2,944 Tips Came In During Years Since Gilgo Beach Serial Killings: DA

LONG ISLAND, NY — Rex Heuermann, the man charged in four of the Gilgo Beach murders, appeared briefly in a Riverhead courtroom Tuesday for a conference before Judge Timothy Mazzei.

During his appearance, Heuermann stood quietly, dressed in a white shirt, tie and a dark suit, staring ahead.

Last month, Heuermann was charged with the murder of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. New DNA evidence revealed helped connect Heuermann to all four of the deaths, he said.

Heuermann was charged with second-degree murder, an A-1 violent felony, in the death of Brainard-Barnes on July 9, 2007, Tierney said.

His attorney Michael Brown said Heuermann pleaded not guilty to all the deaths.

Last July, Heuermann, of Massapequa Park, was indicted on three counts of first-degree murder charges and three counts of second-degree murder charges in the deaths of sex workers Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, whose remains were found along Ocean Parkway in 2010. Heuermann also pleaded not guilty to the charges.

A total of 11 sets of remains were found in the Gilgo Beach murders, which rocked Long Island, including that of a toddler and an Asian male.

On Tuesday, Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Santomartino told the judge that the prosecution had provided the defense with additional discovery, including 7 terabytes of data seized from electronic devices in Heuermann's home office and basement. Also provided, he said, were 6,000 pages from victim Amber Costello's file, as well as 2,944 tips that have been called in to the Suffolk County Police since the bodies were first discovered. The underlying paperwork for the first 25 of those tips was also provided, with the rest to follow on a rolling basis, he said. Finally, 2,500 pages of lab reports were also provided, as well as thew 3 terabytes of data downloaded from 4 electronic devices.

A protective order was also signed, the DA said.

Addressing the media after the conference, Tierney, who serve as the lead prosecutor in the case, said the "perfunctory" appearance was all part of "going through the work of trying the case in county court. A number of discovery items were handed over." He said there was more material to hand over. "We will continue to provide discovery on a rolling basis."

Tierney noted that the Costello file was "quite voluminous."

He explained that the reason for the protective order is that much of the information provided in the discovery was personal.

When asked about the ongoing grand jury investigation into potential additional victims, Tierney said it was "continuing, just as it has since we got involved in this case." He said he had no idea of when the grand jury investigation would conclude.

Tierney also said he had no idea when the case would go to trial, since all the material recovered needs to be provided to the defense. "We're talking about scientific evidence, cell sites, mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, and more.

The data retrieved and turned over Tuesday originated from a large number of electronic devices, including PalmPilots, cellular telephones, and laptops, Tierney said.

Speaking to reporters after the proceedings, Brown said that the leads were important because they could point to another suspect; he also said his client was lonely and depressed behind bars, multiple reports indicated.

It wasn't the first time Brown had suggested another potential suspect: in November, Brown said that under former Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini, another man was a suspect lated for possible arrest. "His name is not Rex Heuermann," he said, declining to name the individual.

On Tuesday, when asked if the fact that Brown was asking for all the tips and other evidence, could point to the way Heuermann's attorney was building his defense, Tierney responded: "I'm not going to read too much into what they're requesting. We've been doing this awhile and we pretty much know what the potential defense will be."

Brown did not respond to multiple requests from Patch for further comment.