RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (PIX11) — Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann spoke briefly in court Wednesday, telling a Suffolk County judge he’s been reviewing all the evidence prosecutors have presented to his defense team since his arrest on July 13.
“I’ve been averaging two to three hours a day,” Heuermann, who is accused in three murders, told Judge Timothy Mazzei in a clear voice.
“I’m allowed up to four hours,” he said of the review time he’s been allotted in jail.
Sporting a fresh haircut, dark suit jacket, and beige khakis, the 60-year-old Heuermann and his team received an additional 5,000 documents Wednesday morning relating to the disappearance and murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and Megan Waterman.
Heuermann is also the prime suspect in a fourth murder, Gilgo Four victim Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
The sisters of Barthelemy and Brainard-Barnes attended the hearing on Wednesday.
District Attorney Ray Tierney told the court that DNA on the cheek swab taken from Heuermann after his arrest matched DNA on the pizza crust removed from the trash outside Heuermann’s Midtown office.
The new evidence turned over also features “walk through” videos of searches at Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park, along with information relating to searches at his storage units in Amityville, his Manhattan office, and seizure of vehicles.
Tierney also said his team’s work is heavily focused on Brainard-Barnes and other unsolved murders on Ocean Parkway.
“We’re working on the fourth Gilgo victim, and now we’ve expanded our investigation to include others, other bodies we’ve recovered in that area,” Tierney told reporters.
Defense attorney Michael Brown revealed he’s seen camera footage taken from inside a police vehicle on July 13, when Heuermann was arrested near his Manhattan office.
“My client, unless he’s a tremendous actor, he was completely shocked,” Brown told reporters.
Brown also revealed the original material he was given by prosecutors involved four external hard drives of other police footage.
“They had four pole cameras focused on my client’s house from 1 1/2 years prior,” Brown said. “What those cameras show is a guy getting up for work every day and coming home to his wife and family.”
Brown also observed, “There were numerous other suspects they looked at. I want those records.”
Brown said he was also concerned the jury pool could be poisoned by the sheriff’s claim that Heuermann was showing no emotion in jail.
“I made it a point to say, ‘Just get through this, Rex. Don’t show emotion,’” Brown said.
Heuermann has maintained from the beginning he’s not guilty.
