Valerie Mack (photo courtesy of the family)
A woman born in Atlantic City is among the eight admitted victims of serial killer Rex Heuermann.
The former architect pleaded guilty Wednesday to the women being among eight whose remains were found on Gilgo Beach, Long Island, New York, including 24-year-old Valerie Mack.
Heuermann hired the women as escorts, strangled them, bound them in burlap and dumped their bodies.
Since the discovery, many wondered whether there was a connection to four sex workers whose bodies were found Nov. 20, 2006, off the Black Horse Pike in Egg Harbor Township's West Atlantic City section.
The theory gained momentum again after Heuermann's arrest, even after the Atlantic County Prosecutor's Office put out a statement in August 2023, saying it did not appear to be the same person.
“At this point in time, after ACPO detectives recently met with Suffolk County detectives to compare timelines, dates, methodologies, etc. of both cases, there does not seem to be a connection between the suspect in the Gilgo Beach case and the Atlantic County homicides from 2006," Prosecutor William Reynolds said at that time.
Still, there is an unfortunate local connection.
Mack was born Valerie Kyn Fulton on June 2, 1976, in Atlantic City.
Her life was difficult from the start, and she "shuffled between several foster homes until she was ultimately adopted by the Mack family," per a bail application reported by Oxygen.com.
She gave birth to her son, Benjamin Torres, when she was 17, and lived with the boy's father in Wildwood for a time.
Two years later is a first record of her arrest in Philadelphia for prostitution. She worked under the name Melissa Taylor.
She was never reported missing.
A hunter's dog discovered Mack's remains Nov. 19, 2000, in a wooded area of Manorville, N.Y. The remains were in a black plastic bag wrapped with duct tape. The bag contained additional plastic bags that contained Mack's decapitated body.
She had been dead about two to eight weeks at the time her remains were discovered, according to the Suffolk County Medical Examiner's Office, ultimately putting her killing at some time between Sept. 1, 2000, and Nov. 19, 2000.
Her family had last seen her months before in Port Republic.
Then, in 2011, more of her remains were found on Gilgo Beach, along with five other victims of Heuermann.
She was known as Jane Doe No. 6 until May 2020, when DNA results established her identity.
This week, Torres filed a civil suit against Heuermann, along with the admitted murderer's ex-wife and daughter.
With his confession, Heuermann will spend the rest of his life in prison. He also is expected to give insight into his crimes, and the reason behind them.
The plea agreement calls for Heuermann to be interviewed by the FBI Behavioral Analysis Units about his motivations and background, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said during a news conference.
“It’s sort of an academic exercise,” Tierney said. “They’re going to hopefully gain insight into the things that created him, that drove him, what causes this.”
