NewsNation) — The attorneys of Rex Heuermann, who is accused of carrying out the Gilgo Beach murders in Long Island, New York, filed a 175-page motion on Tuesday challenging evidence from the prosecution’s case.
Heuermann’s lawyers are seeking to suppress certain evidence, as well as dismiss an indictment for the death of one of the women he is accused of killing. Heuermann was charged in March 2025 with the deaths of seven women, which occurred from the early 90s till around 2010. Prosecutors say several of the victims were sex workers, and their bodies were found in remote areas across Long Island. Heuerman has pleaded not guilty to all seven murders and has remained in county jail since his arrest.
The judge overseeing the case, Justice Timothy Mazzei of the New York State Supreme Court, vowed on Tuesday that the trial will begin shortly after Labor Day, “come hell or high water.” The motion of Heuermann’s lawyers questions how investigators seized humans discarded pizza crust from a midtown Manhattan trash can before his arrest. Josh Zeman, director “The Killing Season,” and Joe Giacalone, a retired NYPD sergeant and host of “True Crime with Sarge,” joined NewsNation’s Laura Ingle on Investigation Nation to discuss.
After two and a half years of moving through the court system, Giacalone tells Ingle that if the motion is an attempt by Heuermann’s legal team to drag out the case, it could backfire.
“I don’t know for sure if that’s going to be the tactic, but if that is the tactic, and the judge finds out about it, that’s not going to be good for him,” Giacalone said. “Michael Brown really has a huge mountain to climb in this case.”
In the motion, Heuermann’s defense argues that the police taking his pizza crust, which he threw out, violated his constitutional right to privacy. According to Zeman, that argument is a reach.
“It’s a far-reaching argument, for sure, that somehow discarding, you’re still retaining your private information,” Zemen said. “It’s been noted many times that once you throw something in the trash, you’re basically giving away your rights.”
Giacalone agreed, pointing to his own time working cold cases.
“There’s only a couple of ways that you can get a DNA sample,” Giacalone said. “Through a court order, through consent, or through, you know, doing it covertly. So, the Supreme Court has allowed it.
He continued, “I think this gets dismissed pretty quickly.”
Ingle, who has covered the case from the beginning, asked Zeman and Giacalone their thoughts on Heuermann’s defense team seeking a dismissal of the murder charge in the death of Sandra Castillo in the motion. His lawyers claim that the case in relation to Castillo is based on insufficient evidence, a DNA match from a single hair that was found on her shirt when her body was found in the woods in 1993. Ingle had previously pressed Heuermann’s defense attorney, Michael Brown, on whether Heuermann knew her. At the time, Brown told Ingle he would not answer that question but added that a hair on a person’s clothing does not make them a killer.
“The hairs were secured at the time, going back to 1993. They still have the hairs to be able to test them. And I think he has a big problem that he’s going to have to deal with this new DNA technology, and that meaning, Michael Brown,” Giacalone said.