June 18, 2026

Gilgo Beach, Finally: Rex Heuermann Sentenced to Life Without Parole as 8 Families Face Him

Gilgo Beach, Finally: Rex Heuermann Sentenced to Life Without Parole as 8 Families Face Him

Garret Fisher closes the book on Gilgo Beach. After nearly three years of silence, Rex Heuermann — the 62-year-old Long Island architect who murdered eight women between 1993 and 2010 — was sentenced Wednesday in a Suffolk County courtroom to three consecutive life sentences without parole, followed by four more consecutive terms of 25 years to life. There is no parole anywhere in the sentence; he will die in prison. Judge Timothy Mazzei called him "a disgusting and small man," and District Attorney Ray Tierney dismissed his remorse as self-serving — "he is very sorry he got caught." But the day belonged to the families of Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, and Karen Vergata, who one by one stood and took the courtroom away from the man who tried to make them invisible. Heuermann spoke for about ten seconds; the families spoke for all eight women. This episode covers the sentence, the prosecution's "shopping list for murder" planning document, and the victim-impact statements that gave these women back their voices.

Join our new FB groups page here. Take the poll!

Join the Daily Crime & Justice community on social media! We're building a passionate group of true crime enthusiasts who love diving deep into the most shocking cases in America.
Follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching "Daily Crime & Justice" on either platform.


You'll get exclusive behind-the-scenes content, breaking news updates on cases we're covering, and early alerts when new episodes drop. Our social media is where Garret Fisher's hottest takes live, including reactions that don't make it into the show.

But more importantly, it's where YOU come in. Share your theories, debate the verdicts, and connect with fellow listeners who are just as obsessed with justice as you are. Did the jury get it right? What questions do you still have? Your comments and insights often shape future episodes.


We cover the trials that matter, but our community makes the conversation unforgettable. Come for Garret's signature cynical commentary, stay for the incredible discussions with thousands of true crime fans who get it.

WEBVTT

1
00:00:03.200 --> 00:00:13.240
Kalaroga Shark Media. For almost three years, Rex Heyerman said

2
00:00:13.279 --> 00:00:16.920
nothing through his arrest in July of twenty twenty three,

3
00:00:17.480 --> 00:00:21.280
through hearing after hearing, through the day. This passed April,

4
00:00:21.320 --> 00:00:23.559
when he stood up in court and pleaded guilty to

5
00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:26.960
murdering seven women and then admitted to an eighth he

6
00:00:27.000 --> 00:00:29.839
had never even been charged with. Through all of it,

7
00:00:30.079 --> 00:00:32.240
the man the world came to know as the Gilgo

8
00:00:32.320 --> 00:00:36.560
Beach serial killer kept his mouth shut. Yesterday in a

9
00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:40.359
courtroom in Riverhead, New York, he finally opened it. And

10
00:00:40.399 --> 00:00:42.920
I want you to hear what this man chose to say,

11
00:00:43.159 --> 00:00:46.719
after nearly three years and eight dead women, with the

12
00:00:46.759 --> 00:00:51.640
whole country listening here. It is, word for word quote.

13
00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:54.399
I am responsible for all that was said in this room.

14
00:00:54.759 --> 00:00:57.640
The words I say will have no meaning. That's it.

15
00:00:58.240 --> 00:01:01.479
That's what he had. Look, I'm going to be honest

16
00:01:01.479 --> 00:01:04.799
with you. For once in his miserable life, Rex Hoyerman

17
00:01:04.959 --> 00:01:08.040
was right about something. The words he said had no

18
00:01:08.239 --> 00:01:10.959
meaning because by the time he stood up to say them,

19
00:01:11.200 --> 00:01:14.359
eight families had already walked into that courtroom and taken

20
00:01:14.400 --> 00:01:17.319
it away from him. He doesn't get the last word anymore.

21
00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:20.359
He hasn't for a while now. He just hadn't figured

22
00:01:20.400 --> 00:01:28.200
it out yet. Good morning, and welcome to Daily Crime

23
00:01:28.239 --> 00:01:32.599
and Justice. I'm Garrett Fisher. It's Thursday, June eighteenth, twenty

24
00:01:32.680 --> 00:01:35.480
twenty six, and today we are doing something we have

25
00:01:35.560 --> 00:01:38.799
been promising you on this show since last August. We

26
00:01:38.840 --> 00:01:42.280
are closing the book on Gilgo Beach. The man is

27
00:01:42.359 --> 00:01:45.439
going to die in a cell, and before he does,

28
00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:48.159
the people he tried to make invisible got to look

29
00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:50.879
him in the eye and tell him exactly who he is.

