Gilgo Beach serial killer sentenced to multiple life terms after victims’ families blast him as ‘demon’

BREAKING NEWSUpdated 3 minutes agoU.S. newsU.S. newsGilgo Beach serial killer sentenced to multiple life terms after victims’ families blast him as ‘demon’ Former architect Rex Heuermann admitted to killing eight women, resolving an investigation that had puzzled authorities and left victims’ families in agony.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Rex Heuermann with his attorney in court on April 8.James Carbone / Pool / NewsdayShareAdd NBC News to GoogleJune 17, 2026, 9:02 AM EDT / Updated June 17, 2026, 11:40 AM EDTBy Adam Reiss and Daniel ArkinRIVERHEAD, N.Y. — The former Manhattan architect who led a double life as the Gilgo Beach serial killer came face-to-face Wednesday with the families of his victims before he was sentenced to multiple life terms at an emotionally wrenching hearing.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.One by one, relatives of the women Rex Heuermann admitted to strangling and dismembering addressed the court and delivered searing victim impact statements.“What you have done to our family is beyond what words can express,” said JoAnn Mack, the adoptive mother of Valerie Mack, who disappeared in 2000.Some of the family members wept as they described their trauma and denounced the confessed killer. The 62-year-old kept his head down as the statements were read even as some speakers demanded he look them in the eye.Melissa Cann, a sister of victim Maureen Brainard-Barnes, broke down in sobs as she said her sibling was “not just murdered, she was the victim of a predator and a serial killer so evil, it has been unbearable.”“You are a coward who preyed on vulnerable, innocent women behind a mask, a man without empathy, without a soul, who hunted tortured and murdered women,” Cann said of Heuermann.Amanda Funderburg, a sister of victim Melissa Barthelemy, condemned Heuermann as an “ogre,” a “repulsive monster,” and a “demon inside and out.”“I hope you take a spot in hell,”...