Call it a bombshell: after much ado in the laborious department on a high-profile case such as this, Judge Tim Mazzei ruled that high-tech DNA evidence against alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann can be used.
This ruling marks an early, but certainly not final victory for Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney and his prosecutorial team, who have spent years building a case against the 62-year-old Massapequa Park native.
Heuermann’s attorney, Michael Brown, dismisses the Astrea Labs-processed DNA evidence as “magic.” His motions to have the samples thrown out on intra-state grounds and for separate trials were denied.
The defendant—who has appeared in court for the examination of expert-qualified geneticists—will instead face a single trial for the murder of seven sex workers, among others, linked to him through advanced DNA.
“If I wasn’t confident in this case, I would’ve never brought it to trial,” Tierney told reporters.
Discarded along the south shore of Long Island, the victims — Valerie Mack, 24, Melissa Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Sandra Costilla, 28, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27 — were murdered between 1993 and 2010.
The case stalled amid a police corruption crackdown, as highlighted in recent documentaries. Then, a renewed push by Tierney, former Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison and their task force collaborators on the federal front led to Heuermann’s July 2023 arrest outside his Manhattan architecture firm.
He was initially charged with three murders. Digital surveillance—including harassment of sex workers and violent pornography—suggested he might kill again.
Enter: DA Tierney. “I think a big consideration by the court,” he said, “which was stated in their decision, was that planning document."
"...[It] talks about murders that had occurred, that are about to occur, and that are going to occur in the future.”