A homegrown killer.
The Netflix docuseries “Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer” covers the case of the Gilgo Beach killings – a series of murders spanning from 1993 until 2011.
They went unsolved for over a decade until the suspect, Manhattan architect and Massapequa Park, Long Island resident Rex Heuermann, 61, was arrested in 2023 for murdering seven women.
“When I learned he was arrested, I was honestly just shocked. I was relieved,” director Liz Garbus exclusively told The Post. “I reached out to the family members [of victims] who, for the first time in so long, had some hope of getting more answers and justice in this case.”
Heuermann was first charged with first and second-degree murder for the 2009 and 2010 deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and Megan Waterman in July 2023. In January 2024, he was charged with killing Maureen Brainard-Barnes, with the four women known as the “Gilgo Four.”
Suffolk DA Ray Tierney also charged Heuermann with three other murders — Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla, the first victim, who was killed in 1993.
He pleaded not guilty and his trial date has not been set yet.
The docuseries covers why it took so long to catch the suspected murderer: most of the women were sex workers, and there was police corruption in Suffolk County, New York.
“I think that there were many in law enforcement who wanted to do right on this case, who felt maligned in the media in general. Because they felt that there was a lot of blame going on the police force,” the Oscar-nominated director said.
“What we know now when we look at Suffolk County is that there were two criminals running the place for a large part of the time in which this case should have been solved: There was DA Thomas Spoda, and there was Jimmy Burke, both of whom are now convicted felons.”
The Emmy winner was referring to how Burke, the disgraced ex Suffolk County police chief who went to federal prison for beating a crook who stole his dildo and porn stash — and also got busted for allegedly soliciting sex in a Long Island park in 2023.
Spoda, who was the former DA from 2002 to 2017, was found guilty of obstructing a federal probe into Burke and landed five years in prison.
“There are plenty of good folks in law enforcement, and I was able to talk to some of them,” said Garbus.
“But, these other two individuals were running it like their own personal crime syndicate,” she said, referring to Burke and Spoda. “And so certainly, solving this case was not their No. 1 priority. Their No. 1 priority was keeping themselves out of prison.”
“When you start to interview [the victims’] family members and friends, they’re just like us. They have plans. They had people who they spoke to every day on the phone,” she told the Post. “They were not off the grid… There’s a judgment that somebody just went on a bender [when they vanish], but their family members knew better.”
The documentary also covers how Heuermann’s neighbors weren’t shocked by his arrest — since his house was dilapidated and he wasn’t friendly.
“It’s striking that many of his neighbors were not surprised,” Garbus told the Post. “His house was in an area where people are really house-proud. They said kids would cross the other street when they were going trick-or-treating, as they were weirded out by the people who live there.”
In 2010, police released enough clues about the suspect and the known area he lived in that, “it’s possible that neighbors could have assisted in their in their search — which is not to say it’s their responsibility, or that anybody who has a house that’s unkempt is a serial killer,” she went on. “But, there was a lot of information out there that could have helped this case come to a conclusion much faster.”
“Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer” premieres March 31.
