Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann was back in court in New York on Wednesday to face charges for the murders of three women whose bodies were found dumped along the shores of Long Island.
In the court hearing in Suffolk County Court, prosecutors said that a DNA sample taken from the 59-year-old architect had now tied him further to the murders.
According to court documents released following Mr Heuermann’s 13 July arrest, prosecutors said that a male hair had been found on the burlap used to wrap Megan Waterman’s body before she was dumped along Gilgo Beach.
After investigators zeroed in on Mr Heuermann as a possible suspect in the killings, they sought his DNA to compare it to the hair sample.
This January, a surveillance team watching the suspect saw him chuck a pizza box into a trash can close to the office of his architecture firm in Midtown Manhattan.
They seized the box and found a leftover pizza crust inside, which was tested for DNA.
Forensic testing then proved that the DNA on the pizza crust was a match to the hair found on Waterman’s body.
Following his arrest, prosecutors sought a DNA sample directly from Mr Heuermann and a judge ordered the accused killer to have a cheek swab taken last month. The swab was then tested and compared to the DNA evidence.
In court on Wednesday, prosecutors confirmed it came back a match – that the hair found on Waterman’s body belongs to Mr Heuermann.
Mr Heuermann, a married father-of-two, was arrested on 13 July and charged with the murders of Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Costello in what marked a major development into the infamous Gilgo Beach murders. He is also the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
All four women worked as sex workers and disappeared after going to meet a client. Their bodies were found in December 2010 bound by belts or tape and some wrapped in burlap.
In total, remains of 11 victims were found along the Long Island shores in 2010 and 2011.
