One of the victims of the Long Island Serial Killer was a North Carolina native
One of the women believed to have been killed by New York’s Long Island Serial Killer is a North Carolina native, born in Charlotte and raised in Wilmington.
Amber Lynn Costello is one of the three women Rex Heuermann is charged with murdering. Her body was discovered in 2010 on a beach in Long Island.
According to Associated Press reports from February 2011, Costello was from Wilmington and had been married to Michael Wilhelm of Kannapolis. Wilhelm told AP that Costello moved to New York after a falling out with her family over her drug dependency.
A Newsday profile of Costello published in February 2011 said that Costello left her North Babylon, NY, home on Sept. 2, 2010 telling her roommates, “If my sister calls, tell her I love her.” Costello, born in Charlotte, was twice married and divorced and had four nieces, Newsday reported.
Kimberly Overstreet, Costello’s younger sister, got Costello into a drug rehab program in New York, and Costello lived in a sober house for a while before moving into an apartment, according to the profile. When Costello stopped communicating with family, her sister told Newsday that she thought Costello was back in rehab.
LISK suspect arrested last week
Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect who lived in Massapequa Park on Long Island and worked in midtown Manhattan, was arrested last week and charged with the murders of three women, with a possible fourth charge forthcoming.
He pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and is being held without bail.
Who are the Gilgo 4? Are there other victims?
The four women at the center of the Heuermann case are known as The Gilgo Four, because they were found in the same area on Gilgo Beach on Jones Beach Island, a Long Island barrier island, in 2010.
Their bodies were discovered when police were searching for another young woman who had disappeared, 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert. Instead of finding Gilbert, police discovered the bodies of four women wrapped in camouflaged burlap. They had all been strangled, according to reports. (Gilbert’s body was found later.)
All four women are believed to have been sex workers that Heuermann contacted through an escort service.
Costello: Costello was 27 years old and living in North Babylon when she disappeared. According to a site dedicated to the case, Costello was last seen leaving her home on foot on September 2, 2010. She was going to meet a client. Costello, who had three roommates, was never reported missing. She was found on December 13, 2010. She is thought to be the fourth victim in the Gilgo Four. Heuermann has been charged with Costello’s murder.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes: Brainard-Barnes was 25 years old and living in Connecticut when she was killed. She is believed to be the first victim of the Long Island Serial Killer. Brainard-Barnes was last heard from on July 9, 2007, when she called a friend in Connecticut from a motel in New York. She told the friend she was going out on a call. She was reported missing a week later. Her body was found on December 13, 2010. Note: Heuermann has not yet been charged with Brainard-Barnes’ murder.
Melissa Barthelemy: Barthelemy was 24 years old and living in the Bronx when she was killed. She was last seen at her apartment on July 12, 2009. That evening, she told a friend she was going to meet a man and would be back in the morning. Her cell phone records show that she traveled from the Bronx to Manhattan, with activity in Freeport, Massapequa and Lindenhurst, reported Gilgo News. Her mother reported her missing on July 18, 2009.
After her disappearance, her younger sister received “taunting phone calls” from someone using Barthelemy’s phone. The calls are believed to have come from the killer and were made from Manhattan. Barthelemy’s body was found on December 11, 2010. She was the first victim discovered, but is believed to be the second of the four women to be killed. Heuermann has been charged with her murder.
Megan Waterman: Waterman was 22 years old and living in Maine when she disappeared on June 6, 2010. She was staying at a motel in Hauppauge, on Long Island, at the time of her disappearance, and left at 1:30 a.m. on June 6 to meet a client at a nearby convenience store. She was reported missing in Maine on June 8, by family members concerned that she had not called to check on her 3-year-old daughter. Her body was found on December 10, 2010. She is thought to be the third victim of the Gilgo Four. Heuermann has been charged with her murder.
Other victims: Seven other bodies were later found nearby, including Gilbert’s, but Heuermann has not been connected to those, as far as police have indicated. But, police have stressed that the investigation is ongoing.
“Even with this arrest, we’re not done. There’s more work to do in this investigation regarding the other victims, of the Gilgo Beach bodies that were discovered,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said last week.
