Gilgo Beach murders: Defense says it wants to exclude DNA evidence against suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann at trial

The admissibility of the DNA methods used to charge suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann with six murders will be the subject of a hearing next spring as his defense seeks to present the evidence to the court, lawyers and the judge leading the case, said Wednesday.

Defense attorney Michael J. Brown of Central Islip contends that the DNA expert prosecutors plan to call as a witness will talk about unproven methods of genetic testing that don’t meet the Frye standard, which requires an expert’s opinion to be “general “accepted” is their scientific community. The testing, conducted by Astrea Forensics of Scotts Valley, California, used proprietary DNA methods to recover data from degraded hair samples – methods never before presented in a New York court.

“This [DNA] “The results are not fair,” Brown said after Heuermann’s appearance before state Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei. “They shouldn’t be used as evidence because.” [Astrea] is not accredited [in New York State]; They are not a forensically accredited crime lab. There is no scientific basis behind it, in the sense that it has not been peer-reviewed.”

Heuermann, 61, of Massapequa Park, was charged with the murders of six women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor and Sandra Costilla. Tainted hair samples found at the crime scenes were used to link Heuermann to each of his alleged victims.

But Brown, who called Astrea’s work “magic,” said the only peer analysis uncovered by the defense found the methods used by the lab were flawed. Astrea officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney acknowledged that a Frye hearing was necessary because the nuclear DNA methods used by the outside lab have not been submitted to New York state courts.

“SNP [single nucleotide polymorphism genetic testing] “DNA is a matter of first impressions for New York State,” Tierney said. “So we have to go through this… Frye process.”

Mazzei has asked both sides to meet in the coming weeks to reach consensus on the parameters of the hearing before the judge sets a date. Mazzei said Wednesday he intends to set the hearing date and possibly a trial date at Heuermann’s next appearance on Dec. 17.

Under current state Department of Health regulations, private laboratories that conduct DNA analysis for police and prosecutors were required to be inspected and granted permits by the DOH. Currently, four such laboratories have received approval, a spokesman for the state health department said.

If a private laboratory does not obtain DOH approval, it may be subject to civil penalties, the agency said in a statement to Newsday. However, it was unclear whether evidence created by a laboratory without authorization ever caused problems when the evidence was used in court.

And because the Gilgo Beach Task Force works with the FBI, investigators can use the federal authority to gain access to any lab without being restricted by state regulations, officials said.

Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Santomartino said prosecutors turned over to the defense Wednesday the final DNA evidence in the six murders Heuermann was accused of. Brown assured Mazzei that the evidence for the first four charged murders has already been reviewed by a defense expert and that he intends to forward the newly submitted evidence related to two alleged victims added to the indictment in June, Costilla and Taylor the coming days.

Santomartino said prosecutors have also nearly completed the electronic investigation in the case and have now turned over nearly all of the evidence found on hundreds of devices seized in search warrants at Heuermann’s home, office and storage facilities.

Brown downplayed the significance of that evidence but said the defense was continuing to consider filing motions for hearings on other issues related to the case, particularly the separation of the first four accused murders from the others and also a possible change of venue.

Both issues relate to concerns about a toxic jury pool, Brown said.

“It will be very important for us to separate the fifth and sixth victims of the prosecution from the first four, that is, to sentence them separately and separately,” Brown said.

Brown said there is “virtually no evidence” linking his client to Costilla and Taylor, whose murders date back to 1993 and 2003, respectively.

“With the Gilgo Four, we feel the evidence is very weak, but we can deal with it,” Brown said. “By adding five and six to the indictment, there is virtually no evidence and all it does is attempt to poison the jury.” [the Gilgo Four].”

Tierney said investigators were continuing to investigate Heuermann in connection with other murders and would not rule out future charges before the December conference.

“We speak in indictments and we will press charges when we are ready to press charges,” Tierney said.

Heuermann, a New York architect, has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of first- and second-degree murder in connection with the six murders.

The investigation spans 30 years, from Costilla’s death in 1993 to Heuermann’s arrest in July 2023. Heuermann, who was first charged with the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello, was charged with the deaths of Brainard-Barnes in January and charged with killing Taylor and Costilla in June.

Barthelemy, Waterman, Costello, Brainard-Barnes and Taylor are among 11 groups of human remains found on Gilgo Beach between 2010 and 2011. More of Taylor’s remains were found in Manorville shortly after her disappearance in 2003. Costilla’s body was found in the North Sea at the time of her death in November 1993.

Each of the women was involved in sex work, prosecutors said. They have also accused Heuermann of regularly having sex workers during the decades-long investigation and of conducting research on serial killers to avoid prosecution.

With Anthony M. DeStefano