A breakthrough in the infamous Long Island Serial Killer cold case is the focus of a new real crime docuseries coming to Netflix. The killer, though to be responsible for the deaths of at least 11 women, has haunted a small beach town in the state of New York for almost 20 years.
Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer examines the disturbing murders that came to light when human remains belonging to young women continued to turn up along a stretch of Ocean Parkway in Long Island. The victims who were able to be identified had resided in the New York City area and worked in the sex industry – some had been reported as missing for more than a decade.
The case became known as the Gilgo Beach killings while the perpetrator is referred to as the Long Island Serial Killer. A search which unearthed many of the remains was prompted by the disappearance of Shannan Gilbert, who, like many of the known victims, worked as an escort. Four victims were discovered within a quarter of a mile of each other near Gilgo Beach in December 2010.
A further six sets of remains were found in March and April of the following year in the separate New York counties of Suffolk and Nassau. Shannon Gilbert was identified during an excavation later in 2011, around nine miles from where the ten sets of remains had been found.
Authorities estimated her cause of death to be either from exposure or accidental drowning after becoming lost in marshland. The case would languish for more than a decade as Netflix released the Lost Girls drama in 2020 which focused on the mother of one of the Long Island Serial Killer’s victims and her search for justice.
The movie stars Amy Ryan as Mari Gilbert – the mother of Shannon Gilbert. But, in 2023, a breakthrough was made as Rex Andrew Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect from the Nassau County area, was arrested.
He was later charged with three counts of first-degree murder, three counts of second-degree murder and later charged in 2024 for another murder. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The breakthrough will be played out in the three-part Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killerdocumentary series. Directed by Liz Garbus, who directed Lost Girls, the series features interviews with journalists, police officials and friends and family of the victims and accused killer. The series will be released on Netflix later this year.