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As true crime obsessives know, Netflix has a habit of bringing previously untold true stories to light – and their latest offering, Gone Girls, is one of their most harrowing documentaries yet.
The three-part docuseries dives into the shocking story of a serial killer in Long Island, New York, who targeted sex workers for over a decade. Viewers have been appalled by just how long the killer was able to get away with his crimes — and by how little local authorities seemed to care about the sex workers who had gone missing.
Ruby Franke was arrested in 2023 on charges of child abuse.
Gone Girls is a three-part miniseries directed and produced by Liz Garbus. Garbus previously covered the grassroots efforts of locals in Long Island who found themselves butting up against local authorities who seemingly had little interest in investigating the cases of missing sex workers in the area. In 2020, Garbus directed Lost Girls, a dramatised version of the events.
“I wanted to … bring these women to life and make them relatable,” Garbus told Netflix's Tudum. "These are people’s daughters, sisters, mothers, and they worked in the sex industry.”
Ultimately, the new docuseries is about uncovering flaws in the system that allowed this killer to roam free for so many years and left many people with unanswered questions about their loved ones. “I don’t want to sensationalise and centre the killer," said Garbus to The Guardian. "But I do think there’s a lot that we can learn from understanding patterns and what might have gone wrong in the search for him.”
She opened up to GLAMOUR about tackling complicated female roles and how her late mum inspired her to star in the hit Netflix series.
The case, often known as the Gilgo Beach murders, has a long history dating back to 1993, when women in their early 20s who at the time worked as sex workers, disappeared in the area.
In May 2010, Shannan Gilbert went missing after an escort appointment, prompting a search. Four bodies of other previously missing sex workers were discovered along a stretch of Ocean Parkway in Suffolk County: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello and Maureen Brainard-Barnes. They became known as the “Gilgo Four.”
Following this discovery, six more sets of remains, thought to predate the Gilgo Four, were discovered in 2011 in the surrounding area. Gilbert's remains were eventually found later that year.
In July 2023, local architect Rex Heuermann was arrested. Since then, he's been charged with the murders of seven of the victims: the Gilgo Four – Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and Maureen Brainard-Barnes – and Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla and Valerie Mack.
Garbus' docuseries culminates with the arrest of Heuermann for the murders of the Gilgo Four. Since then, he's been charged with three other murders. As Garbus told Tudum, “After we completed and turned in our cuts to Netflix, there was another victim added to [Heuermann’s] docket. Will there be more between now and the time that we air? It’s possible. Will there be more between now and the time that we go to trial, if they go to trial? It’s probable.”
So, what is the latest in the case?
A trial date for the murder charges against Heuermann has not yet been set, as Judge Timothy Mazzei is still determining details about the proceedings: namely whether nuclear DNA evidence can be used in the case and whether the seven murders will be tried together or separately. Legal proceedings are currently underway in New York. Heuermann is reportedly being held in 60-square-foot cell at Riverhead Correctional Facility in Suffolk County, New York, as he awaits trial.
You can watch the trailer here before diving into the harrowing series:
The true story behind this Netflix documentary is so shocking and heartbreaking.
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