Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect murder trials could be split up, as lawyers argue over 'magic' DNA evidence
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect murder trials could be split up, as lawyers argue over 'magic' DNA evidence
Share:
Rex Heuermann, a 61-year-old architect from Massapequa Park, is charged with seven murders. Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann returned to a Long Island courtroom on Wednesday where his attorneys challenged the DNA evidence against him and argued that the high-profile case should be split into five separate trials for the seven murders he is charged with.
![[Melissa Barthelemy, top left, Amber Costello, top right, Megan Waterman, bottom left, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2023/07/16/05/Long_Island_Serial_Killings_74625.jpg)
The 61-year-old architect from Massapequa Park stood completely still next to his defense attorney Michael Brown, who said splitting up the cases would give Heuermann the best chance at a fair trial. Heuermann was arrested in July 2023 as part of an investigation police had been working on since 2010 into the deaths of at least 10 people — mostly female sex workers — whose remains were discovered along an isolated highway near Gilgo Beach on Long Island.
![[Heuermann was charged with the murders of Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor in June 2024]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/06/26/21/Sandra%20Costilla%20and%20Jessica%20Taylor.png)
The defense is seeking one trial for the original three murders Heuermann was charged with – Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello – and then four separate trials for all the murders he has been charged with since then – Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla, and Valerie Mack.
![[A sketch of ‘Asian Doe’]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/09/16/15/thumbnail_Gilgo-Beach%2C-NY-John-Doe-_2005677.jpg)
Brown argued there’s a “substantial disparity” in the evidence in some of the deaths, which he maintained involves different time frames, killing methods and locations for disposing of the bodies. “The danger of having count after count, victim after victim in the same trial is that 'If there's smoke, there’s fire' mentality," Brown said.
