Suspect Rex Heuermann’s estranged wife’s cheek swab matches DNA found on victims: report
A cheek swab taken from murder suspect Rex Heuermann’s estranged wife matches the DNA found on one of his alleged victims, sources claim.
A sample of Asa Ellerup’s DNA was taken on July 13 — the day her husband was arrested and charged with killing three women near Gilgo Beach on Long Island, New York.
Her DNA has been confirmed as matching hairs found on the burlap that victims were wrapped in, a law enforcement source told ABC.
Ellerup’s lawyer, Robert Macedonio, told The Post Thursday that her DNA being found on the scene is “nothing new” and that it was more than likely from a “hair transfer inside the house.”
Ellerup has not been accused of any involvement in the alleged murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, and was out of the country when each of the murders is believed to have taken place.
Heuermann’s hair was also found under Waterman’s body.
Experts said his mitochondrial DNA found on her body could provide more genetic clues which could be used as evidence against him.
The 60-year-old’s lawyer, Michael J. Brown, said the solitary hair sample found on Waterman could have come from any one of thousands of people and that mitochondrial DNA does not identify a suspect.
“There is nobody on the face of this Earth, that is credible, who is going to say the hair is from my client,” Brown previously said. “That is impossible under science standards. What they can do is say potentially he [Heuermann] is a donor. But so could thousands and thousands of other persons in our area.”
Suffolk prosecutors have said the suspect’s DNA matched that found on a pizza box he discarded in a trash can near his office in Manhattan.
Heuermann is accused of killing the three women and dumping their bodies along Gilgo Beach in December 2010.
He is also a prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
All four women were sex workers.
Police used cellphone records, witness accounts and DNA to link him to the case.
Ellerup filed for divorce after his arrest.
