Rex Heuermann, 53, is charged with murdering seven women in a case that was part of the so-called Gilgo Beach serial killings.
A stunning link between the expert in the Gilgo Beach murder case and the Zodiac serial killer has been revealed following a recent court appearance.
The upcoming trial of Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann, charged in the notorious Gilgo Beach killings, has been focused on whether certain DNA evidence can be used. Heuermann's lawyers were seeking to exclude DNA tests conducted by Astrea Forensics on hairs recovered from most of the seven victims in the case.
They argue that the California-based lab's method has never been accepted in a New York court of law. However, it has now emerged that one of the experts in the case is Dr. Richard Green, the co-founder of Astrea Forensics, who helped solve the mystery at the centre of the haunting Zodiac killer case.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Green told the court about how he was called to help in the Zodiac killer investigation.
After letters were sent to a newspaper and a victim's father about the 1966 murder of Cheri Jo Bates in Riverside, California, Green extracted DNA from the letters believed to have been sent by the killer.
A DNA profile was established, which then identified the person who wrote the letter. Although they confessed to writing the letter they were too young to be the Zodiac Killer.
Dr. Kelley Harris, one of Green’s colleagues, previously told a pre-trial hearing that the type of testing used, known as nuclear DNA or "whole genome sequencing," is widely accepted in the scientific community.
But Michael Brown, Heuermann's attorney, attempted to downplay Harris' testimony, pointing out during his cross-examination that she had no background in the forensic science used in criminal cases. He also questioned Harris about her close ties to Richard Green, with whom she has coauthored research papers.
"She's the witness for hire, and she was suggested by Dr. Green to be a proponent of this magic, as we call it," Brown said after the daylong hearing. Brown, the defense attorney, criticized Astrea Forensics' use of the publicly accessible 1,000 Genomes Project as a reference pool for comparing hair samples in the case. "Hopefully the point got across that it has no business being utilized in a criminal court," he said.
The court proceedings are set to continue, with other experts expected to testify before Judge Timothy Mazzei makes a decision. Since late 2010, Long Island police have been investigating the deaths of at least ten people - mostly female sex workers - whose remains were found along an isolated highway near Gilgo Beach. Heuermann, a resident of nearby Massapequa Park, was arrested in 2023 and charged with the murders of three victims between 2009 and 2010: Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman.
While in custody, he was subsequently charged with the murders of four other women: Valerie Mack in 2000, Jessica Taylor in 2003, Maureen Brainard-Barnes in 2007 and Sandra Costilla in 1993. Despite the charges, Heuermann has consistently maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Heuermann, the defendant, was present at the hearing but did not speak. His ex-wife Asa Ellerup, who finalized a divorce settlement with him on Thursday, was also in attendance, along with their daughter and family lawyer. No trial date has been set yet for the case, which involves decades of killings on Long Island.