30
00:01:52.560 --> 00:01:54.879
Let's start with the number, because the number is the

31
00:01:54.879 --> 00:01:59.079
whole point of yesterday, Suffolk County Judge Timothy Masey sentenced

32
00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:03.079
Rex Hoyerman to three consecutive life sentences without the possibility

33
00:02:03.120 --> 00:02:06.680
of parole, followed by four more consecutive terms of twenty

34
00:02:06.680 --> 00:02:10.000
five years to life. I want to be precise about that,

35
00:02:10.080 --> 00:02:13.759
because you may see it reported sloply elsewhere. There is

36
00:02:13.879 --> 00:02:16.800
no parole anywhere in this sentence, not on the front

37
00:02:16.840 --> 00:02:19.639
of it, not on the back of it. Rex Heyerman

38
00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:22.240
is sixty two years old and he will leave prison

39
00:02:22.319 --> 00:02:25.360
in a box. That is the entirety of his future,

40
00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:28.960
and he earned every day of it. The sentence covers

41
00:02:29.000 --> 00:02:31.879
the murders of seven women he was charged with, Melissa

42
00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:37.439
Barthelemy Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainerd Barnes, Jessica Taylor,

43
00:02:37.599 --> 00:02:41.439
Sandra Castilla, and Valerie Mack. And it folds in the

44
00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:45.639
eighth Karen Vergatta, a woman he admitted killing back in

45
00:02:45.759 --> 00:02:49.240
nineteen ninety six, a murder the state never even had

46
00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:52.240
him on paper for until he said the words himself.

47
00:02:53.000 --> 00:02:57.639
Eight women killed by his own admission, by strangulation, some

48
00:02:57.719 --> 00:03:01.159
of them dismembered, all of them scat along the lonely

49
00:03:01.199 --> 00:03:04.599
stretches of Long Island shoreline that gave this case its name.

50
00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:10.199
Now the moment everyone was waiting for his defense. Attorney

51
00:03:10.199 --> 00:03:12.879
had been hinting for weeks that Hoyerman might finally speak

52
00:03:12.879 --> 00:03:17.919
at sentencing, and he did. For about ten seconds, he stood,

53
00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:20.280
He said he was responsible for what was said in

54
00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:23.120
the room. He said his words would have no meaning,

55
00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:27.400
and he sat back down. And then Judge Masey did

56
00:03:27.439 --> 00:03:29.919
something I want to give him credit for. He didn't

57
00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:32.879
let it slide. He looked at Hoyerman and he asked

58
00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:36.159
him directly, I assume you are a little bit sorry

59
00:03:36.199 --> 00:03:39.080
for the eight women. You strangled eight that we know of,

60
00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:43.639
And Hoyerman said yes, and the room came apart, family

61
00:03:43.639 --> 00:03:46.280
members shouting back at him, one woman calling out that

62
00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:50.960
he was no, he was not sorry. People crying, people furious,

63
00:03:51.400 --> 00:03:54.479
and matse Before he handed down the sentence, looked at

64
00:03:54.520 --> 00:03:57.680
this six foot four architect who had spent decades presenting

65
00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:00.879
himself as the harmless dad next door, and he said,

66
00:04:01.680 --> 00:04:04.240
you've been described as a big man, but you are

67
00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:07.319
a disgusting and small man. If you're a man at all,

68
00:04:08.039 --> 00:04:12.599
you're a coward. That's the judge from the bench. And

69
00:04:12.759 --> 00:04:15.800
when the sentence came down, the courtroom didn't go quiet

70
00:04:15.800 --> 00:04:19.560
the way courtrooms are supposed to. People cheered, people applauded.

