Megan Waterman, a 22-year-old female from Scarborough, Maine, was a young mother who had traveled to Long Island, New York, in early June of 2010. She checked into a Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge, where she was last seen alive in the early morning hours of June 6, 2010. Surveillance footage from the hotel captured her leaving the building alone at approximately 1:30 a.m. After she left the hotel, she seemingly vanished, leaving her personal belongings behind in her room.
Her family reported her missing on June 8, 2010, after she failed to make her daily call to check in on her young daughter.
For six months, her whereabouts remained a mystery. The search for another missing woman, Shannan Gilbert, led to a grim discovery along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach. On December 13, 2010, authorities unearthed the remains of four women in close proximity to one another. One of these victims was later identified as Megan Waterman. An autopsy determined that her cause of death was asphyxiation. The victims, who became known as the 'Gilgo Four,' were all found wrapped in burlap.
For over a decade, the case of the Long Island serial killer, or LISK, remained a haunting unsolved mystery. A significant breakthrough came in July 2023 with the arrest of Rex Heuermann, a 59-year-old architect from Massapequa Park. He was taken into custody and subsequently charged with the murders of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Costello. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges of first and second-degree murder. Authorities have also named him as the prime suspect in the death of the fourth woman found in the initial discovery, Maureen Brainard-Barnes. The investigation into Heuermann was aided by DNA evidence, cellphone records, and a witness description of a vehicle. He is currently awaiting trial.
