Gilgo Seaside murders suspect Rex Heuermann charged with 4th killing

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — New prices have been filed Tuesday in opposition to accused Gilgo Seaside serial killer Rex Heuermann. 

It comes six months after his arrest. 

He was indicted Tuesday within the dying of his fourth alleged sufferer, 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes of Connecticut. 

For the primary time, her grieving household spoke publicly. 

“I used to be solely 7 years outdated when my mom was murdered. Her loss drastically modified the trajectory of my life,” daughter Nicolette Brainard-Barnes stated. “Whereas the lack of my mother has been extraordinarily painful for me, the indictment by the grand jury has introduced hope for justice for my mother and my household.” 

Nicolette’s household had prayed for a decision. 

Investigators stated they linked Brainard-Barnes’ homicide to Heuermann by way of DNA from a feminine hair discovered within the buckle of a belt used to bind her ankles, toes and legs – eight trillion to 1 that it matched Heuermann’s spouse Asa Ellerup or daughter Victoria, who was tailed on an LIRR prepare and threw out an power drink, in accordance with court docket paperwork. 

Learn the superseding bail software within the Gilgo Seaside murders case

Prosecutors made it clear they believed all hair switch have been comprised of Heuermann to his alleged victims. The household was out of city for the murders of the Gilgo Seaside 4. 

“Asa Ellerup and her youngsters weren’t concerned, not even within the jurisdiction, when these murders occurred,” Ellerup’s lawyer Robert Madedonio siad. 

The accused serial killer, his fingers shackled behind his hulking again, confirmed no emotion in any respect. He was sporting a tie and grey swimsuit, and barely made eye contact with anybody in the course of the court docket continuing. 

“You are speaking a couple of gentleman who has by no means been arrested earlier than. He is a productive member of society. He will work on daily basis. He is supporting his household, and he is incarcerated. And he is claiming he did not do that. However he’s trying ahead to having his day in a courtroom,” Heuermann’s lawyer Michael Brown stated. 

“Your response to the hairs linked to his daughter and spouse?” CBS New York’s Jennifer McLogan requested.

“Miraculously, nuclear DNA testing and outcomes have come ahead,” Brown stated. 

DA Ray Tierney says it isn’t a time for sarcasm, and it was well worth the wait, and that nuclear DNA will assist deliver justice to the 4 homicide victims. 

“Science has caught up. I might, an excellent break for justice. An excellent break for the investigation,” Tierney stated. “Nuclear DNA, as illustrated, is far more discriminant.”

New court docket paperwork additionally reveal how the accused killer used burner telephones to achieve out to intercourse employees as not too long ago as final yr. They stated the a whole lot of digital units seized from his Massapequa Park dwelling included Google searches for the Gilgo victims, and software program that may wipe or erase knowledge.

Prosecutors say the seized digital units revealed different disturbing Google searches, as properly.

“To see the entire sorts of searches that he did on the web … It’s uncommon certainly to search out that sort of element,” CBS Information authorized analyst Rikki Klieman stated.

It was a day to honor the victims, Tierney stated. 

“She was an mental. She was a author. She was a creative particular person. She cared very deeply concerning the those who she cherished,” Tierney stated. “It has been an honor and a privilege to work these instances, and to supply that small measure of closure.” 

“It has been 16 years since I final noticed my sister, 16 years since I heard her voice, as a result of 16 years in the past, she was silenced,” Brainard-Barnes’ sister Melissa Cann stated. “Maureen was a mom of two superb youngsters, and they’ll ceaselessly be with out their mom. Maureen was my older sister, who was at all times there for me once I wanted her.” 

When Heuermann was arrested in July and charged because the elusive Gilgo Seaside serial killer, prosecutors stated his DNA from discarded pizza and burner cellphone proof tied him to 3 murdered ladies — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello — whose our bodies have been discovered alongside Gilgo Seaside in 2010. 

The petite 25-year-old from Norwich, Connecticut, was a mom of two. She was working as a Craigslist escort in Manhattan when she disappeared in July 2007. Her stays have been discovered three years later close to three different ladies’s our bodies, dumped alongside desolate Ocean Parkway on Lengthy Island. 

Police dubbed them the “Gilgo 4.” They have been all intercourse employees, wrapped in burlap. Now prosecutors say they have been all murdered, at completely different occasions, by Heuermann. 

The DA stated the grand jury will proceed to attempt to clear up the remaining murders at Gilgo Seaside. 

The subsequent court docket date within the case is Feb. 6. 

Watch: Authorized professional on the case

New York felony protection lawyer and former prosecutor David Schwartz spoke with CBS New York forward of Tuesday’s court docket look to place the developments into perspective. He known as it a “scientific case.”

“Heuermann was indicted and remanded for the primary three murders. They made the strategic determination to make the arrest at that second in time, as a result of they have been already surveilling him for a couple of yr. They simply did not need something to go incorrect,” he defined. “So that they made that arrest, and within the meantime, they have been investigating the fourth homicide. They have been ready for the mitochondrial DNA evaluation on the fourth homicide.”

Schwartz went on so as to add “DNA is just not a layup.”

“They did not use nuclear DNA, which particularly factors to a specific particular person. They used mitochondrial DNA, due to — 13 years later, all this time glided by, which excludes 99.6% of the inhabitants,” he stated. “So it is scientific proof, plus circumstantial proof — they’ve his truck, they’ve cellphone information, they’ve all sorts of different proof that they’ll piece this case collectively. So I anticipate this case to be an advanced case, and I anticipate it to final an excellent period of time.”

“He is been extremely fortunate or expert at hiding his id,” forensic professional Dr. N.G. Berrill advised CBS New York.

Berrill says the investigation into Heuermann will proceed, together with into the six still-unsolved murders alongside Gilgo Seaside.

“It’s important to think about that they are looking out excessive and low and going again over chilly instances … Time will inform if they will make the hyperlink,” he stated.