Valerie Lyn Fulton was born on June 2, 1976, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Before her birth, her mother, Fulton, had four other children and endured a contentious separation and divorce, a legal battle that spanned from 1972 to 1985. As a result, all of Fulton’s children, including Valerie, were placed in foster care.

In 1985 As a child, Valerie was adopted by the Macks and lived with them in a spacious ranch-style home on a tree-lined rural street near pristine marshland and the New Jersey Pine Barrens. In the spring, hummingbirds would sip nectar from feeders the family set out, as her parents fondly recalled. Valerie seemed to thrive in this environment. She participated in youth plays at the Greentree Church in Egg Harbor, part of the Sovereign Grace Churches Christian denomination. She did well in school, and one of her most treasured possessions was an upright piano that still stands in the Mack family home.

1990, Valerie’s life began to unravel at age 14 during her ninth-grade year. She started running away, falling in with the wrong crowd, skipping school, and using drugs, her parents said. The Macks sought counseling for her at a New Jersey crisis center specializing in children, but their efforts failed to help. By the time Valerie turned 17, the state social services system determined she should be treated as an adult capable of making her own decisions. “She had become pretty rebellious, so they figured she was old enough to live on her own,” JoAnn Mack explained.

In the early 1990s, Valerie moved in with her half-sister, the late Dierdre Gimmillaro, in Wildwood, New Jersey.

In 1994, Valerie gave birth to a son, Benjamin, and lived briefly with the child’s father. However, she soon left Benjamin in his father’s care and took off, frequently moving between Philadelphia and New Jersey. “She was afraid she couldn’t be a good mother,” JoAnn Mack recalled.

1999, when Valerie was diagnosed with pericarditis, an inflammation of the outer lining of the heart, her parents said. She moved back to the Mack home as soon as she left the hospital. Valerie got a job at a local Dollar Tree discount store in Egg Harbor Township.

By 2000, Valerie had been working as an escort in Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, she was arrested three times for prostitution, drugs and loitering, Suffolk County investigators said. She used the alias Melissa Taylor.

Her family last saw her in New Jersey that year. Tragically, Valerie was never reported missing. According to her adopted sister Angela, the family attempted to file a missing person report, but police refused, stating Valerie was an adult who had likely left on her own accord. Despite this, the family continued to search for her. “I figured she was gone all these years, but not in the way they described. It’s just really hard to think that somebody could do that to her,” Angela said.

On November 19, 2000 10:50 AM, a hunter’s dog discovered some of Valerie’s remains in a wooded area of Manorville, Suffolk County, New York. Her torso was found in a black plastic bag wrapped with duct tape, with additional plastic bags containing her decapitated body. Her head, hands, and leg had been severed. Investigators estimated her death occurred weeks prior.

More than a decade later, on April 4, 2011, Valerie’s head, hands, and right foot were discovered in a plastic bag along Ocean Parkway on Gilgo Beach, Long Island. Investigators believed Valerie had been working as a prostitute in the New York City area.

On May 28, 2020, Suffolk County Police officially identified the remains as belonging to Valerie Mack. Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart explained that the breakthrough came after investigators tracked down Valerie’s aunt, who led them to her adoptive family and her son, Benjamin. Now in his 20s, Benjamin’s DNA confirmed Valerie’s identity.

In 2023, prosecutors linked Valerie’s murder to Rex Heuermann through mitochondrial DNA analysis. A female hair found on Valerie’s remains matched profiles of Heuermann’s wife and daughter, with investigators noting that Heuermann’s daughter would have been between 3 and 4 years old at the time of Valerie’s death. Additional evidence came from the 350 electronic devices seized from Heuermann, which contained a significant collection of violent, bondage, and torture pornography dating back to at least 1994. Some images depicted breast mutilation and women bound with rope, injuries consistent with Valerie’s condition.

Prosecutors also uncovered a document they believe Heuermann used to plan his murders. Created in 2000, the year Valerie was killed, the document included sections titled “supplies” and “DS,” believed to stand for “dump site.” Items listed included “rope/cord,” “saw/cutting tools,” and “foam drain cleaner,” along with instructions under “body prep” to “remove head and hands.” Prosecutors noted that one of the listed dump sites matched the location where Valerie’s remains were found.

