Hair of suspect’s wife also found on 3 Gilgo Beach victims
Marlene Lenthang
The hair of Heuermann's wife was found on or near three of the victims, prosecutors said in a bail application.
A hair was recovered from the buckle of one of the belts found binding the body of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Two female hairs were recovered on the body of Megan Waterman, who was found bound by tape. One hair was found from “outside the head area” and another from “the tape of the head area.”
Another female hair was found on a piece of tape inside burlap wrapping found on the body of Amber Costello.
All those female hairs were sent to an outside forensics laboratory, which in July 2022 determined they belonged to a woman who was not any of the victims.
On July 21, 2022, an undercover Suffolk County Police Department detective recovered 11 bottles from a trash receptacle in front to Heuermann’s home. The bottles were swabbed and the samples sent for testing.
In February, the lab concluded that one of the DNA profiles generated from the bottles matched the same “mitochondrial haplogroup” as the female hairs recovered from the three victims.
Based on the investigation and evidence, it was determined the hair belonged to Heuermann’s wife.
As the investigation found that Heuermann’s wife was out of state at the time of the three women’s disappearances and murders, “it is likely that the burlap, tape, vehicle(s) or other instrumentalities utilized in the furtherance of these murders came from Defendant Heuermann’s residence, where his wife also resides, or was transferred from his clothing.” 1.
Hair of suspect’s wife also found on 3 Gilgo Beach victims