71
00:04:19.959 --> 00:04:23.600
Somebody yelled justice. As they let him out, you could

72
00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:27.079
hear the word ogre following him through the room. That's

73
00:04:27.120 --> 00:04:29.720
the sound eight families make when a thirty year weight

74
00:04:29.879 --> 00:04:43.600
finally ends he's sorry, he got caught. I want to

75
00:04:43.600 --> 00:04:45.639
talk about the two men who spoke for the system

76
00:04:45.720 --> 00:04:48.759
yesterday because they could not have framed this more differently,

77
00:04:49.079 --> 00:04:53.759
and the gap between them tells you something. First, the prosecution,

78
00:04:54.879 --> 00:04:58.240
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has been carrying this case,

79
00:04:58.439 --> 00:05:01.079
and he was not in a forgiving mood. D When

80
00:05:01.079 --> 00:05:04.399
the question of Heyerman's remorse came up, all those statements

81
00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:07.360
that had trickled out since his arrest, through his therapists,

82
00:05:07.560 --> 00:05:11.639
through his family, through his ex wife, Tierney dismissed every

83
00:05:11.720 --> 00:05:14.879
bit of it. Nothing this defendant has said since July

84
00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:18.879
twenty twenty three is meaningful. He said, it's self serving.

85
00:05:19.319 --> 00:05:21.240
And then he said the line that I think is

86
00:05:21.319 --> 00:05:24.399
the truest thing anyone said all day. I have no

87
00:05:24.519 --> 00:05:28.040
doubt this defendant is very sorry. He is very sorry

88
00:05:28.079 --> 00:05:31.319
he got caught there it is. That's the whole man

89
00:05:31.360 --> 00:05:34.560
in one sentence. And Tierney pointed to the one piece

90
00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:37.160
of evidence that I think should haunt anybody who still

91
00:05:37.199 --> 00:05:41.839
finds this guy fascinating, the planning document. Investigators found it

92
00:05:41.839 --> 00:05:46.959
in Heyerman's home, a written blueprint for murder. Sections on preparation,

93
00:05:47.399 --> 00:05:52.879
sections on supplies, sections on DNA, sections on disposing of

94
00:05:52.920 --> 00:05:56.319
a body. Tierney said it read like a shopping list

95
00:05:56.319 --> 00:05:59.600
for murder, and that it proved the victims meant absolutely

96
00:05:59.639 --> 00:06:03.240
nothing to him. They weren't people to Rex Hoyerman, they

97
00:06:03.279 --> 00:06:08.720
were line items. He made a checklist that's not a mistake.

98
00:06:09.240 --> 00:06:12.800
That's a choice. You don't accidentally write yourself a to

99
00:06:12.839 --> 00:06:15.680
do list for killing women. You sit down and you

100
00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:18.120
plan it, and you do it again, and you keep

101
00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:22.439
the document. And then there's the other man. Hireman's defense attorney,

102
00:06:22.480 --> 00:06:26.399
Michael Brown. I'll give Brown this, he did something yesterday

103
00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:30.279
that I did not expect. Before the sentencing, he turned

104
00:06:30.319 --> 00:06:32.879
to the families in the gallery and he apologized to them.

105
00:06:33.360 --> 00:06:36.240
He said, I never met your mother, your daughter, your sister,

106
00:06:36.759 --> 00:06:38.920
but I've listened to what you've said about them, and

107
00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:44.120
they sounded remarkable. I'm truly sorry. That is not nothing

108
00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:46.519
coming from the man whose job was to defend the

109
00:06:46.560 --> 00:06:50.120
person who killed them. Credit where it's due. But then

110
00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:53.839
outside the courthouse, a reporter asked Brown whether he believes

111
00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:58.360
his client actually feels remorse, and Brown's answer was telling.

112
00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:01.480
He said he doesn't know. He said he's seen what

113
00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:04.439
he called genuine emotion in Hoyerman at times, and that

114
00:07:04.519 --> 00:07:07.399
he believes there's a sincerity in his expression of remorse

115
00:07:07.519 --> 00:07:11.160
and his attempts to understand his crimes. And look, I'm

116
00:07:11.160 --> 00:07:13.439
gonna let you sit with that one rather than tell

117
00:07:13.439 --> 00:07:17.560
you what to think. Brown is doing. His job a

118
00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:20.399
defense attorney looking for the human being inside the monster.

119
00:07:20.680 --> 00:07:23.120
Is not a flaw in the system. It's the system

120
00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:26.160
working the way it's supposed to. But I'd ask you

121
00:07:26.199 --> 00:07:30.680
to hold his words sincerity, understanding his crimes right next

122
00:07:30.680 --> 00:07:34.480
to Tierney's words he's very sorry he got caught, and

123
00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:37.720
next to that planning document, and then you decide which

124
00:07:37.800 --> 00:07:41.120
version of Rex Hoyerman you believe. I know which one

125
00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:49.319
I believe. I believe the checklist the women spoke. Here's

126
00:07:49.399 --> 00:07:52.519
the thing about a sentencing like this, The sentence was

127
00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:56.120
never really in doubt. Hoyerman signed a plea deal in April.