Valerie’s brutal murder and the condition of her remains reflect a chilling level of planning and violence. Her family, shocked to learn of her final resting place nearly 180 miles from home, continues to grapple with the tragic circumstances of her death. “Nobody, nobody could understand how she got to New York because any time she would disappear, she went to Philadelphia,” Angela said. “I really don’t think she went to New York willingly at all.”

Timeline of Events in Valerie Mack’s Life and Case

• June 2, 1976: Valerie Lynn Fulton is born in Elizabeth, New Jersey.
• 1972-1985: Valerie’s mother, Fulton, endures a contentious separation and divorce. All of her children, including Valerie, are placed in foster care.
• 1995: Valerie was adopted by the Macks and lives in a ranch-style home near the New Jersey Pine Barrens.
• Early School Years: Valerie thrives, participating in youth plays at Greentree Church in Egg Harbor and excelling in school. She treasures an upright piano given to her by the Macks.
• 1990: Age 14 (Ninth Grade): Valerie’s life begins to unravel. She runs away, associates with the wrong crowd, skips school, and starts using drugs. The Macks seek counseling for her, but it is unsuccessful.
• 1993: Age 17: The state social services system determines Valerie is an adult capable of making her own decisions. She leaves the Macks’ home.
• Early 1990s: Valerie moves in with her half-sister, Dierdre Gimmillaro, in Wildwood, New Jersey.
• 1994: Valerie gives birth to a son, Benjamin. She briefly lives with Benjamin’s father before leaving her son in his care. She moves frequently between Philadelphia and New Jersey.
• 1996, Valerie had her first contact with Pennsylvania law enforcement, resulting in the first of several prostitution-related arrests by the Philadelphia Police Department.
• Fall 1999: Valerie is diagnosed with pericarditis, an inflammation of the outer lining of the heart. After leaving the hospital, she moves back to Mack’s home. Her life begins to show improvement. Valerie gets a job at a local Dollar Tree discount store in Egg Harbor Township. “They really liked her,” Ed Mack recalled. “They were going to start her for an evening manager spot.”
• June 25, 2020: Valerie Mac Arrested for prostitution
  
• October 2000: Valerie leaves home again to visit her son and half-sister in Wildwood, New Jersey.
• Spring 2000: Valerie’s family has their last contact with her. Valerie is working as an escort in Philadelphia. Valerie was arrested three times for prostitution, drugs, and loitering. She used the alias, Melissa Taylor
• November 19, 2000 10:50 AM: A hunter’s dog discovers part of Valerie’s remains in a wooded area in Manorville, Suffolk County, New York. Her torso is found in plastic bags, with her head, hands, and leg severed.
• April 4, 2011: Valerie’s head, hands, and right foot are discovered in a plastic bag along Ocean Parkway on Gilgo Beach, Long Island. Valerie Mack’s death would have occurred, more specifically, on or about and between September 1, 2000, to November 19, 2000.
• Medical Examiner: Medical Examiner’s Office was also able to determine that lower right leg had been amputated at the mid-calf. The examination revealed injuries to the victim’s left mid and lateral breast in the form of “two contiguous ragged defects,” which were likely the result of post-mortem mutilation of the victim’s breast with a sharp object. Remains were also examined by Forensic Scientists with the SCCL. During the examination of the body, several human hairs were recovered inside garbage bag, one of which was found on left wrist.
  
• May 23, 2020, 11:30 p.m., at the time Rex Heuermann’s home IP address visited Gilgonews.com, the web page highlighted the upcoming identification of “Manorville Jane Doe,” who would, five days later, be identified as Valerie Mack.
• May 28, 2020: Suffolk County Police identify the remains as Valerie Mack using DNA analysis. They located her son, Benjamin, whose DNA confirmed her identity.
• July 30, 2020, 10:50 p.m., Heuermann’s home IP address once again visited the Mack-specific portions of the Gilgonews.com website for information pertaining to the investigation.
• October 3, 2000, Heuermann called to a plumbing company based in Lynbrook, and paid $265.83 to yet another plumbing company to check his “mainline” drain.
• July 2023, law enforcement executed search warrants for Rex A. Heuermann’s home and Manhattan office.
• July 15, 2023, while executing the court authorized search warrant in Manhattan, agents of the Gilgo Homicide Task Force observed a magazine in Rex A. Heuermann’s personal office, specifically a People Magazine, which had been issued on November 7, 2016.

