Alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann appears in Suffolk...

Alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann appears in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Feb. 6. Credit: James Carbone

Wednesday's conference in the case of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann has been adjourned to Jan. 29 to allow time for prosecutors to answer a defense request to exclude DNA evidence, the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office said Tuesday.

Attorneys for Heuermann on Jan. 7 asked the judge in his case to exclude expert testimony related to nuclear DNA results obtained from rootless hairs found at six crime scenes, arguing the technique used by a California laboratory working with Suffolk investigators has not  generally been accepted as reliable in the scientific community.

The district attorney's office will respond to the motion before the conference, where Suffolk Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei is expected to schedule a hearing on the matter.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney has conceded the case is the first in New York to test the methods used by Astrea Forensics, making the hearing necessary, though he said prosecutors believe in the "efficacy and the admissibility" of that evidence.

"We're prepared to defend it," Tierney said last week.

The defense motion states prosecutors will seek to introduce the DNA evidence through the testimony of Richard Edward Green, who co-founded the Santa Cruz-based Astrea Forensics biotech company in 2019. The defense anticipates Green will testify to recovering the single nucleotide polymorphism DNA information through whole genome sequencing of rootless hair samples provided by the task force investigating the case.

Tierney called the DNA work done by Astrea a "key component" in the case, but the defense argues the methods employed by the lab are "fundamentally different" to the techniques used by all other crime labs over the past three decades.

"In addition, the statistical weight Dr. Green attaches to his results are generated in a way that is unlike any that has been used in forensic DNA profiling casework before," argued defense attorney Danielle Coysh, who is representing Heuermann along with lead counsel Michael J. Brown, both of Central Islip.

Officials at Astrea have not responded to requests for comment.

The defense team alleges its investigation into the lab revealed Green has testified about his proprietary technology in just one case in Idaho, a state that has not adopted the same standard of admissibility as New York.

Coysh said the only peer review the defense could identify regarding Astrea’s methods "challenges the validity of Dr. Green’s findings."

Mazzei has said he intends to schedule the hearing, known as a Frye hearing, for late February or early March.

Prosecutors have said Astrea’s techniques helped investigators connect Heuermann and family members with the hairs located at the crime scenes of Maureen Brainard Barnes, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack, six of the seven alleged victims in the indictment charging him with first- and second-degree murder.

The lab found hair discovered on items recovered from the Costilla, Waterman and Taylor crime scenes are statistically likely to have come from Heuermann.

The lab linked other hairs found when the bodies were recovered between 1993 and 2011 to Heuermann’s wife and daughter, which prosecutors allege were transferred from another surface during the killings. Prosecutors have said the evidence linking Heuermann to a seventh alleged victim, Melissa Barthelemy, does not include DNA.

Heuermann, 61, of Massapequa Park, has denied the charges.

FAA data analyzed by Newsday shows the number of bird strikes voluntarily reported by airports in New York City and Long Island has increased by 46% between 2009 and 2023. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.  Credit: Newsday/File Footage; Photo Credit: AP Photo/Steven Day, Bebeto Matthews; Getty Images

'A different situation at every airport' FAA data analyzed by Newsday shows the number of bird strikes voluntarily reported by airports in New York City and Long Island has increased by 46% between 2009 and 2023. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

FAA data analyzed by Newsday shows the number of bird strikes voluntarily reported by airports in New York City and Long Island has increased by 46% between 2009 and 2023. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.  Credit: Newsday/File Footage; Photo Credit: AP Photo/Steven Day, Bebeto Matthews; Getty Images

'A different situation at every airport' FAA data analyzed by Newsday shows the number of bird strikes voluntarily reported by airports in New York City and Long Island has increased by 46% between 2009 and 2023. NewsdayTV's Shari Einhorn reports.

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