Wearing a jacket and tie, suspected Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann walked into Judge Timothy Mazzei’s courtroom on August 1 completely stone-faced, and kept his attention mostly on the judge.
He broke this twice, to look briefly at the gallery walking both in and out of the courtroom — with no visible emotion.
In court, no new charges were brought up against Heuermann, although many had been anticipating Heuermann to be charged with the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes in addition to three other bodies found on Gilgo Beach.
He remains charged with the deaths of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Lynn Costello, and is a prime suspect in Brainard-Barnes’s death.
Nevertheless, the prosecution discussed how eight terrabytes of evidence were compiled against Heuermann — these will not be made public yet, something the defense and prosecution agreed upon.
According to the prosecution, these terrabytes include photos, documents, DNA reports, surveillance videos involving the death of Megan Waterman, and an itemized inventory.
The prosecution described the evidence as “quite voluminous.”
Ray Tierney discusses Rex Heuermann with the media
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney spoke with the media following Heuermann’s day in court, saying there are 13 years of evidence to go through in this case.
He added that some of the victims’ family members had been in court, although declined to discuss who and how many were there.
“There is a tremendous amount of material,” Tierney said of the evidence. “We’re going to continue to provide that, and the defense is going to have to digest that.”
Asked if this amount of evidence could mean he could anticipate either a trial or a plea deal, Tierney’s stance was simple.
“I’m not anticipating anything,” Tierney said.
Rex Heuermann maintains his innocence, defense attorney says
Michael Brown, Rex Heuermann’s defense attorney, made his views clear following the hearing.
“Do you believe everything the government says? I don’t,” Brown said to reporters asking him about the evidence that has been made public, including Heuermann’s alleged Google searches and burner phone usage. “I don’t believe everything the government says, so I’m going to wait until I get the evidence, I’m going to look at the evidence, and we’ll move forward from there. I’ve been doing this for 30 years — the government makes allegations all the time. Sometimes they are true, sometimes they are not.”
Brown said he has not seen any evidence yet, despite what was named on Heuermann’s bail application.
Brown claimed that family members had been in touch with Heuermann, but declined to provide details.
He added that Heuermann claims he is innocent, and that the press has “convicted my client without a shred of evidence.”
“He’s maintained his innocence from this inception of this case,” Brown said “He’s looking forward to having his day in court.”
Brown said that it would currently be fruitless to try and apply for bail right now — although that is subject to change.
Rex Heuermann is due back in court on Sept. 27.
