Gilgo Beach killings: DNA analysis used to tie Rex Heuermann to killings becoming prevalent in criminal cases, expert says
Alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann attends a pretrial hearing in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/James Carbone
The method of nuclear DNA analysis that linked suspect Rex A. Heuermann to the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killings will soon be the primary method for generating forensic genetic data, a founder of the lab that performed the work testified Wednesday at a hearing to determine the admissibility of the evidence.
Richard Green, co-founder of Astrea Forensics in Santa Cruz, California, said whole genome sequencing has become prevalent in criminal cases and his lab’s proprietary technology applying the science has begun to assist law enforcement across the country even if the work hasn’t made its way into many courtrooms.
"This new technology has so many advantages that it will be what people do in the near future," Green said of whole genome sequencing.
Heuermann, 61, of Massapequa Park, was arrested in July 2023 and has pleaded not guilty to the killings of seven women from 1993 to 2010. Prosecutors have said Astrea Forensics linked him to six of the seven killings through the testing of rootless hair found at the crime scenes and comparative analysis of those hairs to DNA samples obtained by Heuermann and family members.
Over two days of testimony, Green told Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei that Astrea’s process includes extracting DNA from degraded hair samples, sequencing the DNA and then comparing it to a sample of a known subject to establish the likelihood of the source. Green said his work has assisted law enforcement in multiple states in numerous cold cases, including alleged serial killer investigations in California and New Hampshire.
Astrea’s software, IBDGem, which runs the comparison of the samples and develops the likelihood ratios, also assisted police in California and Idaho in three cases where an arrest was made, Green said. Only one of those cases, the 1983 rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Canyon County, Idaho, went to trial.
Green testified it’s the only case in the country he’s aware of where whole genome sequencing DNA evidence was used and the only time he’s testified as a prosecution witness at trial.
Heuermann defense attorney Michael J. Brown, of Central Islip, asked Green during cross-examination if he understood that the purpose of the hearing was to determine if his whole genome sequencing "product gets into evidence" and that prosecutors have to prove the technology and methods are "generally accepted by the relevant scientific community" in order to meet the Frye Standard used in New York courts.
The defense attorney asked Green how he could testify that his software is generally accepted in criminal court when it’s only been used in one other case and never in New York.
"Isn’t that my determination to make," Mazzei interjected, taking exception to the line of questioning by Brown.
"The process can be acceptable in the scientific community even though what's being examined has nothing to do with a criminal case," the judge added.
Brown also questioned Green about the financial impact of his testimony. He noted that Astrea has been paid $190,000 by Suffolk County dating to 2020 for work on Gilgo Beach and other cases.
Should Mazzei deem the evidence admissible, Green, as a stakeholder in Astrea Forensics, stands to make a significant amount of money for future work, Brown surmised.
"I would stand to gain from that, yes," Green said. "It would be important. It would be a good thing."
Cross-examination of Green will continue Thursday.
The method of nuclear DNA analysis that linked suspect Rex A. Heuermann to the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killings will soon be the primary method for generating forensic genetic data, a founder of the lab that performed the work testified Wednesday at a hearing to determine the admissibility of the evidence.
Richard Green, co-founder of Astrea Forensics in Santa Cruz, California, said whole genome sequencing has become prevalent in criminal cases and his lab’s proprietary technology applying the science has begun to assist law enforcement across the country even if the work hasn’t made its way into many courtrooms.
"This new technology has so many advantages that it will be what people do in the near future," Green said of whole genome sequencing.
Heuermann, 61, of Massapequa Park, was arrested in July 2023 and has pleaded not guilty to the killings of seven women from 1993 to 2010. Prosecutors have said Astrea Forensics linked him to six of the seven killings through the testing of rootless hair found at the crime scenes and comparative analysis of those hairs to DNA samples obtained by Heuermann and family members.
Over two days of testimony, Green told Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei that Astrea’s process includes extracting DNA from degraded hair samples, sequencing the DNA and then comparing it to a sample of a known subject to establish the likelihood of the source. Green said his work has assisted law enforcement in multiple states in numerous cold cases, including alleged serial killer investigations in California and New Hampshire.
Astrea’s software, IBDGem, which runs the comparison of the samples and develops the likelihood ratios, also assisted police in California and Idaho in three cases where an arrest was made, Green said. Only one of those cases, the 1983 rape and murder of a 9-year-old girl in Canyon County, Idaho, went to trial.
Richard Green, the prosecution’s star DNA expert, at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Wednesday. Credit: Newsday/James Carbone
Green testified it’s the only case in the country he’s aware of where whole genome sequencing DNA evidence was used and the only time he’s testified as a prosecution witness at trial.
Heuermann defense attorney Michael J. Brown, of Central Islip, asked Green during cross-examination if he understood that the purpose of the hearing was to determine if his whole genome sequencing "product gets into evidence" and that prosecutors have to prove the technology and methods are "generally accepted by the relevant scientific community" in order to meet the Frye Standard used in New York courts.
The defense attorney asked Green how he could testify that his software is generally accepted in criminal court when it’s only been used in one other case and never in New York.
"Isn’t that my determination to make," Mazzei interjected, taking exception to the line of questioning by Brown.
"The process can be acceptable in the scientific community even though what's being examined has nothing to do with a criminal case," the judge added.
Brown also questioned Green about the financial impact of his testimony. He noted that Astrea has been paid $190,000 by Suffolk County dating to 2020 for work on Gilgo Beach and other cases.
Should Mazzei deem the evidence admissible, Green, as a stakeholder in Astrea Forensics, stands to make a significant amount of money for future work, Brown surmised.
"I would stand to gain from that, yes," Green said. "It would be important. It would be a good thing."
Cross-examination of Green will continue Thursday.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
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