Gilgo Beach murders: Rex Heuermann returns to court
LONG ISLAND - Alleged serial killer Rex Heuermann returned to court on Long Island on Tuesday.
This was Heuermann's first court appearance since he was charged with the murders of six women.
At the time of his initial arrest, a year ago on July 13, prosecutors said they had an "avalanche" of evidence against the alleged serial killer.
"You have missing person files that you have to provide, then you have tips that you have to provide you have phone work," said Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney who is prosecuting the case.
Asa Ellerup seen in court Tuesday morning with her service dog "Stewie."
"We want to digest everything and we want to go before a jury, and we don't want to try this case before the government and not the press," said Heuermann’s attorney, Michael Brown.
Asa Ellerup, the estranged wife of alleged Long Island serial killer Rex Heuerman was seen in court Tuesday morning with her service dog "Stewie."
According to Brown, Heuermann, who wore a black suit and sported a fresh haircut at the hearing, still maintains his innocence.
The defense is continuing to cast doubt on whether prosecutors have the right suspect, and say they are exploring the possibility of filing for a change of venue and believe the murder charges for the deaths of the latest victims should be tried separately.
Heuermann is due back in court on October 16.
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Gilgo Beach murders: One year after Rex Heuermann's arrest. How did we get here?
It's been one year since suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann was arrested and charged with murdering three women on Long Island. Fast-forward to today, his total number of alleged killings sit at six.
Gilgo beach murder evidence
Prosecutors say Heuermann had burner phones and a long Internet history containing at least 200 searches about the investigation into the Gilgo murders.
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney told FOX 5 initially that "after reviewing all the evidence in the case, they had sort of honed in on this."
Arrest records show that detectives believe Heuermann used burner cell phones to contact his victims and, in one case, used one of the victim's cell phones to make "taunting" phone calls to her family in which he admitted killing and sexually assaulting her.
Records also show that, earlier this year, investigators were able to obtain DNA from a pizza crust that Heuermann threw out. That DNA was also a close match to a hair found on one of the victim's naked bodies.
DNA from a discarded pizza crust and burner phone evidence tied him to three sex workers (Melissa, Megan, and Amber).
DNA from a discarded pizza crust and burner phone evidence tied him to three sex workers (Melissa, Megan, and Amber).
A hair found in the buckle of this belt used to bind Brainard-Barnes is said to be linked to Heuermann.
His daughter’s discarded energy drink taken from a garbage can also matched DNA profiles.
'Gilgo Four'
The bodies of the "Gilgo Four" were located within a quarter-mile of one another near Gilgo Beach in December 2010.
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Who were the Gilgo Beach murder victims?
Most of the victims were young women who had been sex workers. Several of the bodies were found near the town of Gilgo Beach.
Their bodies were all located near each other on Ocean Parkway, and were the first of 10 sets of remains found in the same area between fall of 2010 and spring of 2011.
The alleged serial killer was also charged with the killings of Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor, two women who were long suspected of being the victims of men preying on sex workers.