Suffolk County prosecutors can use high-tech DNA evidence against accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann — who will face just one trial for the murders of seven sex workers, a Long Island judge said in a bombshell ruling Tuesday.
The decision by Judge Tim Mazzei is a slam dunk for Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney, whose case against Heuermann hinges largely on DNA.
“If I wasn’t confident in this case, I would’ve never brought it to trial,” Tierney told reporters.
Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael Brown, had challenged the DNA evidence and sought to have his client tried separately for each of the seven sex workers he is accused of killing.
Mazzei ruled earlier this month that crucial DNA evidence could be used in the case against the 61-year-old accused serial killer — the key to the prosecution’s case.
The DNA matches link Heuermann to seven sex workers found dead along a desolate stretch of Long Island: Valerie Mack, 24, Melissa Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Sandra Costilla, 28, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
The bodies were dumped between 1993 and 2010, but the murders remained cold until former NYPD bigwig Rodney Harrison took over as Suffolk County police commissioner and reopened the case — leading to Heuermann’s arrest in July 2023.
The hulking architect, who has denied he was behind the grisly slayings, has since been held without bail while the case crawls toward a trial.
Brown has called the DNA evidence “magic” and moved to have it thrown out while asking that each of the murders be the subject of a separate trial.
The DNA evidence, processed by Astrea Labs, was tested using high-tech science that allowed damaged samples to be used for the first time in a New York state courtroom.
Brown argued on Sept. 3 that the lab is not licensed in the state and that using the evidence would violate Empire State health laws.
Meanwhile, Tierney said he plans to call “well over” 100 witnesses from 15 different states to testify at the upcoming trial, with more than 6.5 million documents entered into evidence.
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