighting for my sister's life, for someone to take us seriously, fighting for her own life and for her sanity. Thankfully, we were able to reconcile that relationship, something I'll probably never have with your daughter,

and I hope that's something that haunts you for the rest of what I hope is a very short-lived life. I was forced to live with crippling anxiety, depression, PTSD, and a destroyed nervous system. I was filled with rage and sadness every single day. For a while, depression had got the best of me, and so I barely ate, and I cried, slept on repeat. I was afraid of people that looked at me for too long. I was mortified anytime I heard a noise if I was home alone. I had to check the back of my car every time I got in.

I was worried about meeting new people or being in large crowds. My heart even skipped to me as I got a call from a block number, constantly staring at my phone waiting for the next call from you. Sherman had called Amanda from Melissa's cell phone after murdering her and called her awful, awful names, taunting her. Now he had to listen to a woman, give him an order. The daughter of Marine Brainerd Barnes, Nicolette, also spoke. When we talk about the case, I'd like to talk about my mom. She was a warm, bubbly, funny, intelligent, and artistic person. Most of all, she had the biggest heart of anyone I've ever known.

When she would pass an unhoused person on the street, she would literally give them her last dollar, or at least stop to acknowledge them and see how they were doing if she didn't have any money on her. She was a language arts girlie, a poet, an agabrear. She was politically outspoken and that carried through in her writing. She loved hip-hop and R&B music and would write raps in her poetry notebooks, saying she wanted to be a rapper.

She had a strong sense of humor and the most contagious laugh. She was young at heart, but she was also just young. She lived for only another few weeks past her 25th birthday. When I myself turned 25, it wasn't the joyful milestone that most young people enjoyed. It was jarring and painful because I knew that it meant I'd now lived. longer than my mom did. Today I'm nearly two years older than she will ever be. Rex Hurerman stole decades of life from a woman who should still be here making memories with the people who love her. My name is Dylan and I am a son of Maureen. When I lost her, I was just one year old. My earliest memories are defined by

anxiety, fear, and sadness, not knowing where she had went and why I did not have her in my life. I don't remember her voice or her face or the love she gave me as a baby. I never had my mom to see me on my first days of school. I never had her when I graduated. I never had her when I needed her. And I will never have her in the future of what I need her. Marine's sister described her as deeply insightful. She vanished in 2007.

None could have prepared me for the day that Marine didn't come home. At first, I kept telling myself that she would call at any moment, that everything would somehow be okay. But as days turning to years, that hope slowly faded into a devastating reality. After years of searching for Marine, my world shattered. The day my sister was found in the brambles on the side of a dark lonely highway. She was not just murder. She was a victim of a predator, a serial killer.

This was not just a murder. This was a calculated unimaginable evil. It was a shack so profound that my mind and body could not process it. because one morning was identified and met facing the truth that she was gone forever. And that pain is a miracle. It's with survivor's guilt for over a decade. I replayed every moment over and over again in my mind. Megan Waterman's aunt described how her niece came to be a sex worker.

Megan was being prostituted by a king cruz, a pimp who disguised himself as her boyfriend. And because of his trafficking of my niece, the prisoner, who sits in this courtroom today, was able to rob her of her life and rob those who loved her from a future with her. On June 6, 2010, the prisoner not only took all of Megan's hopes and dreams, but he also shattered our family. I'm certain my niece fought as hard as she possibly could to come back to our daughter, whom she loved with every fiber of her being. When you consider the size of this man and the fact that he searched for children and smaller statured victims, it becomes quite clear he was not a fearsome predator, but rather a cowardly opportunist. Prisoners plan to erase Megan, Maureen, Melissa, Amberlin, Jessica, Valerie, Sandra, and Karen backfired. Because his vile and cowardly actions, our loved ones will be supposed to be supposed to be. enough for years with love and reverence, not only by their families and friends, but by millions of people around the world now mourn their loss.

