It was a dramatic conclusion to an emotional hearing as 13 family members of the victims faced the Gilgo Beach serial killer in the courtroom.
When Rex Heuermann, 62, indicated he wished to make a statement the judge demanded, "Stand up!"
Heuermann had little to say to the judge. "There are no words I can say. The words I would say have no meaning and I'm going to leave it there."
Judge Timothy Mazzei asked, "Are you a little bit sorry for what you did for these poor innocent women? Are you at least a little bit sorry for that?"
Heuermann responded, "Yes I am."
"Get him out of here," Mazzei said as court ended. Chants of "ogre" and a round of applause followed by family members.
Heuermann pleaded guilty in April to charges that he murdered seven women: Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. He he also admitted to killing Karen Vergata, though he was not formally charged in her death.
The sentencing came after Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney and family of victims addressed the court.
Victims express 'eviscerating hatred'
Anguished relatives of the victims of the Gilgo Beach serial killer aimed decades of anger at Heuermann as he sat in a rumpled grey suit, blue shirt and gold tie waiting to be shipped off to prison.
"I can't even put into words the eviscerating hatred I have for you," said Jasmine Robinson, cousin of Jessica Taylor, who would have turned 43 on Wednesday. "You fill me with so much repugnance."
Another cousin, Violet Swager, remembered Taylor as "fierce, kind, compassionate, beautiful and intelligent" and said to Heuermann, "You chose small women because you're nothing more than a weak, disgusting coward."
Heuermann admitted to killing eight women, including Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose sister, Missy Cann, broke down in tears as she read a statement prior to the imposition of the sentence.
RELATED | Complete timeline of events leading up to Rex Heuermann's arrest
"She was not just murdered. She was the victim of a predator, a serial killer," Cann said. "You are a coward who preyed on vulnerable, innocent women."
Ed and JoAnn Mack, the parents of Valerie Mack, said Heuermann robbed their daughter of the chance to achieve her dreams.
"I would like to say to Mr. Heuermann, what you have done to our family is beyond what words can express. Even though justice is done, it cannot replace what you have taken from us," JoAnn Mack said.
Barthelemy's sister, Amanda Funderberg, recalled how Heuermann tormented her after the murder by calling her and saying he was letting Barthelemy's body rot.
Funderberg turned to stare down Heuermann in the courtroom, telling him, "You can look at me while I'm talking -- it has been about 17 years since we've spoken."
She called him an "ogre" and a "repulsive monster."
Waterman's daughter, Liliana Waterman, who was 9 when her mother was killed, recalled finding out about how her mother died while scrolling on her phone.
"In an instant my world shattered," Liliana Waterman said. "I have spent 16 Mother's Days without her."
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told reporters after sentencing that his "greatest wish for this case" is for the victims' families to enjoy "great lives."
"They stood by their loved ones and did a wonderful job. And now it's time for them to heal and to go on and realize the tremendous potential that they all have, 'cause they're absolutely extraordinary people," he said.
Serial killer's guilty plea
The Massapequa Park resident pleaded guilty in April, bringing some closure to a case that puzzled investigators for more than a decade. Authorities say key evidence included cellphone location data and DNA recovered from victims' remains.
In 2024, after Heuermann's arrest, prosecutors recovered what they described as a "blueprint" for the killings from his computer files. Among the documents was a series of checklists with reminders to limit noise, clean the bodies and destroy evidence.
As part of his guilty plea, Heuermann has agreed to cooperate with the FBI's behavioral analysis unit to help catch other serial killers.
He's been housed in the county jail in Riverhead since his arrest in July 2023, but will serve out his term in a state prison to be determined later.
Heuermann has spent the past three years alone in a segregated cell, reading crime novels, occasionally being visited by his lawyers or family, and striking up a brief correspondence with the infamous "Happy Face Killer," according to Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon, who oversees the Riverhead jail.
ABC News and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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