Prosecutors have asked Rex Heuermann, a prominent New York City architect who has become a suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders, for a DNA swab.
Rex Heuermann: main suspect in the death of women
The Suffolk County district attorney’s office has charged Heuermann with three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy in 2009 and Megan Waterman and Amber Costello in 2010, CNN reports.
According to authorities, he is also the main suspect in the disappearance and death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, in 2007.
Heuermann has not been charged in relation to the fourth homicide, but the inquiry “is expected to be resolved soon,” according to the document.
Heuermann has denied the claims against him through his counsel.
According to his court-appointed attorney, Michael Brown, Heuermann stated after his arrest that he did not commit the crime.
Court requests to get a swab of DNA from Heuermann
According to a DA’s office representative, the office has filed a court request to get a swab of DNA from Heuermann. CNN is attempting to obtain a copy of the request for a DNA sample.
For years, the Gilgo Beach murders terrified New Yorkers and fueled competing beliefs about whether a serial killer was to blame. The case was unsolved for more than a decade.
This year, police retrieved Heuermann’s DNA from pizza crust that had been thrown away in a Manhattan trash can in January.
Earlier Thursday, an attorney for Heuermann’s wife told CNN that neither he nor his client had been approached by investigators or requested to provide DNA samples by the district attorney.
However, DNA samples from the suspect’s wife, Asa Ellerup, have previously been collected by investigators. They were recovered in bottles inside a trash can outside the couple’s shared residence, and mitochondrial DNA testing linked them to hairs found on or near three of the dead victims.
Last month, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney stated that evidence reveals Heuermann’s wife and children were out of the state when the three women are suspected to have been killed.
Independent reported also that it comes after Mr Heuermann’s sister-in-law expressed her shock at his arrest in connection with the killings of Amber Costello, Megan Waterman, and Melissa Barthelemy.
Tierney stated that in terms of DNA and hairs, it’s either transfer, in which one person comes into contact with a second person, who then comes into contact with a third person, or they were in an area where you know the family member occupied, whether it’s a car or a residence.
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