An attorney for accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann argued on Monday that a pizza crust linked to the suspect did not establish probable cause.
Defense lawyer Danielle Coysh claimed that DNA from the pizza crust and a napkin that the FBI recovered in January was never linked to Heuermann, 59. However, Suffolk County Supreme Court Judge Timothy Mazzei ruled on Wednesday that it did establish probable cause and Heuermann must provide his DNA, WABC reported.
Coysh argued against having Heuermann provide a cheek or buccal swab to prosecutors.
“The people essentially concede they have no evidence establishing that defendant Rex A. Heuermann actually ever came into contact with the pizza crust or the used napkin found in a discarded pizza box,” she wrote in Monday’s filing, according to the New York Daily News. “The people acknowledge that presently they can state nothing more than Rex A. Heuermann is purported to have used or touch those items.”
WABC reported that prosecutors want Heuermann’s DNA so they can compare it to the DNA from the pizza crust.
Last month, police arrested Heuermann in Manhattan for the 2009 and 2010 murders of three women at Gilgo Beach on Long Island — where investigators found, in total, the bodies of nine women, a man, and a toddler. Afterward, cops reportedly were seen taking up to 300 firearms from his home.
Heuermann is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. Reports indicated that he is the prime suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose body was found in the same area on the beach. The four murder victims were reportedly wrapped in burlap and buried next to each other.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder. Authorities said Brainard-Barnes’ case “is expected to be resolved soon.”
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[Featured image: Rex Heuermann/James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool]
