BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a killing spree on Long Island that spanned years. The Long Island architect killed seven women and admitted to an eighth victim.
One of his victims, Melissa Barthelemy, grew up in Buffalo and graduated from South Park High School. Police found her body and three others near Gilgo Beach on Long Island in 2010.
I spoke with Steven M. Cohen, the lawyer who once represented the Barthelemy family after she went missing almost 17 years ago. Cohen, the litigation chair at Tiveron Law in Getzville, represented the family back in July 2009 when she initially went missing that summer. He hopes this plea brings closure and finality to the Barthelemy family and other victims.
"The family does not have to endure the trauma of all the evidence that would come out and be presented by the prosecution. They don't have to relive horrors," Cohen said. "I am so sorry that this happened to you, and hopefully you can have a moment of peace now that Rex Heuermann has pleaded guilty and he's going to be administered justice in an ultimate sense."
WATCH: 'Soulless, murderous monster': Rex Heuermann pleads guilty to Gilgo Beach serial murders
Authorities connected Heuermann to the crimes after matching his DNA from a slice of pizza to genetic material found on one of the victims.
"Today, he was exposed for exactly what he is, a sadistic, soulless, murderous monster, and thankfully everybody today got to see that," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said.
"He identified these women, lured them into Nassau County, murdered them, and left their bodies in Suffolk County. He thought that by killing them, he could silence them forever and get away with murder, but he was wrong," Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said.
All of the victims were reportedly sex workers, which delayed the investigation because of the nature of the prostitution trade. Cohen shared that the case should have been dealt with as soon as the women were reported missing.
"It was very difficult to get the police, initially, the New York City Police Department, to take a missing persons report because she was only missing for 2 days, and then 3 days, and then 4 days, and they would make comments like she's probably on the back of a rich guy's boat. That's not what happened here, and perhaps if the police had gotten involved sooner, more quickly, maybe they could have intervened," Cohen said.
Heuermann is sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole at a later date.
"For Melissa's, Megan's, Amber's, Jessica's, Valerie's, Sandra's, and Karen's families, I stand with you in deep love and understanding. No one should ever have to walk this path, yet here we all are, connected by loss, by strength, and the unbreakable bond of our loved ones," Missy Cann, sister of victim Maureen Brainard-Barnes, said.
