Following the news that the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect has been charged with a seventh murder, here’s how to watch the Rex Heuermann documentary for free ahead of the Netflix true crime series.
The Gilgo Beach serial killings refer to a series of at least 11 murders, primarily young women and sex workers, dating back to the ‘90s. The 2010 disappearance of Shannan Gilbert sparked a search that led to the discovery of remains in Suffolk County, New York.
For years, the Long Island serial killer, as he was known in the media, went undiscovered. But a new task force investigation resulted in the 2023 arrest of Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann.
On December 17, it was announced that he’d been charged with a seventh murder: Valerie Mack. While there’s plenty of new true crime to dive into this month, you may want to learn more about the Gilgo Beach case – and there’s a documentary available for free now.
Watch Rex Heuermann documentary for free
ABC7 Eyewitness News’ 95-minute documentary Eyewitness to Gilgo Beach is available to stream for free on YouTube now. You can watch it below:
The doc, which was released at the start of 2024, tracks the years-long search for the Long Island serial killer and Heuermann’s subsequent arrest.
CBS’ 48 Hours did its own deep dive into the case titled The Gilgo Beach Serial Killings, which is also streaming for free on YouTube.
Both documentaries are worth a watch if you want to understand the timeline of events and the investigation and evidence that led detectives to Heuermann.
Since the case is ongoing, we can expect new true crime titles on the subject to drop in the future. For now, Heuermann is in jail awaiting trial, having pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.
He’s accused of murdering seven women, including Mack and the Gilgo Four victims – Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes – as well as Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla.
The judge presiding over the court case is reportedly looking to schedule the trial for next year, but no date has been set at the time of writing.
What’s going on with the Netflix documentary?
Back in August 2023, Netflix announced that it had ordered a documentary series on the Gilgo Beach serial killings, with filmmaker Liz Garbus set to direct – but we haven’t heard much about the project since.
A series of remains were discovered following the search for Shannan Gilbert
It does appear to still be going ahead, however. It’s common for such productions to take time to develop, especially when covering ongoing investigations. Given Heuermann’s still awaiting trial, it could be that the team wants to wait for a verdict before releasing the currently untitled docu-series.
For now, the project is listed in Netflix’s upcoming original programming schedule, with a release window yet to be determined.
This isn’t the first time Garbus has covered the case, having directed the 2020 Netflix movie Lost Girls, which centers on the search for Gilbert and subsequent discovery of the other victims.
The filmmaker has also been behind numerous award-winning documentaries, including The Farm: Angola, USA, What Happened Miss Simone?, and Bobby Fischer Against the World.
Her three-part Netflix documentary on the Long Island killings is set to explore the multi-decade quest to bring justice to the families of the victims and the real-time arrest of Heuermann.
Speaking about the project in 2023, Garbus said, “With the arrest of suspect Rex Heuermann on July 13 of this year, a new chapter began in the decades old investigation of the missing and murdered women found in Gilgo Beach and beyond. And yet, just as some questions start being answered, new ones emerge.
“I am incredibly passionate about this story and am grateful to Netflix for supporting the continuation of my work in remembering Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes and also Shannan Gilbert, whose disappearance led to the discovery of the Gilgo Beach victims, and the other potentially connected cases.”
You can also check out our rundown of the best true crime docs of 2024, when to expect Natalia Grace Season 3, and where the JonBenét Ramsey suspects and family are now.
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