A lawyer for Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann is seeking a hearing to challenge the use of what he called “faulty” DNA evidence that he said was analyzed by a dubious West Coast crime lab.
Much of the evidence against Heuermann, 61, an architect from Massapequa charged with six murders, is from DNA, and the suspect’s attorney, Michael Brown, said he doesn’t think it’s good enough.
“The magician on the West Coast, that crime lab, they’re not accredited here in New York State,” Brown said after a hearing Wednesday in a Riverhead courtroom
“I don’t know if they’re accredited anywhere in the country for forensic analysis,” he added. “Their work has not been subject to peer review. The peer review article that we have reviewed indicates that their analysis is faulty.”
But Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney said he was not concerned about the DNA evidence being ruled inadmissible.
What does worry him, he said, is the money his office needs to meet “ambitious” discovery deadlines to turn over more evidence.
State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei has given prosecutors until Dec. 17 to comply. But Tierney said his department needs the U.S. Justice Department to free up assets frozen from the DA’s office as part of a probe into a former district attorney.
“We’re talking about millions of dollars — $13 million dollars,” Tierney said. “I’d love to have that money and be able to use it to bring this case to a resolution.”
Heuermann was first charged in July 2023 with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. In January, Heuermann was additionally charged with the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Investigators have since charged him with two more murders — the 2003 death of Jessica Taylor and the 1993 murder of Sandra Costilla.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the murders, which span three decades. He is currently being held without bail.
Investigators have found 11 bodies on a stretch of beach along Long Island’s South Shore.
Last month, the task force investigating the Gilgo Beach murders released sketches of an unidentified victim known only as “Asian Doe.”
Forensic scientists and anthropologists used the recovered remains to create new renderings of what the subject likely would have looked like, officials said.
The victim — a biological male wearing women’s clothing — may have been a sex worker before disappearing in 2006 and likely spent time in New York City, Tierney said.
Heuermann has not been named as a suspect in that victim’s death.
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