DNA From Pizza Box Used To Charge Accused Serial Killer Rex Heuermann With Fourth Escort’s Murder

The Gilgo-Beach murder case suspect, Rex Heuermann, 60, was charged with a fourth killing this week, after being charged with three first-degree murder counts in the killings of escorts Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, and Megan Waterman in July 2023. This week, he pleaded not guilty to the second-degree murder charge of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who was reported missing in 2007. 

In attendance at the hearing were Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and 26-year-old daughter, Victoria, whose trash found on the Long Island Rail Road by undercover detectives helped tie Heuermann to Maureen Brainard-Barnes.

Detectives collected DNA samples from a discarded drink from Heuermann’s daughter, along with various samples from Ellerup, and connected the DNA to a hair found wrapped in the belt buckle used to restrain Brainard-Barnes. They also used an old pizza box collected from the suspect’s home to connect the link to DNA evidence found at the crime scene. 

According to the indictment, forensic analysts conclude that the hair found at the crime scene is “7.9 trillion times more likely to have come from a person genetically identical to Asa Ellerup’s SNP genotype file than from an unrelated individual.”

Heuermann’s family was not in the vicinity during any of the killings, as they were traveling out of town. This led detectives and prosecutors to believe that there was ample time for Heuermann to extensively plan and execute the murders. 

Just a few miles down the road where the remains of the women were found, stands the residence of the suspect in the quiet suburb of Massapequa Park.

Police found over 200 guns locked away in a metal safe as well as two burner phones, and an extensive search history of the Gilgo Beach murders on Heuermann’s personal computer. 

The remains of 11 people total were found along the shores and in the long grass of Gilgo Beach, New York. Investigators and police say that this investigation is one of the most extensive homicide investigations in Long Island’s history.