The magazine, entitled ‘BODIES ON THE BEACH: HUNT FOR THE LONG ISLAND SERIAL KILLER: Who is the cold-blooded murderer killing women and dumping their bodies on a New York Beach?” was recovered from a cardboard box directly in front of Rex A. Heuermann’s work desk

• July 16, 2023, while executing a search warrant, agents of the Gilgo Homicide Task Force observed another magazine, this time located in the basement vault of Rex A. Heuermann’s residence. The ‘New York’ magazine, which had been issued on June 6, 2011, featured a cover story regarding ‘A Serial Killer on Long Island’
• 2023: Prosecutors link Rex Heuermann to Valerie’s murder through mitochondrial DNA and electronic evidence. A document found among Heuermann’s files outlines his plans, including tools, disposal locations, and body preparation instructions consistent with Valerie’s case.
• March 29, 2024, the Gilgo Homicide Task Force brought a cutting of the Female Hair on Mack to an outside forensics laboratory (previously referred to in Exhibit A as “Forensic Laboratory # 2”), which specializes in forensic mitochondrial analysis.
• May 21, 2024, agents of the Gilgo Homicide Task Force seized newspapers from Rex A. Heuermann’s primary bedroom, which included a New York Post newspaper that had been issued on July 29, 2003. Said newspaper included an article entitled “Serial Killer Eyed in L.I. Slay,” which contained details surrounding the disappearance and murders of Valerie Mack and Jessica Taylor. Homicide Task Force also seized newspapers from the basement of Heuermann’s residence, which included a Newsday publication issued on November 22, 1993. Said newspaper included an article entitled “Body Discovered in Woods,” which specifically referenced the homicide investigation of Sandra Costilla, whose “partially clothed body was discovered in a wooded area of North Sea [Southampton] on Saturday [November 20, 1993]”
  
• October 14, 2024, Forensic Laboratory # 2 issued a report concluding that the partial mitochondrial DNA profile developed from the Female Hair on Mack and the known mitochondrial DNA profiles of Asa Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann, “share a common base at all locations…,” specifically at a rate that would, as per the EMPOP database,3 exclude 99.65% of the North American population as the contributor of said hair recovered near the dismembered left wrist of the victim.
• October 29, 2024, the Gilgo Homicide Task Force sent a cutting of the Female Hair on Mack to an outside, independent laboratory (previously referred to in Exhibit A as Forensic Laboratory # 1), which applies DNA techniques and direct genome sequencing in difficult-to-solve forensic casework and the identification of human remains.
• November 26, 2024, Forensic Laboratory # 1 issued a report indicating it had developed a nuclear DNA profile for the Female Hair on Mack. Forensic Laboratory # 1 was then able to conduct a one-to-one autosomal nuclear DNA comparison between said profile (developed from the Female Hair on Mack) to Victoria Heuermann’s SNP Genotype File (developed from her buccal swab), which resulted in the conclusion that the DNA profile generated from the Female Hair on Mack is 1.31 x 10356 times more likely to have come from a person genetically identical to Victoria Heuermann’s SNP Geno-type File than from an unrelated individual.
• December 17, 2024 Well before the identification of Rex A. Heuermann as a suspect in the murders of Valerie Mack and Jessica Taylor, a Forensic Anthropologist with the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner’s Office (“OCME”) noted similarities in the type of cutting instrument used to dismember both victims. Specifically, the Forensic Anthropologist analyzed the cut bones of both victims, which led to the conclusion that a hand-powered saw, with similar blade widths, were utilized in the dismemberment of both Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack.Rex Heuermann was charged with Murder of 2nd Degree Indictment
  

Valerie Lyn Fulton was born on June 2, 1976, in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Before her birth, her mother, Fulton, had four other children and endured a contentious separation and divorce, a legal battle that spanned from 1972 to 1985. As a result, all of Fulton’s children, including Valerie, were placed in foster care.