Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney says “cutting-edge” advances in DNA testing are linking samples taken from victims of the Gilgo Four and family members of Long Island serial killer Rex Heuerman. He said there was overwhelming statistical agreement between the two.
Tierney told reporters Tuesday after Heuerman was indicted on a fourth murder charge that the latest test results will help the prosecution in the death of Maureen Brainerd Burns, 25, and that other He said he would step up charges against Heuerman in three murder cases.
Before being charged in Brainard-Burns' death, Heuerman already faced murder charges in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. was. All four women were found in the bushes near Gilgo Beach, east of Newtown. York City.
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Victoria Heuerman, daughter of Rex Heuerman, attends a press conference at the Suffolk County Courthouse on Tuesday, January 16, 2024 in Riverhead, New York. Heuerman appeared in court Tuesday, where she faces an additional murder charge in the death of Maureen Brainard-Burns. (Robert Miller, Fox News Digital)
Heuerman was under surveillance for more than a year before he was arrested by police outside his Manhattan architecture firm, his lawyer Mike Brown said outside court.
Court documents Tuesday revealed that detectives were also following a daughter, who is not a suspect, but whose DNA was allegedly transferred to one of the victims by her father during a beach vacation.
Detectives not only collected DNA samples from the murder suspect and his wife; They also followed Victoria Heuerman on a train and picked up a can of Monster Java she had thrown away from a trash can. Laboratory tests later showed that it matched a sample taken from the victim, Amber Costello.
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Investigators followed Victoria Heuerman, the daughter of Long Island serial killer Rex Heuerman, and recovered a discarded Monster Energy Drink can after she took a train home from Manhattan to Massapequa Park. , the can matched a DNA sample taken from “Gilgo Four” victim Amber Costello. (Suffolk County District Attorney's Office)
Investigators believe Victoria Heuerman was out of town at the time of the murder, and Tierney said she was only 13 at the time, but her image was on the tape used to bind the victim. The hair is believed to have been transferred to Brainard Burns' ashes by his father.
Mr Tierney told reporters months after hearing investigators charged Mr Heuerman with the death of Brainard Burns, along with other victims, that they believed the “state-of-the-art” SNP process test He said this was because he was waiting for the results, and that the test showed an overwhelming match with the case.
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Investigators took photos of the Monster can inside the trash can before collecting it for a DNA sample. (Suffolk County District Attorney's Office)
“We had mitochondrial results on hair from a woman found at the Costello burial site that matched both Asa's genetic profiles.” [Ellerup] And Victoria Heuerman. And that eliminated 99.98% of the remaining population,” Tierney said.
“If you recall the science of mitochondrial DNA, unlike nuclear DNA, it is inherited only from the mother. Therefore, mother and child will have identical mitochondrial DNA profiles…Currently, all five questionable hairs There is a nuclear DNA profile, which we use using the Snip or SNP process.”
Tierney explained that nuclear test results show that the likelihood of a match is surprisingly high.
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Nicolette Brainard Barnes holds a photo of herself at age 7 with her mother, Maureen Brainard Barnes, during a press conference at the Suffolk County Courthouse on Tuesday, January 16, 2024, in Riverhead, New York. (Robert Miller, Fox News Digital)
“The way that number is expressed, that's the scientific way of expressing it. So it's basically 2.374 plus 48 zeros,” he says. “That’s such a big number…it doesn’t even have a name.”
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Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, left, and alleged Gilgo murderer Rex Heuerman, far right, inside Judge Timothy P. Mazzei's courtroom at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead on Tuesday, January 16, 2024. ) was arraigned in the death of Maureen Brainerd Burns. . Heuerman stands next to defense attorney Michael Brown. (James Carbone/Newsday Via Pool)
Although the superseded indictment indicates that law enforcement continues to move forward with the investigation, former NYPD Inspector Paul Mauro told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that the latest filing “does nothing. It's not surprising.”
But they provide stronger evidence than was publicly known before Tuesday's arraignment about the fourth murder charge, specifically the link between Victoria Heuerman's hair and Costello. He said it “confirmed” his earlier suspicions.
