‘Long Island serial killer’ arrest: 4th victim was from NC

CHARLOTTE — An alleged serial killer is in custody in New York, and one of the victims he’s accused of killing was from the Charlotte area.

Rex Heuermann was arrested last week and charged with three counts of first-degree murder. He could also face a fourth charge in connection with another victim.

The victims were known as The Gilgo Four, and they were all found in 2010 along Gilgo Beach, which is part of Long Island, New York.

One of the victims was Amber Lynn Costello. According to the Associated Press, Costello was living in Wilmington and had been married to a man from Kannapolis. Costello moved to New York after a falling out with her family, the AP reported.

A news outlet in New York, Newsday, reported that Costello was born in Charlotte and raised in Wilmington. Newsday reported that Costello left her home on Sept. 2, 2010, but wasn’t seen after that. She was never reported missing.

Costello’s body was found on Dec. 13, 2010.

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According to the Associated Press, Heuermann was first identified as a suspect in March 2022. Detectives linked him to a pickup truck that a witness reported seeing when one of the victims disappeared.

The AP reported that in March, detectives got Heuermann’s DNA from pizza crust in a box that he threw away and matched it to a hair found on a restraint used in the killings, authorities said.

(WATCH: CMPD addresses rumor of serial killer in Charlotte)