A slew of new evidence was released by prosecutors on Tuesday in the case of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann , including travel records showing Heuermann's family leaving town during the alleged murders, the suspect's illicit online searches and investigators' attempts to secure DNA evidence from his daughter.
The release of evidence comes as Heuermann, 60, was charged with murdering year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who disappeared in while working as an escort, with prosecutors linking him to her death through DNA and other evidence. Defense attorney Michael Brown entered a not guilty plea on Heuermann's behalf to the second-degree murder charge in Suffolk County Court on Tuesday. The former New York architect had already been charged in July with murdering three other escorts on Long Island.
Like those victims -- Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy -- the remains of Brainard-Barnes were found in a desolate spot along the ocean near Gilgo Beach in December , prosecutors said.
Prosecutors in a new court filing said Heuermann's now-estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, and his children were out of town when Brainard-Barnes disappeared and was killed, fitting an alleged pattern of Heuermann being home alone when the other three killed. The documents include a credit card statement that shows his wife checked into an Atlantic City hotel July 6, , and stayed through July The new filing also revealed that prosecutors seized two phones from Heuermann at the time of his arrest that they said were held by him "in fictitious names and used for illicit activities.
Prosecutors additionally revealed Tuesday they seized hundreds of electronic devices from Heuermann's Massapequa Park home and Manhattan office following his arrest. Heuermann used the devices to search for the deceased victims and their family members; the status of the investigation; for software that would assist in wiping or erasing data from computers and other similar digital devices and to purchase digital masking and forensic wiping tools, prosecutors said.