And Megan's daughter, Liliana, spoke of the mother. She never knew. She was just a toddler when Megan disappeared in June 2010. My name is Liliana Waterman, and I'm the daughter of Megan Watman. My mother went missing when I was just three years old. Her body was not found until I was four. She was taken from me during the most important years of my life. A little girl meets her mom. I never got the chance to know what it was like to be comforted by her after a bad day, to hear her advice or to grow up with her guidance in love. I was not fully aware of the horrific details of what had happened until I was around nine years old. Had you tell a child that her mom was brutally murdered?

I remember sitting at home in fourth grade scrolling online when I came across an article about her. That was the moment I truly understood what had happened. I remember asking my grandparents what the word prostitute, pink meant. In an instant, my world was shattered. My heart broke all over again. I spent 16 mother days without my mom. I have lived thousands of days without her. I am now the same age my mom was when she was first pregnant with me,

and I realized just how young she really was. I feel as though I have barely begun to understand life, yet she was denied the chance to live hers. Rex Heerman did not just take my mother's life. He stole an entire lifetime of memories that me and her never got to make. He took away birthdays, holidays, conversations, hugs, advice, and every future moment a mother and daughter should have shared. Valerie Mack's parents spoke about the loss of their daughter.

Mr. Hearman, you're young. Do Valerie's earthly body have not. To paraphrase, C.S. Lewis, there are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere morgue. Everyone you've joked with, worked with, married, snuffed, or even killed, is born an immortal creature. Each will live forever, either in majestic glory or imaginable horror. humble horror. I can only imagine when my day comes and I find myself standing before Jesus,

Valerie will be at his side. What you have done to our family is beyond what words can express. Even though justice is done, it cannot replace what you have taken from us. or can it give our beloved Valerie back her life here on earth? I do, however, want you to understand that even though you were able to commit these horrendous atrocities against our daughter, and no matter what sense of power or control you felt over Valerie's body, you were never able to touch her soul. I'm telling you, unless you get yourself right before God, Valerie is the one who is free today, and you are not. She is living her life with her savior, Jesus Christ, and what you have done has gained you nothing.

I'd like you to understand. And Jessica Taylor's cousin spoke about losing her in such a horrific way. Do you want to end up like Jessica? That is a question I heard many times as a teenager. Something spoken out of the fear of knowing what a monster is truly capable of. The answer was yes. I did want to end up like Jess. She was fierce, kind, compassionate, beautiful, and intelligent.

She left every person she met better than she found them, even if they only met for a moment. She never met a stranger. She was pure sunshine. I wish all of the time that I could have been able to be. know her as a woman that I am today, that I can see the woman she would have become, that I would have hugged her tighter the last time that I saw her, that she can know my son, the trips us and my sister could have had,

the memories we could have continued to make. Instead, I try to remember her through the memories that I'm lucky to hold on to. I pray to her and I leave flowers in memory of her in the places that she was left behind. I'll never forget how I felt when I have that. call. I couldn't wrap my mind around the word torso. No way could someone do that just a mile of. Torso. Headless and handless. These words want me. Our prefrontal cortex had barely finished. For torso? I thought that was a midgerent. It's a chopped up body. No way. Disgusting. Awful, terrifying. Monstrous. Brutal. What?

Parts of her are all over the place missing. They didn't find it all over. All of her. Headless and handless. I still don't understand. That weekend. That weekend, she was supposed to come home. That weekend, family and friends were looking for her.

Loved ones were calling her. She wasn't going to miss that weekend. She never picked up the phone. She didn't call anyone back because of you. The family of Amber Costello. provided a statement to be read. Before Amber Costello's death, she tricked Rex Huraman and more ways than one. If it were not for my sister's street smarts, task force united to Kest the serial killer could still be on the hunt.