His relationship with Costello is also important. Because her pimp described an altercation with an “ogre” that matched Heuerman's physical description and helped lead police to the suspect vehicle, the same green Chevrolet Avalanche that authorities found. He is also the only witness identified in public court filings. The suspect's brother's home in South Carolina.
After Heuerman's arrest in July, investigators seized his burner phone and other equipment, Tierney said, and provided further evidence that would ultimately help indict him in Brainard Burns' death. He said he discovered it during the incident.
In new files, police have provided cell phone billing records showing Elup and her children were in Atlantic City, New Jersey, when Brainard Burns went missing on July 9, 2007. Tierney said he obtained it. Heuerman joined her family there on July 13.
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Asa Ellerup and attorney Bob Macedonio arrive at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead, New York, on Tuesday, January 16, 2024. Ellerup, the estranged wife of serial killer Rex Heuerman, appeared in court Tuesday to face additional murder charges. Death of Maureen Brainard-Burns. (Robert Miller, Fox News Digital)
Elup's attorney, Bob Macedonio, told Fox News Digital that the family had no idea Victoria Heuerman was being followed until Tuesday's bail application.
“The murders of all four victims occurred while Heuerman's wife and children were traveling out of state. As a result, Heuerman was at risk of his involvement being discovered or known by his family. “He was able to carry out his plans for each victim without fear or time constraints,” prosecutors wrote in the bail application.
Despite this, Heuerman allegedly transferred family members' DNA to his victims, which was left unattended for years until genetic testing improved enough for police to use it.
Counterclockwise from left: Amber Lynn Costello (age 27), Maureen Brainard Burns (age 25), Megan Waterman (age 22), Melissa Barthelemy (age 24), Craig After meeting with Zurist's customers, he disappeared. The woman's body was discovered at Gilgo Beach on Long Island in December 2010. (Suffolk County Police Department)
Investigators found Brainard Burns bound with three leather belts, one around his ankles. The new filing says the hair showed a genetic connection to Ellap. Prosecutors said Waterman's body was bound with duct tape, and hair recovered from the binding matched Ellerup's. A man's hair found in the burlap material used to hide her body was a direct match to Heuerman, according to court filings.
Photographic evidence of a leather belt embossed with initials discovered at the Gilgo Beach crime scene during the initial investigation. (Suffolk County Police Department)
Costello, who was restrained with tape and burlap, also had hair on him, according to the superseding indictment. This time it comes from the suspect's daughter, Victoria Heuerman, who was 13 years old at the time of the murder and estranged from her mother.
Other evidence revealed in the latest filings includes how each victim was held and how police created additional burner email accounts under pseudonyms such as “Andrew Roberts” and “Sandbagger 303.” Contains details about how it was recovered. Investigation of the unsolved case of Gilgo Beach.
A sign welcoming visitors to Gilgo Beach outside the tunnel connecting the beach to the parking lot under Ocean Parkway. (Michael Lewis/Fox News)
Heuerman is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder. He is being held without bail and is scheduled to return to court on February 6th.
Gilgo's victim is one of more than a dozen found in 2010 after police received a haunting 911 call from Shanann Gilbert and began searching for her near Oak Beach, a few miles east. was included in.
Crews spent months searching through dense brush north of Ocean Parkway, finding the bodies of Gilgo Four and six others, and finally finding Gilbert's body.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney speaks to the media during a press conference at the Suffolk County Courthouse on Tuesday, January 16, 2024 in Riverhead, New York. (Robert Miller, Fox News Digital)
Tierney said Tuesday that the other deaths remain under investigation by a grand jury.
“As for those other bodies and other murders, the task force will continue to investigate those cases,” he added.
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Heuerman was born and raised in Massapequa Park, New York. He bought his childhood home from his mother in the 1990s and moved there with his family. Neighbors described him as quiet and unassuming, though some said he sensed an eerie vibe from his dilapidated home. The house had dilapidated siding, twisted rain gutters along the roof, and two-by-four lumber supporting the front awning.
