The accused Long Island serial killer’s lawyer is contesting the prosecution’s request for a DNA swab from Rex Heuermann, claiming that prosecutors didn’t establish enough probable cause.
“The assertions contained the people’s moving papers might be construed as rising to the level of a reasonable suspicion, but that is a far cry from the standard of probable cause required to justify granting the order sought be the people,” Heuermann’s defense lawyer, Danielle Coysh, wrote, according to Newsday.
The Suffolk County DA’s office previously submitted a request to swab Heuermann’s cheek for DNA, a spokesperson told CNN Thursday. Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Michelle Haddad said they want to compare Heuermann’s DNA with a mitochondrial DNA profile from a pizza crust and napkin that he allegedly discarded in Manhattan.
Further, the prosecution said that the DNA profile matches a hair sample found in the burlap used to restrain and transport Waterman’s remains.
“Should the defendant’s DNA from the [cheek swab] not match the DNA profile from the pizza crusts and napkin submitted for Rex Heuermann … the defense would be presented with a potential trial defense,” wrote wrote. “Thus, there is a clear indication that material and relevant evidence will be found and is crucial for trial.”
Haddad argued that if the DNA doesn’t match, the defense would then have a way to present the information as a defense during the trial.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Heuermann was arrested on July 13 for the deaths of three of the four women known collectively as the “Gilgo Four.” The bodies were found within days of each other on Gilgo Beach in December 2010. All four women were buried in burlap sacks.
Heuermann has been charged with six counts of murder in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; and Amber Lynn Costello, 27; and is the prime suspect in the death of 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
In the latest legal documents, Coysh rejected Haddad’s request and said the prosecution failed to establish whether Heuermann actually touched the discarded pizza and napkin.
“The people essentially concede that they have no evidence establishing the defendant Rex A. Heuermann actually ever came into contact with the pizza crust or used napkin found in the discarded pizza box,” Coysh wrote.
“Thus, by the people’s own admission, the nexus between the partially eaten pizza crust and used napkin and the defendant Rex A. Heuermann is at best a matter of conjecture and assumption, not fact.”
Atlanta’s Cold Case Investigative Research Institute founder and “Zone 7” host, Sheryl McCollum, echoed Haddad’s statement and told CrimeOnline that the the defense should be “jumping at the chance” to prove the DNA isn’t his if they believe Heuermann is truly innocent.
Meanwhile, Heuermann remains behind bars at the Suffolk County Correctional Facility without bail. Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon said Heuermann is in an isolated cell alone and appears to be “comfortable.”
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[Feature Photo: Rex A. Heuermann, the architect accused of murdering at least three women near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, appears before Judge Timothy P. Mazzei in Suffolk County Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Riverhead, N.Y. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)]