Amber's quick thinking lit the match and ignited fits of rage in the egotistical evil narcissist, Rex Huraman. The immoral man sitting before you today could not handle being outwitted by Amber Costello. My sister's actions led this hidden murderer to show out and fitz of rage. This unbridled anger for having been fooled by Amber caused Rex Heronman to not only hunt Amber, but also hunt my daughter and me. Although my daughter, myself, and countless others escaped Rex Heurman's cold, calculated clutches. My sister, Amber Lynn Costello, paid the ultimate price.

However, her sacrifice and soul brings victory to this courtroom because she has strength in Jesus Christ. The exact details of what happened to our treasure of Amber after she said her last goodbye to friends as she climbed inside Rex Huron's avalanche. I know her blind faith in Jesus Christ helped her endure the mental torment and the physical agony, this monster sitting before you today inflicted upon her flesh. And Sandra Castia's family did the same. My name is Ruth Ramos and I am the sister of Sandra Castia. We thank Your Honor for allowing us alongside the other grieving families to address the court today. regarding the profound impact the loss of mothers, daughters, and sisters has had on our lives. Receiving the news about my sister and the manner in which she was discovered

is a level of devastation from which we will never fully recover. Today is a deeply meaningful and long-awayed day, not only for Sandra's family, but for the other victims' families. Amber, Valerie, Karen, Jessica, Maureen, Melissa, and Megyn. It was always my hope that the person responsible for destroying our family and the families of so many would someday be held fully accountable in that day is here. While justice cannot bring Amber, Valerie, Karen, Jessica, Maureen, Melissa, Megan, and Sandra back, it ensures they are no longer forgotten and brings our family's peace

knowing that the person responsible for our irreversible pain can never harm and you. anyone else. Rex Ehrman is a sadistic serial killer who targeted women he could easily overpower because of their size and the work that they did. His victims suffered immensely. Their deaths were likely not quick. He admitted to strangling each of his victims. And his computer searches showed searches for torture pornography, depicting both children and adults. The image he portrayed as a family man from the suburbs was simply a facade. This is a defendant who meticulously planned and murder of eight young women. He obsessed over every detail as a means to both prepare for the next murder and also to relive the twisted gratification and sick pleasure he derived from taking the

lives of eight young women. There is nothing the defendant can say or do in this courtroom that could mitigate what he has taken from those women and their families. Any remorse shown is insufficient and far too little. It is all too little and too late. As the court is aware, the defendant has permitted certain information to trickle out through statements made to his ex-wife and his therapist, but those are nothing more than pathetic attempts by this defendant to continue to manipulate his family and control that family, control both his family and the message of this case. The true message of this case was delivered by those victims today, Your Honor.

That's what this case is about. And I submit that nothing that this defendant has to say past his arrest, which occurred in July of 2023, anything he says beyond that is meaningless and self-serving. It's meant merely to deflect from his own guilty actions. I have no doubt that this defendant is very sorry, Your Honor. He is sorry. He is sorry he got caught. What is important, Your Honor, is the statements

made by this defendant prior to his arrest and the actions taken by his defendant prior to that arrest as well, because those things reveal what this defendant is truly about. Who this defendant truly is, is seen in that planning document that was recovered one of the defendant's electronic devices that was recovered by the task force during the execution of the first search warrant. In that document, the defendant coldly plans out the murder of multiple women as though he was addressing a math problem or filling out a shopping list. Behind the suit and tie, he's a sadist who meticulously honed his craft by researching experts in serial killers, studying John Douglas's mind hunter for clues on how to become a better killer in order to avoid getting caught. Hureman studied and made notes like a student who would study for an exam,

A forensic examination of his computer revealed lists. One entitled Things to Remember. It listed sound travels, control the amount of air in and out to control the noise made. Get sleep before hunt. Too tired creates problems. Hit harder. Too many hit to take down. Consider a hit to the facer next next time for takedown.

More sleep and noise control equals more playtime. Use pushpins to hang drop cloths from the ceiling, not tape. Use heavy rope for neck. Light rope broke. stress of being tightened. Heerman also had a document that appeared to list planning and killing. It was called HK 2000.

