Gilgo Beach killings: Ruling reinstating use of genetic familial searching could help ID unidentified victims, Suffolk DA says
An image of the Gilgo Beach sign sits along the Ocean Parkway in May 2011. Credit: Newsday / Thomas A. Ferrara
A recent state Court of Appeals ruling reinstating use of genetic familial searching by police opens the door to efforts by investigators to identify three remaining unidentified victims in the Gilgo Beach killings investigation, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said.
The court’s decision a week ago overturned a lower appeals court ruling which had effectively canceled use of the DNA search method, a process that allows investigators to compare unidentified DNA of a suspect with the genetic material of convicted offenders whose genetic profiles are stored in the state’s DNA database. The hope of investigators is that the comparison might lead to a potential suspect.
“It is extremely helpful,” Tierney said Wednesday of the recent court decision.
New York’s reinstated familial search rules, first promulgated in 2017, also allow for such genetic searches to be done to identify unknown human remains and Tierney believes the ruling gives the Gilgo task force another tool to use in seeking the identities of the three victims.
The fact that familial searching is now available to Gilgo investigators doesn't mean it is imminent.
Under reinstated regulations prepared by the state Commission on Forensic Science, police agencies have to follow a strict criteria, including a showing that they have exhausted all other investigative methods. In addition, the DNA material must be adequate for testing and the police agencies involved must go through special training.
Janine Kava, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, said Thursday that the agency has resumed accepting familial search applications. After the State Police Crime Laboratory finishes some improvements to the familial search process, it will resume searches by the end of the year, Kava said.
Of the 10 Gilgo Beach victims, investigators have been able to identify seven. But three sets of remains — a Black woman known as “Peaches” because of a tattoo on her body, her toddler daughter and an Asian man — are still unidentified. Those three sets of remains were found along Ocean Parkway in 2011 and while the FBI has been using genetic genealogy — a different forensic method than familial searching — to seek their identities, the identification process has been slow.
Law enforcement sources said the DNA from the three had been degraded, creating challenges for genealogical searching. But recent technical advances have helped investigators extract useful genetic material, experts interviewed by Newsday said.
Tierney is the lead prosecutor in the case of Rex Heuremann, 60, of Massapequa Park, who has been charged with the killings of three of the Gilgo Beach victims: Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy.
Heuremann, who has pleaded not guilty, is also a prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Tierney said the Gilgo task force continues to work with the FBI on the genealogy searches.
Known also as “investigative genetic genealogy,” the method involves comparing an unknown DNA sample to genetic profiles found in public genealogy databases like 23andMe. Similarities in the profiles allow genealogists to construct family trees to find a possible suspect or a missing person.
The familial search process differs from genealogy because it compares the unknown DNA to a law enforcement database, not a public commercial genetic database.
Tierney said the advantage to familial search is that the process can move faster then a genealogy search, which can take many months.
“I think the New York [criminal database] will move quicker,” Tierney predicted.
Colleen Fitzpatrick, a veteran genetic genealogist with Indentifinders in California, said both genealogy and familial searching can be used together.
“They are not in competition,” Fitzpatrick, who noted that both methods were used to identify a suspect in the 2015 killing of Allison Feldman in Arizona, one of 12 states which allows familial searching.
Former State Sen. Phil Boyle (R), long an advocate for police using advances in forensic sciences, said the reinstatement is important.
"If one of the relatives is present in the database, it may be the key that opens the door [to identify the deceased]," Boyle said.
A recent state Court of Appeals ruling reinstating use of genetic familial searching by police opens the door to efforts by investigators to identify three remaining unidentified victims in the Gilgo Beach killings investigation, Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said.
The court’s decision a week ago overturned a lower appeals court ruling which had effectively canceled use of the DNA search method, a process that allows investigators to compare unidentified DNA of a suspect with the genetic material of convicted offenders whose genetic profiles are stored in the state’s DNA database. The hope of investigators is that the comparison might lead to a potential suspect.
“It is extremely helpful,” Tierney said Wednesday of the recent court decision.
New York’s reinstated familial search rules, first promulgated in 2017, also allow for such genetic searches to be done to identify unknown human remains and Tierney believes the ruling gives the Gilgo task force another tool to use in seeking the identities of the three victims.
The fact that familial searching is now available to Gilgo investigators doesn't mean it is imminent.
Under reinstated regulations prepared by the state Commission on Forensic Science, police agencies have to follow a strict criteria, including a showing that they have exhausted all other investigative methods. In addition, the DNA material must be adequate for testing and the police agencies involved must go through special training.
Janine Kava, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, said Thursday that the agency has resumed accepting familial search applications. After the State Police Crime Laboratory finishes some improvements to the familial search process, it will resume searches by the end of the year, Kava said.
Of the 10 Gilgo Beach victims, investigators have been able to identify seven. But three sets of remains — a Black woman known as “Peaches” because of a tattoo on her body, her toddler daughter and an Asian man — are still unidentified. Those three sets of remains were found along Ocean Parkway in 2011 and while the FBI has been using genetic genealogy — a different forensic method than familial searching — to seek their identities, the identification process has been slow.
Law enforcement sources said the DNA from the three had been degraded, creating challenges for genealogical searching. But recent technical advances have helped investigators extract useful genetic material, experts interviewed by Newsday said.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney looks on as accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann appears in court in Riverhead on Sept. 27. Credit: James Carbone
Tierney is the lead prosecutor in the case of Rex Heuremann, 60, of Massapequa Park, who has been charged with the killings of three of the Gilgo Beach victims: Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman and Melissa Barthelemy.
Heuremann, who has pleaded not guilty, is also a prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Tierney said the Gilgo task force continues to work with the FBI on the genealogy searches.
Known also as “investigative genetic genealogy,” the method involves comparing an unknown DNA sample to genetic profiles found in public genealogy databases like 23andMe. Similarities in the profiles allow genealogists to construct family trees to find a possible suspect or a missing person.
The familial search process differs from genealogy because it compares the unknown DNA to a law enforcement database, not a public commercial genetic database.
Tierney said the advantage to familial search is that the process can move faster then a genealogy search, which can take many months.
“I think the New York [criminal database] will move quicker,” Tierney predicted.
Colleen Fitzpatrick, a veteran genetic genealogist with Indentifinders in California, said both genealogy and familial searching can be used together.
“They are not in competition,” Fitzpatrick, who noted that both methods were used to identify a suspect in the 2015 killing of Allison Feldman in Arizona, one of 12 states which allows familial searching.
Former State Sen. Phil Boyle (R), long an advocate for police using advances in forensic sciences, said the reinstatement is important.
"If one of the relatives is present in the database, it may be the key that opens the door [to identify the deceased]," Boyle said.
Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.
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