Latest news with #AstreaForensics
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
'Gone Girls' series explores Long Island killings as suspect goes to court
March 31 (UPI) -- For more than three decades, a series of homicides and disappearances has plagued Long Island, N.Y., and now, with a suspect making court appearances, Netflix is releasing a docuseries on the mysterious case. The series, Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, premieres Monday on the streaming service. It is a follow-up to director Liz Garbus' 2020 film Lost Girls, which dramatized the effort of one of the missing women's mother to find justice for the alleged victims, all of whom worked in the sex industry. Prosecutors are hoping to get that justice after charging Rex Heuermann, an architect from Massapequa Park, Long Island, with murder for the deaths of seven of the women. Police arrested him in 2023 after a witness reported seeing a vehicle that matched one he drove. They were able to match his DNA to a hair found on one of the victim's bodies. The Gone Girls series comes just days after Heuermann's latest court hearing Friday. There, a New York judge heard from defense attorneys, who want to suppress DNA evidence in the case. They said the company used to test the DNA in the case, Astrea Forensics, uses a scientific method never before accepted in a New York court. The California company uses whole genome sequencing, or nuclear DNA, to match DNA, News 12 in Long Island reported. Heuermann's lawyers are also wanting to have his case split up into multiple trials instead of one for all six women he's accused of killing. He faces one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder in each of the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and Megan Waterman. He's also been charged with one count of second-degree murder for the deaths of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack and Jessica Taylor. Costilla, 28, was the first woman tied to the alleged serial killings to be found dead in 1993 in North Sea, NY. Police said the Queens woman had been strangled and left in a wooded area. Mack's partial remains were found in November 2000 in Manorville, N.Y., though she wasn't identified until 2020. Taylor's partial remains were also found in Manorville in July 2003 and identified later that year. Four of the women Heuermann is accused of killing -- Barthelemy, Brainard-Barnes, Costello and Waterman -- are collectively known as the Gilgo Four. They were each found along the same stretch of remote dunes called Gilgo Beach in December 2010 wrapped in burlap and bound with belts or tape. Brainard-Barnes went missing in July 2007, Barthelemy in July 2009, Waterman in June 2010 and Costello in September 2010. They were identified in January 2011, with police revealing that each had advertised themselves as prostitutes online. In the years after Costilla's death, police found the bodies of two other women possibly related to the killing spree. Karen Vergata's remains were found on Fire Island in April 1996, and a woman known only as Jane Doe No. 3 was found in June 1997 in Hempstead Lake State Park. In 2011, officials found the remains of an unidentified child, Baby Doe, who was identified as the daughter of Jane Doe No. 3. No one has been charged for the three deaths. Another woman who worked as a prostitute, Shannan Gilbert, also went missing in 2010 after calling police while fleeing from a client. Her remains were found in 2011 in a marsh in Oak Beach, N.Y., but medical examiners said she died of an accidental drowning. Garbus' three-episode docuseries dives deeper into the mysterious rash of killings and disappearances that had plagued Long Island's sex industry for decades. The series focuses on how the friends and family members of the women refused to give up searching for their loved ones and sought justice for their deaths. "These women knew that there was a need to shake [up] the establishment to get attention for this case," Garbus said in a press release. "Of course, they shouldn't have [had] to work so hard. The system should work to protect them and should've protected their family members. But at the end of the day, their voices really mattered." Heuermann is next set to appear in court on Wednesday in a continuation of his hearing on DNA evidence.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Yahoo
Should DNA evidence be admissible in the trial of the Gilgo Beach serial killings suspect?
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — The question of whether DNA evidence can be used in the upcoming trial of a Manhattan architect charged in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo Beach killings is the focus of court hearings beginning Friday on Long Island. Lawyers for Rex Heuermann want DNA tests conducted on hairs recovered from most of the seven victims in the case to be excluded from the trial, saying such analysis has never been accepted in a New York court of law. But a genetics expert testifying in a pre-trial hearing in Riverhead court Friday said the DNA techniques used to analyze the hairs are widely accepted in the scientific community. Dr. Kelley Harris, a University of Washington professor of genome sciences, described the type of testing used, known as nuclear DNA or 'whole genome sequencing,' as an 'elegant and powerful method' for testing whether hair fragments pulled from a crime scene match those taken from suspects. Lawyers for Heuermann, who attended the proceedings, were expected to cross-examine Harris later Friday. No ruling was expected Friday from Judge Timothy Mazzei, as other experts are expected to testify in the coming days. Asa Ellerup, who reached a divorce settlement with Heuermann on Thursday, was also in court Friday, along with the couple's daughter and the family's lawyer. No trial date has been set for the case, which spans decades of killings on Long Island. Michael Brown, Heuermann's attorney, also wants to break the case into multiple trials over concerns about the 'cumulative effect' of the evidence presented by prosecutors. Prosecutors have opposed that request and Mazzei is expected to rule on it soon. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney's office, which is prosecuting the case, has argued that whole genome sequencing has been accepted in peer-reviewed scientific journals and by federal regulators, paleontologists, virologists, and medical communities. In legal briefs, they say the findings by Astrea Forensics, the California-based lab that conducted the nuclear DNA analysis, were also independently corroborated by another lab's mitochondrial DNA testing -- a methodology long accepted by New York courts. Since late 2010, police on Long Island have been investigating the deaths of at least 10 people — mostly female sex workers — whose remains were discovered along an isolated highway not far from Gilgo Beach. Heuermann, who lives in nearby Massapequa Park, was arrested in 2023 and charged in the deaths of three of the victims between 2009 and 2010: Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman. While in custody, he was subsequently charged in the deaths of four other women: Valerie Mack in 2000, Jessica Taylor in 2003, Maureen Brainard-Barnes in 2007 and Sandra Costilla in 1993. Heuermann has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all counts. ___ Follow Philip Marcelo at
The Independent
28-03-2025
- The Independent
Should DNA evidence be admissible in the trial of the Gilgo Beach serial killings suspect?
