A defense attorney for the man accused of being the Long Island serial killer says he wants the cases against his client tried separately.
Rex Heuermann — charged with six murders, including the so-called “Gilgo 4” — appeared for a status hearing this week before State Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei, Newsday reported.
Michael J. Brown, the 60-year-old architect’s attorney, told the outlet after the hearing the “at a minimum” the newest charges — the deaths of Sandra Costilla in 1993 and Jessica Taylor in 2003 — should be severed from the “Gilgo 4.”
“They have nothing to do with the other four,” Brown said. “There’s nothing, no relevance to the four. The MO is different. The way that the murders were allegedly carried out was different. The way that the bodies were … deposited, for lack of a better word, was different.”
Prosecutors filed a superseding indictment in June charging Heuermann with the deaths of Costilla and Taylor, as CrimeOnline reported. Previously, he was charged with the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy in 2009, Megan Waterman in 2010, Amber Costello in 2010, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes in 2007.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney reiterated on Tuesday that Heuermann is also a suspect in the death of Valerie Mack, who disappeared in 2000 and whose remains were found in 2000 and 2011 near the spot where Taylor’s remains were found in Manorville.
Tierney told reporters he disagreed with splitting up the cases against Heuerman, saying “there are reasons why you would want to try these cases together.”
“Principally, for judicial economy,” he said. “We anticipate there will be a lot of pretrial motions in this case — there are a lot of pretrial motions in most cases — but in this case it is just going to be a lot of motions given the length of time and breadth of this case.”
Brown said he anticipated filing a motion to sever the cases “at some point,” ideally after discovery is completed. But he allowed that could some sooner since there is a large amount of discovery involved.
He also said he was considering a motion for change of venue.
“The problem is — and I don’t think we’ve committed to anything yet — is in every county in our state, I would suggest that everybody knows about this,” Brown said.
Heuermann appeared in court on Tuesday. His wife, Asa Ellerup, also appeared with the family dog, Stewie, who has recently been certified as an emotional support dog.
Mazzei secheduled the next conference in the case for October 16.
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[Featured image: Rex A. Heuermann, center, the architect accused of murdering at least three women near Long Island’s Gilgo Beach, and his lawyer Michael J. Brown, appear before Judge Timothy P. Mazzei in Suffolk County Court, Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, in Riverhead, N.Y. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP, Pool)]
