Gone Girls: What Happened to the Long Island Serial Killer from the Netflix Documentary?

Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer tells the story of a serial killer who managed to evade justice for several decades. Initially, it was not known that a series of disappearances and murders of women could have been connected to the same person, but everything changed thanks to the families of the victims, who fought day and night to discover what had happened and who was responsible. For a long time, authorities didn’t even think they might be dealing with a serial killer or that so many women had disappeared in the same area of Long Island, but the connections and clues were there, and eventually, they found a suspect who fit in with everything.

Netflix’s documentary is connected to the Netflix, Lost Girls, which also explores the case but from the perspective of a mother looking for her missing daughter, leading to the discovery of many other women who were also missing and the eventual discovery of many of their bodies. Between 2010 and 2011, dozens of bodies of women, mainly sex workers, were found in Gilgo Beach, Long Island, and this led authorities to confirm the theory that a serial killer was loose, the question was who?

Gone Girls: Who Was the Long Island Serial Killer?

For a long time, the identity of the Long Island Serial Killer Nicknamed like this because his victims were found in the area, he was unknown. No one knew who the killer was, and no clue seemed to reveal his identity for sure, until a clue put them in the way of a local architect named Rex Heuermann. As shown in Gone Girls, Heuermann was a father of a family, a successful architect, and a normal man who lived in Gilgo Beach, Long Island. He was not the prime suspect and had not even been considered, but when a new group formed in 2022 to investigate the case, DNA analysis technology helped them connect him to the remains of several of the victims found in the same zone.

With this, in 2023, at the age of 59, Rex Heuermann was arrested for the murder of the Gilgo Four, who were 4 victims found very close to each other, and more than the women found on Long Island. In addition, Heuermann’s car, a Chevrolet Avalanche, coincided with the testimonies of some witnesses who reported seeing a similar car in the area of some of the disappearances. Also, according to Netflix, Heuermann was seen using a phone burner, which was connected to the phones that were identified during the crimes, and its DNA matched that of a hair found in one of the bodies.

Where is Rex Heuermann Today?

“In July 2023, Heuermann was arrested and charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. Six months later, in January 2024, he was also charged with the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. The women, known as the Gilgo Beach Four, were companions between 20 and 30 years old who disappeared between 2007 and 2010”, says the magazine People.

But following the arrest of Rex Heuermann, authorities began investigating old cases that could also be connected, so for now, the case is still open. Even though many bodies were found in the same area, Heuermann has not been accused of being connected to everyone. Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, but his case is in the process of being brought to trial, where it will be determined whether the evidence is sufficient to convict him. Meanwhile, it is located at the Riverhead Correctional Facility in Suffolk County, New York.

What Was the Evidence That Led to Rex Heuermann’s Arrest?

Meticulously piecing together stray strands of evidence, the Suffolk County Police Department and District Attorney’s Office, working with the FBI and New York State Police, collaborated in an extensive investigation that led to Heuermann’s arrest.

Initially, Heuermann’s Chevrolet Avalanche was matched to eyewitness descriptions of a car seen near the crime scenes. This led authorities to his residence in Massapequa Park and his office in Midtown Manhattan — locations corresponding to key activity zones identified through the investigations into the missing and murdered women. The critical breakthrough, however, came when Heuermann was observed adding minutes to a burner phone, which aligned with the movements of burner phones used during the crimes. Further, Heuermann’s DNA, recovered from a discarded pizza crust, matched a single hair found on one of the victims, whose bodies had been bound in burlap, solidifying suspicions that he was connected to the murders.

What’s Happened Since Rex Heuermann’s Arrest?

While Heuermann’s arrest marks a crucial milestone in the investigation, it is not the end of the story. The identification of an accused serial killer has raised new questions and opened potential new lines of inquiry, culminating in the charging of Heuermann for three additional murders. Authorities are now scrutinizing unsolved cases spanning back years, examining whether they may be connected. With new victims possibly still to be linked to the serial killer and a public hungry for justice, recent developments underscore that, although significant progress has been achieved, the investigation is very much ongoing.

Gone Girls director Liz Garbus reflects on the inherent dilemma of delivering a series on a live case: “After we completed and turned in our cuts to Netflix, there was another victim added to [Heuermann’s] docket. Will there be more between now and the time that we air? It’s possible. Will there be more between now and the time that we go to trial, if they go to trial? I’d bet yes.”

Why Did the Search for the Long Island Serial Killer Take So Long?

A key factor in the drawn-out nature of the investigation, Garbus argues, are the allegations of corruption that dogged Suffolk County authorities initially in charge of the investigation and may have hindered progress in the case for years. “I think Suffolk County under police chief Jimmy Burke and DA Tom Spota was run like a crime syndicate. This is a cautionary tale about how to stop that kind of thing before these kinds of people get in positions of power,” Garbus says.

Gone Girls explores how Burke and Spota compromised the integrity of the Gilgo Beach murder investigation. Burke, with numerous internal affairs complaints against him and a history of leveraging his position to protect himself from scrutiny over illicit activities, curtailed collaboration with other law enforcement agencies, obstructing the FBI’s involvement and halting crucial investigative steps. Meanwhile, Spota, who was later convicted of obstruction of justice, consistently shielded Burke, further entangling law enforcement in a web of corruption that prioritized self-preservation over justice.

As the case continues to unfold, Gone Girls serves as a powerful reminder of the resilience and determination of the victims’ families. “I think audiences should believe in the power of their voices when they see injustice,” Garbus says. “These family members were never going to give up. They knew there was a need to shake the establishment to get attention for this case.”

For those following the case, the docuseries offers a comprehensive look at the investigation’s progress and the challenges that remain. Keep an eye out for updates and new developments.

Source: Netflix Tudum