The Gilgo Beach Murderer

This is the full story of the Gilgo Beach Murderer with several victims and a calculated murder blueprint. Also one of the victims found on his dumping grounds a unknown John Doe. Will they ever know his full body count ? 

Let’s pull back the shadows that have kept these cold cases in the dark for far too long. Piece by piece, we’ll work to rebuild the truth not just for the story, but for the victims and the families still waiting for answers. The puzzle isn’t complete yet, but together, we’re getting closer.

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SPEAKER_01 0:23

For over a decade, a stretch of highway on Long Island's South Shore was a graveyard of secrets. It began with a frantic 911 call from a woman running for her life. And it ended in a courtroom with a 62-year-old architect admitting to things that haunted the dreams of even the most seasoned detectives. Welcome guys, I'm your host Sarah, and this is Shadows Uncovered. And this is the full story of the Gilgo Beach murders from the very first discovery to the final confession. Now I broke this up, guys, if you haven't noticed already. I break things up into scenes and acts because I love to go down as many avenues as I can find with these cases. And rabbit holes come up, rabbit holes come up. But let's dive in. So act one, I'm going to call is the disappearance of Shannon Gilbert. The mystery began on May 1st of 2010. Shannon Gilbert, a 24-year-old from New Jersey, vanished after fleeing a client's home in the gated community of Oak Beach. Her 23 minute 911 call was chilling. She screamed, they're trying to kill me. Police began a massive search of the thick brambles along Ocean Parkway. They were looking for Shannon. Instead, they found a nightmare. In December twenty ten, a canine officer caught a scent. It wasn't Shannon's. It was a skeletal remains of a woman wrapped in camouflage burlap, and within three days three more bodies were found nearby. These became known as the quote unquote the Gilgo Four. Melissa Bartholomew, Maureen Brainard Barnes, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello. Now by the spring of twenty eleven, the body count rose to ten. The remains included a young mother and her toddler and an identified Asian male. The quote unquote, the Long Island steel killer has become a national shadow. So for Act Two, I'm gonna call it the Green Truck and the Architect. For twelve years, the case grew cold. Leeds evaporated, but behind the scenes, a task force was quietly looking at a witness statement from 2010. A witness had seen a first generation Chevrolet Avalanche, a specific dark-colored truck during the disappearance of Amber Costello. In 2022, investigators tied that truck to a man called Rex Humerman. He was an architect living in Massapeka Park. He looked like an ordinary commuter, but his digital life told a completely different story. Under the alias Springfield Man Nine, Humerman was using burn phones to contact sex workers and was obviously searching for updates on the Gilgo investigation. One search query stood out. Why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the Long Island serial killer? So he was literally checking himself out to see if they got anything on him yet. Oh my god. Act three. The pizza crusts and the blueprints. Yes, I know that sounds funny, guys, but you'll see why. The surveillance tightened. In Manhattan, investigators watched Hurman discard a pizza box. They grabbed it. Forensic teams matched DNA from a leftover crust to a male hair found on the burlap sack used to wrap Megan Waterman. And when they raided his home, they found a quote unquote murder blueprint file on a deleted hard drive. A digital manual with checklists for killing and cleaning. They found over two hundred firearms and a room of secrets in the basement. Perhaps most chilling was the transfer DNA. Hairs from Hurriman's wife and daughter were found on the victims. He had committed the murders while his family was on vacation using household items like tape and belts that carried their DNA into his dark world. That's crazy. You're obviously going after sex workers, but you feel comfortable enough to bring them to your house to murder them and you don't care if it's what your family uses on a day-to-day basis. Sounds a little uh desensitized, but just my opinion. Rex Humorman's 2026 guilty plea revealed disturbing new details about his methods, his mindset, and the extent of his quote unquote blueprint for murder.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Now I'm going to go for act four, and I'm gonna call this the final reckoning.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Because on April 8th, 2026, the silence finally broke. Rex Humerman stood in a Suffolks County courtroom and pleaded guilty to eight murders. But important side note, before his public plea on April 8th, 2026, Huron insisted on a private meeting with his daughter Victoria and his ex-wife Asia. You ask why this side note? You'll know why in a second, guys, because this is a morbid detail in the knowledge of the crime scenes. He admitted to the Gilgo four, but he also took responsibility for the deaths of Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Sandra Costilla, and Karen Vergata. Cases that had been remained Jane Doe's for decades. Rex Herriman's 2026 guilty plea revealed disturbing new details. He admitted that every victim was killed in his house except for one. His name was Sandra Castilla. She was murdered inside the Dodge Ram Charger that Victoria had ridden in as a child. Yeah. Meaning, okay, let's paint the picture. You kill every other lady in your family home in Massapique Park. But Victoria being a child right now, and you're driving your school in your Dodge Ram charger. Do you seriously have your daughter in the car with you while you have a dead Sandra Castilla that you just murdered in the trunk? Like I said, desensitized? I think so. But Huberman's plea confirmed he targeted women he considered expendable, mostly those in commercial sex trade. He did admit the cause of death. For every victim, Huerman stood in court and repeated the word strangulation when asked how he caused their deaths. Now, Karen Vergata, though not formally charged as part of the deal, he admitted to killing her in 1996 and transporting her remains to Suffolk's County. The Gilgo 4, he admitted to luring Melissa Bartholomew, Amber Costello, Megan Waterman, and Maureen Bernard Barnes using burner phones and promising money. Now, I want to take a little bit of a left side turn, guys. Because remember when I called out his layout of the murders, the murder blueprint? The forensic recovery of the deleted file called the murder blueprint revealed a level of cold calculation that shocked investigators. The logistics I went through already that the documents included the checklists for killing and cleaning, and specifically noted the need to remove identifying markers like tattoos. Depurposization.

