Gilgo Beach case prosecutors give defense trove of evidence
‘Massive amount of material’ from probe of killings
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. — Weeks after charging a Long Island architect in a string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders, prosecutors said Tuesday that they’ve begun providing his lawyer with reams of evidence including autopsy findings, DNA reports, and crime scene photos.
Suffolk County prosecutors said at a brief court hearing that they’ve given Rex Heuermann’s lawyer at least 8 terabytes of material — equivalent to about 2,500 pages of records, along with about 100 hours of surveillance video recorded outside Heuermann’s home and office before his July 13 arrest.
District Attorney Ray Tierney said that’s a fraction of the evidence amassed since the bodies of four women were found buried along a remote beach highway in 2010 and 2011. More evidence will be turned over on a rolling basis, he said. This kind of evidence sharing, called discovery, is routine in criminal cases and is intended to help ensure a fair trial.
“You’re talking about 13 years of investigation,” Tierney said. “It’s a massive amount of material.”
Heuermann, 59, is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared over a 14-month span prior to the discovery of their bodies.
Prosecutors say Heuermann is also the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007. Her remains were found in the same quarter-mile stretch of Ocean Parkway as the other women, across a bay from the town where Heuermann grew up and lived for decades in his childhood home.
Heuermann did not speak at the hearing, which began about a half-hour late as prosecutors met his lawyer and the judge, Timothy Mazzei, behind closed doors. Tierney said afterward that they had been discussing the logistics and timetable for turning over evidence.
Prosecutors and Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael Brown, also reached a confidentiality agreement that prohibits sharing copies of the evidence with the public. Some of the evidence includes sensitive photographs of the women’s remains as they were found, wrapped in burlap and buried in thick underbrush on a barrier island off Long Island’s southern coast.
Heuermann, wearing a charcoal sport coat and blue buttondown shirt, was brought to court through an underground tunnel from the jail across the street, where he’s been held since his July 13 arrest. He pleaded not guilty at his first court appearance and was ordered jailed without the possibility of bail. His lawyer said Heuermann denied committing the crimes.
“The press has convicted my client without seeing a shred of evidence,” Brown told reporters after the hearing, suggesting that prosecutors “very well could have the wrong guy.”
Brown said he received the first wave of evidence before Tuesday’s hearing — five manila envelopes, each containing a 2 terabyte hard drive — and that he has yet to review any evidence collected in the investigation.
“Today was the first time I was handed any evidence in this case and it was in the form of terabytes,” Brown said. “I can’t read terabytes with my hands or my eyes.”
Heuermann is due back in court on Sept. 27.
All of the women Heuermann is accused of killing were sex workers whose remains were discovered near each other. Investigators say they cracked the case with the help of sophisticated cellphone location data analysis, DNA evidence, and an old tip about a vehicle seen parked outside the home of one of the victims.
Investigators spent nearly two weeks combing through Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park, across a bay from where the remains were found, yielding yet more evidence that will eventually be turned over to his lawyer.
The search included digging up the yard, dismantling a porch and a greenhouse, and removing many contents of the house for testing.