The question of whether DNA evidence can be used in the upcoming trial of a Manhattan architect charged in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo Beach killings is the focus of court hearings beginning Friday on Long Island. Lawyers for Rex Heuermann want DNA tests conducted on hairs recovered from most of the seven victims in the case to be excluded from the trial, saying such analysis has never been accepted in a New York court of law. But a genetics expert testifying in a pre-trial hearing in Riverhead court Friday said the DNA techniques used to analyze the hairs are widely accepted in the scientific community. Dr. Kelley Harris, a University of Washington professor of genome sciences, described the type of testing used, known as nuclear DNA or 'whole genome sequencing,' as an 'elegant and powerful method' for testing whether hair fragments pulled from a crime scene match those taken from suspects. Lawyers for Heuermann, who attended the proceedings, were expected to cross-examine Harris later Friday. No ruling was expected Friday from Judge Timothy Mazzei, as other experts are expected to testify in the coming days. Asa Ellerup, who reached a divorce settlement with Heuermann on Thursday, was also in court Friday, along with the couple's daughter and the family's lawyer. No trial date has been set for the case, which spans decades of killings on Long Island. Michael Brown, Heuermann's attorney, also wants to break the case into multiple trials over concerns about the 'cumulative effect' of the evidence presented by prosecutors. Prosecutors have opposed that request and Mazzei is expected to rule on it soon. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney's office, which is prosecuting the case, has argued that whole genome sequencing has been accepted in peer-reviewed scientific journals and by federal regulators, paleontologists, virologists, and medical communities. In legal briefs, they say the findings by Astrea Forensics, the California-based lab that conducted the nuclear DNA analysis, were also independently corroborated by another lab's mitochondrial DNA testing -- a methodology long accepted by New York courts. Since late 2010, police on Long Island have been investigating the deaths of at least 10 people — mostly female sex workers — whose remains were discovered along an isolated highway not far from Gilgo Beach. Heuermann, who lives in nearby Massapequa Park, was arrested in 2023 and charged in the deaths of three of the victims between 2009 and 2010: Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman. While in custody, he was subsequently charged in the deaths of four other women: Valerie Mack in 2000, Jessica Taylor in 2003, Maureen Brainard-Barnes in 2007 and Sandra Costilla in 1993. Heuermann has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all counts. ___ Follow Philip Marcelo at
Associated Press
28-03-2025
- Associated Press
Should DNA evidence be admissible in the trial of the Gilgo Beach serial killings suspect?
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — The question of whether DNA evidence can be used in the upcoming trial of a Manhattan architect charged in a string of deaths known as the Gilgo Beach killings is the focus of court hearings beginning Friday on Long Island. Lawyers for Rex Heuermann want DNA tests conducted on hairs recovered from most of the seven victims in the case to be excluded from the trial, saying such analysis has never been accepted in a New York court of law. But a genetics expert testifying in a pre-trial hearing in Riverhead court Friday said the DNA techniques used to analyze the hairs are widely accepted in the scientific community. Dr. Kelley Harris, a University of Washington professor of genome sciences, described the type of testing used, known as nuclear DNA or 'whole genome sequencing,' as an 'elegant and powerful method' for testing whether hair fragments pulled from a crime scene match those taken from suspects. Lawyers for Heuermann, who attended the proceedings, were expected to cross-examine Harris later Friday. No ruling was expected Friday from Judge Timothy Mazzei, as other experts are expected to testify in the coming days. Asa Ellerup, who reached a divorce settlement with Heuermann on Thursday, was also in court Friday, along with the couple's daughter and the family's lawyer. No trial date has been set for the case, which spans decades of killings on Long Island. Michael Brown, Heuermann's attorney, also wants to break the case into multiple trials over concerns about the 'cumulative effect' of the evidence presented by prosecutors. Prosecutors have opposed that request and Mazzei is expected to rule on it soon. Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney's office, which is prosecuting the case, has argued that whole genome sequencing has been accepted in peer-reviewed scientific journals and by federal regulators, paleontologists, virologists, and medical communities. In legal briefs, they say the findings by Astrea Forensics, the California-based lab that conducted the nuclear DNA analysis, were also independently corroborated by another lab's mitochondrial DNA testing -- a methodology long accepted by New York courts. Since late 2010, police on Long Island have been investigating the deaths of at least 10 people — mostly female sex workers — whose remains were discovered along an isolated highway not far from Gilgo Beach. Heuermann, who lives in nearby Massapequa Park, was arrested in 2023 and charged in the deaths of three of the victims between 2009 and 2010: Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello and Megan Waterman. Heuermann has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to all counts. ___
