Questions Remain About Gilgo Park Suspect & South Jersey Victim

Did Gilgo Park serial killer suspect Rex Heurmann murder a woman last seen in Port Republic, Atlantic County in 2000?

Suspect Charged in Death of the Last of the 'Gilgo Four"

New charges were filed this week against suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann for the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, a 25-year-old Connecticut mother of two who vanished in 2007 and whose remains were found more than three years later.

Brainard-Barnes was the fourth of the so-called "Gilgo four", the four women whose bodies were discovered bound with belts or tape and wrapped in burlap along a stretch of Long Island's Gilgo Beach in 2010.

The Remains of 11 People Were Found on Long Island Beach

These new charges bring questions about the remaining seven bodies found on Gilgo Beach, including those of a woman last seen in Atlantic County in 2000.

Valerie Mack, a 24-year-old woman, who was last seen by her family around Port Republic in the spring or summer of 2000, has been believed to have been a victim of the Long Island serial killer. She had a young son and was living with a boyfriend, according to the Facebook page, "Remembering Valerie Mack".

For years, she had been "Jane Doe No. 6" in the investigation.

The Mystery of Valerie Mack's Death

Authorities say that Valerie Mack was working as an escort in Philadelphia at the time of her disappearance. She also went by the name of Melissa Taylor.

Mack's partial remains were found in a wooded area off a Long Island highway the same year she went missing. In 2011, her head, hands, and right foot were found in a plastic bag on Gilgo Beach.

The police department worked with the FBI using DNA techniques to identify Mack.

What About the Rest of the Victims Found on Giglo Beach?

Prosecutors say they are still investigating the deaths of Valerie Mack and five more adults and a toddler who it appears was the child of one of the victims.

Investigators have said Heuermann, who lived in Massapequa Park across the bay from where the bodies were found, was probably not responsible for all the deaths, but which ones he is suspected of remains a bit of a mystery.

Heuermann was arrested on July 14, 2023, and charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, the first three women in the Giglo four, who authorities say also were sex workers.

Heuermann's lawyer said he has denied committing the crimes.