Long Island serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann was in court Tuesday for a status hearing on the murder case against him.
The Manhattan architect is charged with killed four women found dead along Gilgo Beach in 2010 and has pleaded not guilty.
His attorney, Michael Brown, said Heuermann is receiving counseling behind bars — he’s being held without bond — because he’s been isolated for his own protection, leading to him feeling depressed and lonely, WCBS reported.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. said last month that the 60-year-old spends most of his time in a windowless cell, as CrimeOnline reported.
“There was an individual that did say if he was able to get into close contact with him, ‘I’m going to do something.’ Inmates in jail do not like inmates that abuse women, or children,” Toulon said. “Because of the nature of his case, it’s high-profile, it’s incumbent to keep him safe because justice will be served in the courts and not in my jail.”
Prosecutors said in court they had handed over to the defense 2,500 pages of lab reports, DNA evidence, and data from electronic devices linked to Heuermann, as well as the police department’s “lead log” containing 2,944 tips received from the beginning of the case in 2010 until January 2, 2024, Newsday reported. The also handed over the full file on the first 25 tips.
Brown, speaking to reporters afterward, said that the tips were important, particularly for the defense to get a look at how investigators handled them.
“Obviously some of those leads aren’t going to be significant at all,” he said. “But some of those leads are going to be extremely significant. And they’re going to be important for us in the defense of this case. So we want to see those leads and we want to see the credibility of those leads and we want to see what follow-up the police department did in regard to those leads.”
Brown said that in at least one instance, police were close to arresting a different suspect.
“We were informed, among other individuals, that there was another individual that the prior district attorney of this county was prepared to charge with these crimes,” said Brown. “We haven’t received any of that documentation. We expect that it will be forthcoming, but that’s very important, extremely important to this case.”
Current Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said after Tuesday’s hearing that the discovery process is ongoing and there’s been no motion schedule set for the case.
“The defense specifically asked for that material, so that’s why we prioritized it,” Tierney said about the tip data. “A lot of material provided; we still have more material to turn over. But we’re continuing to provide that discovery on a rolling basis.”
Heuermann is charged with the first- and second-degree murder in the deaths of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, and Melissa Barthelemy and second degree murder in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. He was arrested on July 13 for the first three murders and indicted for Brainard-Barnes’s murder last month.
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[Featured image: Rex Heuermann, right, appears in Suffolk County Supreme Court with his attorney, Michael Brown, on November 15, 2023.(James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)]