128
00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:58.439
Everybody in that room knew he was going to die

129
00:07:58.439 --> 00:08:01.600
in prison. So, yeah, yesterday was never about the number.

130
00:08:01.959 --> 00:08:04.480
Yesterday was about the one thing this man spent thirty

131
00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:07.639
years trying to take away from these women, their voices,

132
00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:11.000
and one by one the family stood up and gave

133
00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.920
it back to them. Melissa kNN is the sister of

134
00:08:13.959 --> 00:08:17.199
Maureen Brainerd Barnes, one of the original four women whose

135
00:08:17.240 --> 00:08:21.279
remained started this whole investigation back in twenty ten. Melissa

136
00:08:21.279 --> 00:08:24.439
stood up and she sobbed, and she talked about survivor's guilt,

137
00:08:24.639 --> 00:08:27.519
about decades of wondering whether she could have done something

138
00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:30.639
to protect her sister. And then she said the thing

139
00:08:30.680 --> 00:08:32.440
that I think a lot of people in that room

140
00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:35.840
needed to hear out loud. The guilt is not mine

141
00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:39.440
to carry, she said, and it never was. This burden

142
00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:43.200
belongs to Rex. She told him. When you took her life,

143
00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:46.039
you destroyed mine as I knew it. You are a

144
00:08:46.120 --> 00:08:50.519
coward who prayed on vulnerable, innocent women. And then this

145
00:08:50.720 --> 00:08:53.159
is the part that stops me, she told him. He

146
00:08:53.240 --> 00:08:55.480
is no longer the one in control of this story.

147
00:08:56.279 --> 00:08:59.159
You tried to silence her, she said, and you failed.

148
00:08:59.840 --> 00:09:03.840
I became your worst nightmare. Your name will never rise

149
00:09:03.879 --> 00:09:08.639
above the women. Megan Waterman's aunt, Elizabeth Miserve, spoke for her.

150
00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:11.799
Megan was twenty two. She was working for a pimp

151
00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:15.039
the night she disappeared, leaving a hotel to meet a client,

152
00:09:15.399 --> 00:09:18.559
and Elizabeth said it plainly the way you should, because

153
00:09:18.559 --> 00:09:20.919
Megan was a young woman who was planning to build

154
00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:24.039
a life for her daughter. Her remains weren't found for

155
00:09:24.120 --> 00:09:27.919
seven months. Seven months her family agonized over when she

156
00:09:28.039 --> 00:09:30.840
was coming back to them, and Elizabeth looked at the

157
00:09:30.879 --> 00:09:34.240
man who took her, and she said, some people called

158
00:09:34.279 --> 00:09:36.399
him an ogre when they looked at him, but he

159
00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:41.039
is a cowardly opportunist. She also said something that I

160
00:09:41.080 --> 00:09:43.919
am not going to let go by, because she's right

161
00:09:44.279 --> 00:09:47.440
and somebody has to say it. She tore into the

162
00:09:47.480 --> 00:09:50.879
former Suffolk County officials whose corruption and incompetence let this

163
00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:54.639
case sit cold for thirteen years. Thirteen years between when

164
00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:57.960
those bodies were found and when an arrest was finally made.

165
00:09:58.759 --> 00:10:01.960
Nobody was paying attention to her. Nobody was paying attention

166
00:10:02.000 --> 00:10:04.519
to any of them because of who they were and

167
00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:08.159
what they did to survive. And Elizabeth named the cost

168
00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:10.639
of that out loud, and she was furious about it,

169
00:10:10.679 --> 00:10:15.080
and she should be. And then there's Melissa Barthelemy's little sister.

170
00:10:15.519 --> 00:10:18.279
Her name is Amanda Fundenberg. And I need you to

171
00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:20.960
understand what this man did to her because it is

172
00:10:21.039 --> 00:10:23.200
one of the cruelest things in a case that is

173
00:10:23.279 --> 00:10:27.720
wall to wall cruelty. When Melissa disappeared, Amanda was fifteen

174
00:10:27.799 --> 00:10:32.360
years old, fifteen, and Hayerman took Melissa's cell phone and

175
00:10:32.399 --> 00:10:36.879
he called her teenage sister not once, and he taunted her.

