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Rex Heuermann, 59, was formally charged with the murder of
Maureen Brainard-Barnes, a 25-year-old Connecticut mother of two
children who went missing in 2007, Suffolk County District
Attorney Raymond Tierney said at a press conference.
Heuermann was arrested in July and pleaded not guilty to the
murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn
Costello, who investigators say were sex workers whose remains
were found near Gilgo Beach, a short drive from Heuermann's
home.
He did not speak at a brief court hearing on Tuesday and remains
jailed without bail, local media reported. If convicted of the
first-degree murder charges, he faces life in prison without the
possibility of parole.
In all, 11 sets of human remains were found in 2010 and 2011
along an isolated stretch of the beach, about 30 miles (50 km)
east of New York City, drawing national attention.
Investigators determined via DNA analysis that a human hair
belonging to Heuermann's wife was in the buckle of a belt used
to bind Brainard-Barnes, Tierney's office said. The murders
coincided with trips out of town by Heuermann's wife and their
daughter, Tierney's office said.
Heuermann used a burner cellphone to contact sex workers who
advertised their services online, prosecutors said. He bound
them with belts or tape before wrapping some of the bodies in a
burlap-type material, according to prosecutors.
(Reporting by Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing by Matthew
Lewis)
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