Lengthy Island prosecutors have the inexperienced mild to make use of essential DNA proof of their case towards accused Gilgo Seaside serial killer Rex Heuermann, a choose dominated Wednesday.
The bombshell ruling by Choose Tim Mazzei marks an enormous victory for Suffolk County District Lawyer Ray Tierney, whose case towards the hulking architect hinged nearly solely on DNA matches linking Heuermann to seven intercourse staff he’s charged with killing between 1993 and 2010.
“The science was on our facet and that’s why we received,” Tierney informed reporters Wednesday.
The accused killer’s spouse, Asa Ellerup, was in court docket however didn’t remark after the ruling.
Heuermann was arrested outdoors his Manhattan workplace in July 2023 and charged with the murders of three intercourse staff whose our bodies had been dumped alongside desolate stretches of Lengthy Island.
He was later charged with 4 extra deaths, and is now accused of killing Valerie Mack, 24, Melissa Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Sandra Costilla, 28, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
Their deaths remained unsolved till Suffolk County police reopened the case at Tierney’s urging.
Investigators had been aided by new expertise that allowed “degraded” DNA samples, such because the hairs discovered on the victims, to be examined and linked to the crimes.
Keep updated on the Gilgo Seaside murders
Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael Brown, has been essential of the proof, calling it “magic.”
In court docket Wednesday, Brown argued that Astrea Labs, the corporate that did the DNA testing, just isn’t licensed within the Empire State and due to this fact utilizing the outcomes violates well being legal guidelines.
However Mazzei nonetheless dominated that prosecutors might use the proof on the upcoming trial.
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