176
00:10:37.360 --> 00:10:39.519
He told a fifteen year old child the things he

177
00:10:39.559 --> 00:10:42.080
had done to her sister, the kind of things I

178
00:10:42.120 --> 00:10:45.039
am not going to repeat on this show. For weeks,

179
00:10:45.240 --> 00:10:48.200
every time that phone rang, Amanda was afraid it was

180
00:10:48.279 --> 00:10:52.879
him again. Yesterday, seventeen years later, Amanda stood in front

181
00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:55.919
of him and she said, look at me when I'm talking.

182
00:10:56.360 --> 00:11:00.639
I waited seventeen years and he wouldn't. He stared straight

183
00:11:00.679 --> 00:11:03.639
ahead the way he stared straight ahead through every single

184
00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:06.720
one of these statements, never once turning to face the families.

185
00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:10.200
And she said to him, you don't care. I was

186
00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:13.519
just fifteen. And the last voice I want to leave

187
00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:17.039
you with belongs to Violet Swager, who spoke for her cousin,

188
00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:20.799
Jessica Taylor. Violet went after the thing. This man was

189
00:11:20.840 --> 00:11:27.200
apparently proudest of that planning document, the meticulous blueprint, and

190
00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:30.360
she took it apart, line by line in open court.

191
00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:35.039
She read his own notes back to him. Supplies hair net. Well,

192
00:11:35.120 --> 00:11:38.240
she said, so much for that, because investigators found his

193
00:11:38.240 --> 00:11:42.639
hair on multiple victims DNA. You wrote it down twice,

194
00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:48.120
she said, and you still didn't get it. Remove identifying marks. Well,

195
00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:50.840
we know you didn't do that because she was identified

196
00:11:50.840 --> 00:11:54.720
by the tattoo. You couldn't remove you were sloppy. Violet

197
00:11:54.759 --> 00:11:57.399
told him, you made a whole planning document to kill

198
00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:00.399
my cousin, and you didn't even do that right. And

199
00:12:00.440 --> 00:12:03.200
then she said the words, I think this man fears

200
00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:08.399
more than the cell. You're boring, you're not prolific, you're nobody.

201
00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:13.000
You chose small women because you are a weak, disgusting coward.

202
00:12:13.440 --> 00:12:15.759
There's no playbook clever enough to make a man like

203
00:12:15.799 --> 00:12:19.039
that interesting. He wanted to be a legend. He's a

204
00:12:19.120 --> 00:12:22.720
line item in somebody else's checklist now. And then Violet

205
00:12:22.720 --> 00:12:25.080
did the thing that broke my heart clean in half.

206
00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:30.000
She noted that yesterday, June seventeenth, would have been Jessica

207
00:12:30.039 --> 00:12:33.320
Taylor's forty third birthday, and she ended her statement to

208
00:12:33.360 --> 00:12:37.240
her cousin's killer with four words, Happy birthday, jess say

209
00:12:37.240 --> 00:12:40.639
their names. Rex Hoyerman chose these eight women because he

210
00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:44.480
believed nobody would look for them. He believed they were invisible.

211
00:12:44.960 --> 00:12:48.679
That belief is written into his own planning materials. He

212
00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:51.840
was wrong, and yesterday, a courtroom in Riverhead proved exactly

213
00:12:51.919 --> 00:12:54.600
how wrong. So let's do what this show always does.

214
00:12:55.480 --> 00:12:59.159
Sandra Castilla, twenty eight years old, the earliest of them.

215
00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:02.919
Killed in nineteen ninety three. Valerie Mack twenty four years old,

216
00:13:03.120 --> 00:13:06.519
Jessica Taylor twenty years old. She would have turned forty

217
00:13:06.519 --> 00:13:11.080
three yesterday. Maureen Brainerd Barnes twenty five years old, one

218
00:13:11.080 --> 00:13:13.399
of the four who started the search for all of them,

219
00:13:13.440 --> 00:13:17.240
Melissa Barthelemy twenty four years old, the one whose teenage

220
00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:21.320
sister he called to taunt, Megan Waterman twenty two years old,

221
00:13:21.799 --> 00:13:24.960
a mother building a life for her daughter, Amber Costello

