Relatives of the eight women who were strangled to death by sick Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann finally have closure after the hulking architect pleaded guilty to the grisly slayings — a long-awaited but bittersweet chapter in the decades-old nightmare.
“To every family out there, still searching, still believing, still holding on — please do not give up hope,” Melissa Cann, the sister of Heuermann victim Maureen Brainard-Barnes told reporters on Wednesday.
“Even when it feels impossible, even when the years pass and it feels like you can’t keep going, your loved ones matter,” Cann said “They are not forgotten and one day answers can come. Finally, to Maureen — the promise I made to you so long ago, I would never stop searching for you.”
Cann, whose sister disappeared in July 2007, joined 32 relatives of the sex workers who were killed by the Massapequa Park married father of two since 1993, as he finally owned up to the murders in a Suffolk County court.
In court, many of the victims’ family members gasped as prosecutors asked Heuermann how he killed each of his helpless victims.
“Strangulation,” the 62-year-old convict said eight times, appearing to smirk as he did so.
He admitted to killing all seven women named on a murder indictment lodged against him — Valerie Mack, 24; Jessica Taylor, 20; Megan Waterman, 22; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Amber Lynn Costello, 27; and Sandra Costilla, 28.
In a shocking admission, he copped to an eighth victim, 34-year-old Karen Vergata.
The plea deal closed out a haunting chapter in Long Island history.
“I am glad that this is over,” said Taylor’s mother, Elizabeth Baczkiel, at a news conference in Brentwood following the court appearance. “As far as his pleading guilty, it took a big chunk of stress off my family, and I accept the plea wholeheartedly.”
Waterman’s daughter, Lillian, and aunt Megan also signed off on the plea deal.
Cann delivered the most moving statement, addressing her lost sister.
“Justice finally found its way to you,” she said. “Your voice was never silenced. Your story never forgotten, and your life will always mean more than the tragedy that took you.”
Bonnie Sasse, aunt of of victim Amber Costello, said in a phone interview from North Carolina that the monster should spend his life with the general population in prison.
“In general population, he’s at least wide open,” Sasse told The Post. “He’s not going to have a very good time in there, I’m sure.”
But the wounds remain — and she said she wasn’t convinced his plea deal was really aimed at sparing the family further hurt.
“I’m sure he didn’t do it for anybody but himself and his family,” she said. “Anybody who can do what he did over and over again doesn’t have a conscience, never had a soul. They lost it a long time ago.”
