Suspect Faces Charges for Seventh Murder – One America News Network
OAN Staff Abril Elfi
2:19 PM – Tuesday, December 17, 2024
Rex Heuermann, the alleged perpetrator in the ongoing “Gilgo Beach Murders,” has been charged with a seventh homicide.
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This new charge was filed against Heuermann on Tuesday, bringing the total number of suspected victims to seven, all of whom were female, with many being sex workers believed to have been murdered near New York City.
Court records reveal that a hair belonging to either Heuermann’s “wife or daughter” was found close to the latest victim linked to him, specifically near the left wrist of 24-year-old Valerie Mack.
Heuermann’s estranged wife is not considered a suspect in these crimes, and their daughter would have been only four years old at the time of Mack’s murder.
Mack, who was an escort, had her remains identified years after they were found in 2000 and 2011.
Authorities reported that Mack’s killer had severed her right leg, which had a tattoo bearing her son’s name.
Notes retrieved from Heuermann’s computer indicated instructions for “removing identifying marks on the victim’s body,” such as tattoos, “before packaging the body for transport.”
“Investigators theorize that the killer severed Mack’s lower right leg at the mid-calf to delay the identification of her tattoo and identity,” prosecutors noted in the court documents.
Most of the victims identified were sex workers who allegedly encountered Heuermann after advertising their services.
“The lives of these women are significant,” stated Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney during a press conference in Riverhead. “We, as investigators, acknowledge this. No one understands this better than the families. We are honored to work alongside them.”
Heuermann made a brief statement and pleaded not guilty.
“Your honor, I am innocent of all these allegations,” he repeated.
Michael Brown, Heuermann’s attorney, announced outside the courthouse that he plans to scrutinize the business responsible for DNA analysis provided to investigators.
“He is extremely frustrated, as he has maintained his innocence from the beginning,” Brown conveyed to the media. “He is eager for his day in court.”
The defense team is also considering a request to separate the seven murder charges into individual cases or to have the trial relocated outside Suffolk County.
Investigators continue to seek the person responsible for the murder of an unidentified victim known as “Asian Doe.” Authorities have identified the victim, who was found in 2011, as a “biological male” of “Asian descent” who was believed to have been dressed as a woman at the time of death.
According to Tierney, a team of investigators is actively addressing numerous cold cases in the area, but they cannot predict how many additional victims may be unaccounted for.
The charge related to Mack follows allegations against Heuermann for the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla, and Jessica Taylor.
The former architect has been incarcerated since July 13th, 2023.
Court records indicate that when investigators conducted a detailed review of the evidence in 2022, it led them to Heuermann as a potential suspect.
Reports claim that Heuermann utilized several prepaid, anonymous burner phones to communicate with each victim, and prosecutors mentioned that FBI analysts successfully compared cell site data from the victims’ phones.
Furthermore, according to court documents, a hair strand found wrapped in burlap on one victim’s body matched Heuermann’s DNA based on a sample collected from crusts in a pizza box he discarded.
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