222
00:13:25.080 --> 00:13:29.039
twenty seven years old. And Karen Vergatta thirty four years old,

223
00:13:29.559 --> 00:13:32.159
the one he was never charged with, the one who

224
00:13:32.200 --> 00:13:34.679
waited the longest of all to have her killer say

225
00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:44.039
her name. Eight women not line items, not invisible, Sandra, Valerie, Jessica, Maureen, Melissa, Meghan, Amber,

226
00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:47.840
and Karen. Somebody has to say their names, and on

227
00:13:47.879 --> 00:14:04.399
this show, somebody always will. That's the show today. Rex

228
00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:07.120
Heyerman is going to die in a prison cell with

229
00:14:07.399 --> 00:14:10.320
no parole ever for eight women he treated like a

230
00:14:10.320 --> 00:14:13.279
to do list. The case that haunted Long Island for

231
00:14:13.320 --> 00:14:16.080
more than thirty years is closed, and the people he

232
00:14:16.159 --> 00:14:19.440
tried to silence got the last word, every one of them.

233
00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:22.279
If this episode meant something to you, do me a

234
00:14:22.320 --> 00:14:25.120
favor and share it. Send it to one person who

235
00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:28.279
followed this case, who remembers when these bodies were found

236
00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:31.440
and wondered if anyone would ever be held accountable. Word

237
00:14:31.480 --> 00:14:33.559
of mouth is how this show reaches the people who

238
00:14:33.639 --> 00:14:36.559
need to hear these women's names. So tell a friend.

239
00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:39.879
And here's the question I keep turning over, the one

240
00:14:39.879 --> 00:14:43.039
I want from you. Hyerman's own lawyer says he sees

241
00:14:43.039 --> 00:14:46.600
sincerity in the man's remorse. The prosecutor says he's only

242
00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:50.480
sorry he got caught. After everything you heard today, the

243
00:14:50.519 --> 00:14:54.480
planning document, the taunting phone calls, ten seconds of carefully

244
00:14:54.559 --> 00:14:58.120
chosen words. Do you think a man like that is

245
00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:01.320
capable of real remorse at all? Or does it not

246
00:15:01.399 --> 00:15:04.960
even matter anymore? If you're listening on Spotify, drop a

247
00:15:05.000 --> 00:15:07.799
comment and tell me where you land. I read them

248
00:15:08.039 --> 00:15:10.080
and I want to know what you think on this one.

249
00:15:10.840 --> 00:15:15.039
I'm Garrett Fisher. This has been Daily Crime and justice.

250
00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:19.240
Do better. A note on sourcing and the record. Rex

251
00:15:19.279 --> 00:15:22.559
Heyerman pleaded guilty in April twenty twenty six to seven

252
00:15:22.600 --> 00:15:25.399
counts of murder and admitted an open court to an

253
00:15:25.399 --> 00:15:29.120
eighth killing for which he was never charged. His sentencing

254
00:15:29.159 --> 00:15:33.320
took place Wednesday, June seventeenth, twenty twenty six, in Suffolk

255
00:15:33.320 --> 00:15:36.759
County Court in Riverhead, New York, before Judge Timothy Mazy.

256
00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:42.039
Wire services, including the Associated Press, CBS and Newsday confirm

257
00:15:42.080 --> 00:15:45.440
the sentence as three consecutive life terms without the possibility

258
00:15:45.480 --> 00:15:48.919
of parole, followed by four consecutive terms of twenty five

259
00:15:49.000 --> 00:15:52.399
years to life. No portion of that sentence carries parole.

260
00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:56.360
One outlet's live coverage described the back four terms as

261
00:15:56.600 --> 00:16:00.399
carrying parole. That is incorrect and we have use the

262
00:16:00.440 --> 00:16:05.080
wire corroborated structure. Some of the victim impact statements quoted

263
00:16:05.080 --> 00:16:08.000
in this episode are drawn from a single newsrooms live

264
00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:11.320
blog of the hearing. We have reproduced them as reported.

265
00:16:12.240 --> 00:16:15.200
The murder span nineteen ninety three to twenty ten, and

266
00:16:15.240 --> 00:16:19.919
the victims are Sandra Castilla, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Moreen

267
00:16:19.960 --> 00:16:25.320
Brainerd Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, and Karen

268
00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:25.840
Viergatta