SPEAKER_00 11:54

Twisted. Twisted, twisted.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

He admitted to destroying evidence. He admitted to taking two photos during the killing, but destroying them after to avoid leaving a trail. Now, here we go. Yes, I'm getting excited because rabbit hole. Rabbit hole number one, guys. Okay. Different killer. Yes, you heard me. Different killer. We're talking about Rex and how he didn't think of these women as human and had a little bit of an autotraumic, if that's even a word. I think of a robot when you're going to make a list on a hard drive of how to clean your victim and how to kill them. And then you just like openly talk to your daughter, be like, hey, you know, they weren't women, they weren't people. So I don't see them as people, and you know what, really? Their family, whatever. But okay. I know I went a little off left field there, guys, but the different killer. Now, there were two victims, Peaches and Tatiana. When I came up with these names, I did do some digging. And I really I thought this would be kind of interesting. While Hurman took responsibility for eight lives, a separate 2025 breakthrough suggested another killer may have been using the same grounds. In April 2025, victims Peaches and her daughter were identified as Tanya Denise Jackson and Tatiana Murray Dykes. A new suspect in December 2025, authorities arrested Andrew Dykes, a former Army instructor and state trooper for Tatiana's murder. Now, the reason why they're saying they're separate crimes is because Nassau County police noted that while Tanya and Tatiana were found near the Gilgos site, their murders are likely unrelated to humor and killing spree. He is scheduled for sentencing on June 17th, 2026. He is expected to serve three consecutive life terms without parole, followed by an additional hundred years. As of May 2026, the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit is engaging in an unpredicted academic exercise with Rex Humerman. As part of his April 8th, 2026 plea deal, Humerman is required to undergo investigative interviews to provide a quote unquote psychological roadmap of his crimes. Guess we're sticking with the whole blueprint idea, but okay. The Mindhunter Agreement. That's the name of this deal that they struck. The deal aligns Hurrimen with notorious serial killers like Ted Bundy and John Wayne Gassy, who were also interviewed by the BAU, good abbreviated, to help profilers understand the criminal mind. The purpose of this is the interviews are clinical rather than investigative. The goal is to study Humriman's evaluation, his motivation, and the methods he used to evade capture for decades. Even though profilers believe this process appealed to Humerman's narcissism, making him feel quote unquote important again by allowing him to revisit and detail his crimes for experts. So the FBI analysis and experts identified several defining characteristics of Hemerman's profile. The pro-social double life. Huerman is the quintessential organized killer. He maintained a successful career as a Manhattan architect, a stable family life which acted as a shield against detection. The dehumanization tactics. Huerman admitted to his daughter that he did not see the victims as human. This shows a lack of empathy, allowing him to kill and immediately return to his role as a suburban father. Sexual sadism. His digital footprint revealed a compulsive interest in torture-related pornography and images of sexual assault confirming that his crimes were sexually motivated. Now, like I said, the OCD with his murder blueprint, they said it is considered an obsessive compulsive planning. His murder blueprint found on a recovered hard drive showed a rigid methodical approach to killing that mirrored his professional life as an architect who managed complex billing codes. Now, a major focus for the FBI is how Hurriman integrated his crimes into his domestic environment. Do you remember when I said that he had the room of secrets in his house? Yeah. He admitted that seven of the eight victims were killed inside a downstairs room of his Mass Peak Park home. Now, Humriman had precise timing. He timed his kills to coincide with his family's vacations, using the home as a controlled, quote unquote, safe environment for his predatory behavior. Now, the psychological evaluation. The BAU is particularly interested in how Hurriman's methods changed over seventeen years. By studying his earliest known murder, Miss Sandra Castilla, in nineteen ninety-three, alongside her later ones, they aim to create a new guidance for identifying other active salient killers who might be evolving their tactics to stay hidden.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Act five, guys.