The document listed problems like DNA, tire marks, bloodstains, and fingerprints. Then there were supplies needed. Boots. Lye. Police scanner. Rope. Saw or cutting tools,

hair nets, photo film. And the list goes on. Then there was a column for DS, which investigators believed meant dump site or dumpster site. The next list, TRG, which investigators believed meant Target. Underneath that, it said small is good. But today, the focus was not on planning.

For the sick killer's twisted deeds, it was on the pain of the families and the final words of a killer. 50 cents production company G-unit film and television ink, working alongside Peacock streaming services, to produce a docus series that paid millions of dollars to the prisoner's ex-wife, daughter, steps on, and their return. is completely disgusting and inexcusable. When I read about this, I was both sickened in shock and deeply disturbed. When it came time for Rex Horman to speak, he stood at the judge's order. Stand up.

There are no words I can say. I am responsible for what was said in this room today. The words I would say have no meaning, and I'm going to leave it there at this time. at this time. Speak up. Mr. Human, as Mr. Tierney said, I know that you're sorry that you got caught.

I assume that you're sorry for what you've done to your wife and children. Are you a little bit sorry for what you did to these poor innocent women? Eight women that you strangled to death? At least eight that we know of? Are you at least a little bit sorry for that? Yes?

You've been described as a very big man. But you're a disgusting and despicable small man if you're a man at all. And you're a coward as a result of your plea of guilty to murder in the first degree and count one of indictment 73544. It's essentially court that you serve the rest of your life without the possibility of parole. Respect to count two, murder in the first degree. It's essentially court that you serve the rest of the rest of your life. your life without the possibility of parole. With respect to count three, plead guilty to murder in the first degree. It's a sentence of the court that you serve the rest of your life without

the possibility of parole. Those three sentences to run consecutive with each other. With respect to count seven, murder in the second degree. It's a sentence of the court that you serve an indetermined, turn of imprisonment, term, imprisonment with a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of your life. with respect to count 8, murder in the second degree. It's essentially court to serve an indeterminate term of imprisonment with a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of your life.

With respect to count 9, murder in the second degree. It's essentially court that you serve an indeterminate term of imprisonment with a minimum of 25 years and a maximum of your life and finally with respect to count 10 murder in the second degree. It's essentially court to your servant indeterminate and term of

imprisonment with a minimum of 25 years and maximum of your life. all of those sentences to run consecutive with each other. Mr. Taney, with respect to counts four, five, and six, you move to dismiss your own satisfaction of that. That application granted. Other agencies to collect. Anything else, gentlemen?

Nothing from the truth for you. Mr. Brown? Nothing for other. Get him out of here. One person who was noticeably absent from today's sentencing hearing, Rex Heurman's ex-wife, Asa Ellarup. I spoke with Ellarup's lawyer, Bob Macedonia, before the sentencing about her.

decision to not attend. She's not going tomorrow. She's doing very well and the reason she's not going tomorrow. She believes, and rightfully so, that tomorrow is a day for the victims, you know, their closure, their, you know, finality on the case and seeing her put the rest and doesn't want her appearance there to deflect or take any attention away where it should focus. For a long time, it appeared that she did not believe that he carried out these homicides. I think any wife would have questions, would say, there's no way this happened in my house under my nose. And I think that's normal to be in some denial.

But she's kind of come to grips with the fact that her husband is a serial killer. She has come to grips with it. She does believe it. It was a long process. We spent almost two years with her before she came to the conclusion that he did do this. And then finally at one point in time, he did admit to her,

in person that he was responsible for all these eight homicides. You visit Rex Sherman periodically, is that right? I've seen him on several occasions, spend a good amount of time with him. Why do you do that? I represent ASSA on the all civil matters, and there's been several documents that we need to get signed, you know, the transfer of properties and, you know, different vehicles, go over the divorce documents and discuss those issues with them which he's not representing on. So Mike Brown represents him obviously on the criminal matters, but the other stuff he's not represented on.

