Jessica Taylor's family breaks silence on alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer

Elizabeth Baczkiel remembers her daughter Jessica Taylor as “loving and compassionate.”

“She loved to make people laugh,” Baczkeil said in a statement read Thursday by attorney Gloria Allred. “She could always make people laugh.”

Family was important to Taylor. She was playing with her two brothers and cuddling with her mother on the couch. So when Taylor didn't come home for Baczkeil's birthday in 2003, her family knew something was wrong.

Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is now charged with two additional murders for the deaths of Taylor and Sandra Costilla. These are now the fifth and sixth victims linked to Heuermann.

The 60-year-old was first arrested in July 2023 for the deaths of four women whose remains were found in burlap bags along New York's Ocean Parkway more than a year ago. ten years.

Heuermann already faces charges related to the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, also known as “The Gilgo Four.”

Who was Jessica Taylor?

Taylor, 20, loved riding his bike. She played board games like Monopoly and Shoots and Ladders. She loved cartoons and singing, especially on the radio or in the church choir.

She worked downtown with children at a summer camp to help, her mother said.

“She loved children and loved working with them,” Allred read from Baczkeil’s statement. “It's a tragedy that she never had children. Jessica would have made a great mother.”

Taylor's cousins, Jasmine Robinson and Violet Swager, appeared in court Thursday while Heuermann was charged.

“They are the voice of Jessica,” Allred said at a news conference. “They have memories of Jessica and that’s why they want to be there.”

The families of Waterman, Barthelemy and Brainard-Barnes were also at the news conference to show their support for Taylor, but would not comment so the focus would be on the new murder charge.

“I was lucky enough to share my childhood with her and I wish every day that we could create more memories,” Robinson said.

Robinson called her cousin “the strongest woman I know, with a heart of gold.” Both would enjoy sleepovers, jumping rope and dancing.

Robinson said she would look up to Taylor. She also added that Taylor was still “immensely loved.”

“We will always miss you,” Allred read from Baczkeil’s statement. “You will always be in our hearts.”

Taylor murder investigation

Taylor was a sex worker near the Port Authority bus terminal in New York.

Prosecutor Raymond Tierney said at a news conference Thursday that Taylor was first reported missing on July 25 when she failed to show up for her mother's birthday party.

Taylor's remains were found in July 2003 in the wooded area of ​​Manorville, where Heuermann's Massapequa Park home is located. A woman walking her dog found Taylor's naked body just off Halsey Manor Road and the Long Island Expressway.

“It’s been 21 years, longer than she’s lucky to be alive,” Robinson said.

While examining Taylor's body, male human hair was discovered, “specifically from a surgical drape placed under the victim,” according to court records obtained by News week. They were determined to have come from the head of a person with “Caucasian/European features.” The hair was not suitable for further DNA testing. »

Eight years later, in March 2011, more of Taylor's remains, including his skull, hands and forearm, were found on Gilgo Beach.

“They were found within a mile of the Gilgo Four,” Tierney said. “All remains were found within 50 feet of the roadway.”

At the time of Taylor's disappearance, Heuermann was working in the same neighborhood where Taylor was known to “walk the streets” or work as a sex worker, according to court records obtained by News week.

“Records seized during the execution of prior search warrants reveal that Heuermann was in fact present in midtown Manhattan on July 21, 2003, the same date that Ms. Taylor disappeared,” the document states.

When police were investigating the area in the days after Taylor's disappearance, investigators spoke to a witness who saw “a dark-colored Chevrolet pickup truck backing into the same wooded area where Ms. Taylor's body was found later,” according to court records. .

Heuermann purchased a dark-colored 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche pickup truck in March 2002. Although the make and model of Heuermann's vehicle is the same as his 2002 vehicle, the exterior color is different.

In the days following Taylor's disappearance, Heuermann searched a News day article titled “Cops Ask for Help Identifying Manorville Body”, which concerned the discovery of Taylor's remains. This online activity was later removed, according to the bail application.

On July 29, 2003, Heuermann searched online for a new Chevrolet Avalanche. Forensic analysis also showed that he attempted to suppress this request.

The Gilgo Homicide Task Force determined that Heuermann's wife and children were out of state at the time of Taylor's disappearance.