NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- A Suffolk County judge has ordered suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann to turn in a cheek swab for DNA analysis, a court ruling filed on Wednesday.
"The Court finds that contrary to the defendant's contentions, there is probably cause to believe that the defendant committed the crimes charged and, therefore, a basis to compel the buccal swab," Judge Timothy Mazzei wrote in a decision.
The judge explained “the Court finds that a comparison of the defendant’s sample with the evidence obtained,” such as a strand of hair discovered on one of the victims is accused of killing and “the DNA found on the pizza crust and napkin, will yield probative material evidence, whether it is inculpatory or not.”
Photo credit Emma Seiwell/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
Heuermann, a 59-year-old Manhattan architectural consultant from Massapequa Park, is set to take the oral swab in the presence of his attorney, Danielle Coysh, who opposed the ruling.
Suffolk County Sheriff Errol Toulon told CNN on Tuesday that obtaining a DNA sample is “extremely important to this case,” adding that there is “no doubt” Heuermann killed the three women he is accused of killing — including Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.
He is also the prime suspect in the murder of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Heuermann pleaded not guilty to killing the three women whose bodies were found on Gilgo Beach in 2010 and 2011. He has refuted the charges against him, his attorney said.
He has not been charged in the death of 34-year-old Karen Vergata, who was also known as Jane Doe No. 7. She disappeared on Feb. 14, 1996, while she was living on West 45th Street in Manhattan, Suffolk County D.A. Ray Tierney said during a news conference in Hauppauge.
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