What's that like when you go into the Suffolk County Jail, into the detention center, and you're sitting there with this man who committed all these horrific murders that went unsolved for so many years? I mean, you're a lawyer. You're representing his ex-wife, but you're a human being. You live here. He's always been professional, courteous, appropriate. He's articulate and he's always asked questions that are appropriate from what we're discussing. And I never saw that side of him.

I know there's another side of him. Obviously, we all know that now, but I never felt intimidated or, you know, in kind of any fear when I was there with him. And, you know, frankly, like I said, he's been articulate and nice enough and personal enough where I've had normal conversations with him about, you know, everyday current events. Is he personal? He actually is. He actually has a sense of humor also. So it's unique to say that because, you know, obviously he's responsible for, you know, murdering eight women. But that's a side, hopefully none of us ever get to see again.

Is it odd when you're sitting there and you're thinking to yourself, this guy is personable and he is, you know, jovial or what have you. But he's a wolf and sheep's clothing. There is this other side. I mean, how bizarre is that for you as a lawyer to have to sit there and deal with us? It's not as bizarre as you would think because practicing criminal law for 30-something years, we deal with it on a regular basis that there are people that commit violent, heinous acts that also do function in society. He just happens to commit some that are high profile and they're all murders.

But, you know, I've had other murderers sit in the chair you're sitting in that you would not know that they'd serve 25 years for murder. We've tried custody cases, which we've gained custody of children for people that have done time for murder or homicides or different and other kinds of various questions. crimes in the county. So people do present double lives at a time that you may not even know who you're dealing with. We've come into contact with how many people in the course of a day. We really don't know what the rest of the day is like. How many times have you been there with Rex visiting? Probably a dozen at least. Any visits will now have to take place at a New York

State prison where Herman will spend the rest of his days rotting in a prison cell, cooperating with the FBI's behavioral analysis unit as they try to find out what made him into such a monster. Horman's lawyer, Mike Brown, talked about what he said to the victims when he turned to address them in court. Well, we discussed the fact that, you know, really, they were an intricate part from our standpoint of this case coming to fruition in the sense that they kept on the case. Obviously, there were different administrations over the course of this investigation.

And I sincerely believe that because of their insistence, and persistence on this case, it ultimately led to a lot more pressure, a lot more resources being dedicated, and ultimately the arrest of my client. And then I also added the fact that, you know, going into this, most of us just know what we know from reading in the press.

I've reviewed so many pages of discovery. I really feel like I know these individuals, these victims. And that's what I told the family. I really do think, even though I've never met him, I really do feel like I know them and I've met them. And I just wanted to know that, them to know that. In the end, Rex Yorman is going to die behind prison walls. And rest assured, the investigation into Rex Yorman, it may be over as far as the Gilgo Beach murders go. But the investigation into Rex Yorman is far from over. For the victims, the sentencing marks a turning point, time when they can begin to move forward while remembering and honoring their loved ones.

I just want to say that having been giving the opportunity to say what I said today, I feel a lot lighter and I have hope for healing. I just want to thank everyone who spent time on this case listening to our voices and giving my mom and all these other ladies a chance to have their voices heard. This has been a long day coming and from this day forward stop saying his name stop putting his face everywhere, put the girl's face, put their names, and make it known that we are the ones who live on for them. Rex will never matter, and he has nothing to us, and it should be nothing to any of you. So what happens to Rex Herman now? Well, he's going to be shipped off to a reception center with the New York State Prison System from there. He'll be shipped

off to another maximum security prison. But the investigation in Rex Huroman, it is far from over, and we'll keep an eye on it to let you know what happens. That's it for this episode of Crime Fix coming to you from Suffolk County, Long Island. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. I'll see you back here next time.