Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Suspect Rex Heuermann Charged With Murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes

Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann was charged Tuesday with killing a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose body was found in the brush off Ocean Parkway three years after she was reported missing. He has pleaded not guilty.

Suffolk Judge Timothy Mazzei unsealed a grand jury indictment adding the new murder charge against the 60-year-old Massapequa Park architect who pleaded not guilty in July to killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, who were all found dead yards from each other in Gilgo Beach in December 2010, triggering the serial killer investigation.

Police found the Gilgo Four searching for Shannan Gilbert, a New Jersey woman who had been last seen in Oak Beach in May 2010, when they found the four women dead. That led to a larger search of Jones Beach Island that unearthed the remains of six more murder victims who Heuermann hasn’t been charged with killing. Gilbert was also later found dead in nearby Oak Beach, but authorities have suggested she may not be a victim of foul play — yet her family maintains she was murdered.

Brainard-Barnes, 25, a mother of two, had been a straight-A student who later fell into drugs. She left her Connecticut home to spend the day in Manhattan, the last place she was seen alive. She told her family she would return home the next day, but never did. She disappeared on July 14, 2007 —- 16 years to the day of Heuermann facing a judge after being named as a prime suspect in her murder — and was found dead on Dec. 13, 2010 near Hemlock Cove off Gilgo Beach.

Brainard-Barnes was found bound with a belt that had the initials “WH” or “HM,” and investigators have speculated that this belonged to Heuermann – his grandfather’s name was William Heuermann, purportedly. According to the bail document, Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, and children, Victoria Heuermann and Christopher Sheridan, were away when Brainard-Barnes went missing. Hairs found on Brainard-Barnes’s body were matched to Heuermann’s wife and daughter.

Heuermann’s attorney, Michael Brown, claimed again that the DNA evidence is faulty, saying Heuermann is only a “donor” for this DNA.

“Two out of 10,000 people could be the donor,” Brown said. “Nassau and Suffolk have 3 million people. That means 600 people could be the perpetrator – and that’s assuming that the DNA on the victims is that of the perpetrator.”

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney held a news conference Tuesday to discuss the development, alongside leading members of the Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force, including Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. and acting Suffolk County Police Commissioner Robert Waring, the replacement for Rodney K. Harrison, who recently retired as commissioner.

With this fourth indictment, Heuermann is now charged with all of the “Gilgo Four.” However, Tierney indicated that the grand jury investigation would be continuing for other victims found on Gilgo Beach. This could include Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack, both of whom were found partially at Gilgo Beach and partially in Manorville, as well as an unidentified toddler and an unidentified Asian man. Other victims potentially linked to the case include “Peaches,” whose dismembered remains were found at both Hempstead Lake State Park and Jones Beach, and Karen Vergata, whose dismembered remains were found on both Fire Island and Jones Beach.

“The task force will continue to investigate those cases,” Tierney said. “And when it is appropriate, and if we have anything to say, we will we will say it at that time, but we’re going to let that investigation play out.”

Tierney refused to directly name any other victims being investigated. The latest bail document shows that Heuermann had searched “Investigators use DNA, genetic geneaology to ID another victim in Gilgo Beach Serial Murders,” a story covering Suffolk County Police’s revelation of Valerie Mack’s identity.

Attorney Gloria Allred, who is representing several of the victims’ families, spoke to reporters after Tierney. Melissa Cann, Brainard-Barnes’s sister, and Nicolette Brainard-Barnes, her daughter, also did.

“For years, it looked like there might not be charges filed against any suspect for the murder of my mother,” Brainard-Barnes said. “While the loss of my mom has been extremely painful for me, the indictment by the grand jury has brought hope for justice for my mom and my family.”

Heuermann, who has been held without bail at Suffolk jail since his arrest, is due back in court Feb. 6.

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