RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann of Gilgo Beach appeared in court Wednesday morning for a status hearing.
Heuermann, a 61-year-old architect from Massapequa, is charged with six counts of murder. On Wednesday, he didn’t even look back at the public part of the courtroom. His hands were cuffed behind his gray suit.
Four of the victims in the case had their bodies discarded near Gilgo Beach. Two others were murdered in 2003 and 1993. They were all involved in sex work.
Prosecutors say Heuermann has been linked to the killings through DNA, phone records from the burner, a description of his truck, Internet searches and what they call a blueprint for how to get away with murder.
Heuermann’s defense team is seeking a hearing to challenge the DNA evidence, calling the new nuclear DNA defective and unproven.
The judge set the next hearing date for December 17 and said he wants to set the trial date at that time.
Prosecutors say they need more money because of all the paperwork
District Attorney Ray Tierney said with an extraordinary amount of evidence — 120 terabytes — the federal government must release $13 million in forfeited money it frozen in an investigation into a previous administration. He said he is running out of money to meet needs at the landmark Heuermann case.
“Given the ridiculous nature of our discovery laws, which require me to produce every piece of paper generated in a case that started in 1993. That’s what we have to do, okay?’ Tierney said.
Heuermann’s attorney says his client is looking forward to his day in court and will seek a change of venue.
“We’ve talked about a change of venue. We’re going to look into that. We’ve looked into that, whether we can get a fair and impartial jury here in Suffolk County,” said attorney Michael Brown. ‘Where do I hope it will be? The process itself? Mars, I don’t know.’
Tierney said the investigation into the other killings is ongoing on several fronts.
Update on the Gilgo Beach murders
Heuermann pleaded not guilty to murder in the deaths of six women between 1993 and 2011. The remains of 11 people were discovered around Gilgo Beach during that period, and investigators have said he may be linked to other killings.
Heuermann was initially arrested on July 14, 2023 and charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
New Charges were filed in January at the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and he was indicted on additional charges in June in the 1993 murder of Sandra Costilla and the 2003 murder of Jessica Taylor. Costilla was not previously involved in the Gilgo case.
Last month, the Gilgo Beach Task Force has released new images of a possible other victimwhose body was found in 2011 between Waterman and Taylor along Ocean Parkway.
Investigators have also described a “blueprint” they say Heuermann used to “plan his murders in excruciating detail.”
Carolyn Gusoff
