The Long Island judge in charge of the notorious Gilgo Beach serial murder case blew his stack on Tuesday, berating lawyers for accused serial killer Rex Heuermann for dragging their feet.
Judge Tim Mazzei growled that he wants the case, which has slogged through the courts for more than two years, to go to trial sooner rather than later.
“This trial will begin after Labor Day, come hell or high water,” he snapped.
Alleged Gilgo killer Rex Heuermann appears at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Tuesday, Jan. 13, 2026. NewsdayThe outburst comes as Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael Brown, dropped a new batch of motions on prosecutors late Monday, once more challenging evidence in the case.
Heuermann, 62, is charged with killing seven sex workers whose bodies were dumped along desolate stretches of Long Island between 1993 and 2010.
The gruesome killings remained unsolved for decades before Suffolk County authorities reopened the cold cases, which led to Heuermann’s arrest outside his Midtown Manhattan offices in July 2023.
The hulking architect was initially charged with three of the murders, but was later linked to seven bodies through high-tech DNA matches, prosecutors said.
Crime scene investigators collect evidence at the home of Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann on Monday, July 17, 2023, in Massapequa Park, New York. New York PostSuffolk County DA Ray Tierney has linked Heuermann to Valerie Mack, 24, Jessica Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Marueen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Sandra Costilla, 28.
All of the victims peddled sex through online ads in the metro area before disappearing.
The new defense filings challenge about 20 search warrants executed in the investigation, and cite constitutional grounds for suppressing some of the evidence presented by prosecutors.
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That includes challenges to DNA evidence, including a discarded pizza crust that led to Heuermann’s arrest, and DNA drawn from an energy drink thrown into the trash by his daughter, Victoria.
“If our government can go into our garbage can and take our DNA and learn everything about us, what’s the purpose of having a Fourth Amendment anymore?” Brown asked reporters.
Gilgo Beach victims Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor, and Valerie Mack. Suffolk County Police Department
Suffolk County Police investigate the scene in 2010 where four bodies were found. Dennis A. Clark for NY PostHe also denied that he was dragging his feet on the case.
“We’ve been working hard on this case,” he said. “We will be prepared to try the case come Labor Day.”
State and county investigators have searched Heuermann’s disheveled Massapequa Park home twice, and allegedly uncovered computer files that also link him to the killings.
Tierney scored a big win in the case in September, when Mazzei ruled that the DA’s office may use the DNA evidence at Heuermann’s murder trial.
On Tuesday, Tierney doubled down on his refusal to consider a plea deal for Heuermann – and said he shared the judge’s impatience with the pace of the case.
“The judge was very explicit, and we are ready,” he said.
But Tierney added that he does not think Brown is deliberately delaying the proceedings, calling the tidal wave of court motions “the nature of the business.”