SPEAKER_01 19:22

The unfinished map. The conviction of Rex Hurriman brings a sense of justice. But the map of Ocean Park is still incomplete. The death of Shannon Gilbert, the woman who disappeared starting it all, remains officially undetermined by the medical examiner.

SPEAKER_00 19:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Now, guys, hang in there with me because do you remember when I mentioned in the beginning that there was also that Asian doe male that they found and the toddler found near her mother? As of May 2026, the identity of the Asian doe remains one of the final major unsolved mysteries of the Gilgo Beach investigation. While Rex Heerman has pleaded guilty to eight other murders, he has not been charged in this specific case. It did find some details regarding this poor victim's case, though. And the FBI said they didn't use a new approach towards this case. So I found that they use the microbial DNA analysis. In early 2026, prosecutors announced that they utilized pioneering microbial DNA analysis, studying the unique bacteria and fungi left on remains to bridge the gap where traditional DNA has failed. They also use genetic gnology. Previous testing confirmed that the victim was a biological male of Southern Chinese or Han descent. Identification remains difficult due to the underpression of Asian profiles and public gnology databases. That's a big thing, guys. That's a big thing. Zero chance in CODIS, but yeah. Released a the task force released a updated forensic sketch depicting the victim with both. Long and short hair, hoping to trigger memories from potential friends or co-workers in the New York City area.

SPEAKER_00 22:33

By yeah, guys.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

I also found a little bit more dirt on the discovery site of the victim Megan Waterman. Now, she was found on April 4th, 2011. Investigators believe the murder occurred in or before 2006. Because of death, the victim suffered a violent death by blunt force trauma, unlike many of the other human human men's victims who were strangled. The victim was found wearing exclusively women's clothing, indulging a blue rib, short sleeved shirt, and a bra, suggesting they may have identified as a woman or were known by others as such. Now you ask why, why am I mentioning this? If Humerman's not connected. So the body was found in the same, I'm just gonna call what it is, the dumping ground, as where Huberman admitted to his killings. The digital evidence. Bail documents reveal that Huberman's internet history included searches for Asian twinks and transsexual escorts, matching the profile of this identified victim. I mean, that's kind of damning if you ask. I mean it is his dumping ground. And now you have evidence of looking for a specific type, and there is a victim that is a John Doe, Jane Doe. I mean I'm just saying that because, like I said, what he was looking for details that, but anyway, as part of his April 2026 plea deal, Hurriman is a required corporate cooperated with the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit and trying to lead a definitive link to a formal exclusion of the Asian Doe case. Now, investigators are still searching for the full truth behind those lives, guys. There is an ongoing reward. Crime Stoppers continue to offer a $2,500 reward for any information leading to the identification of the victim, the Asian John Doe. Rex Huberman is now cooperating with FBIs, offering details of his quote-unquote process in exchange for his plea deal. As the waves continue to hit the shore at Gilgo Beach, we're left to wonder how many more secrets are still buried in the sand. Alright, guys. I hope you enjoyed that little uh rabbit hole and twisty turnies. And I know this is not an unsolved case, it is like as of literally this year, guys, been solved. But but there's still unsolved parts of it, like the Asian male John Doe that they found. So tell me what you think. And hey, I I put out there on my all my platforms. You have my number, you have my email address, you can hit me up through my web portal. If you guys have anything that you want to just do a shout out, if you want to mention a case, you want to get, you know, join with on with me or could build a case together about a family member of someone you know that desperately needs light on their case. I'm here. Reach out. All right, guys. Well, join me next week for another lovely ride of a joyride of a roller coaster off its tracks kind of case. All right, guys. Bye.