Rex Heuermann's lawyer shifts blame for Gilgo Beach murders on to corrupt former Suffolk County Police Chief James Burke: 'He is involved in this'

Rex Heuermann's lawyer is attempting to shift the blame for the Gilgo Beach murders on to the corrupt former police chief who was previously in charge of the case. 

Speaking outside the Long Island courthouse where his accused serial killer client had a hearing Wednesday morning, attorney Michael Brown said disgraced PC James Burke is 'involved' in the sordid affair. 

'We received approximately almost 3,000 leads on this case,' he told reporters outside Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead. 

'There were numerous leads that came into the Suffolk County Police Department, suggesting that Chief Burke was involved in this.' 

Burke allegedly led a double life involving crack, cross-dressing and relationships with prostitutes. He is serving jail time after being convicted of several offences including assault, public lewdness and unlawful solicitation after flashing in a park. 

Speaking about the former cop's involvement with the Gilgo Beach murders case, Brown said: 'Chief Burke would not let the FBI in to the investigation back then, with their expertise.

'It's problematic for us that the chief of police who was running the investigation had this very checkered past and was involved in criminal activity.

'He recently served a four or four-and-a-half year prison sentence in the federal system.

'Just recently he was arrested on some allegation of being very deviant sexually. We want to see those records.'

Brown's comments came after his client, Heuermann, appeared in court wearing a black suit, white shirt and navy blue tie on Wednesday morning. 

He listened intently to the hearing, which centered around troves of potential evidence seized from various devices related to the case. 

The 60-year-old father-of-two is charged with murdering four female sex workers whose bodies were found buried on a remote stretch of Gilgo Beach more than 10 years ago. 

His ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, was also spotted pulling up in a black Mercedes outside the Long Island courthouse. 

It comes just weeks after she claimed her partner of 27 years is 'not capable' of murdering the four women. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the charges. 

Ellerup, who also shares two children with Heuermann, filed for divorce six days after he was charged with the first three murders. 

But she still visits him in jail because she believes he 'deserves the benefit of the doubt' and attends his hearings with a documentary camera crew. 

Ellerup reportedly signed a controversial seven-figure deal with NBC Universal, Texas Crew Productions and G-Unit to feature in a series about the case. 

During Wednesday's hearing, attorneys discussed troves of potential evidence held on hundreds of devices. The judge said he wanted the discovery phase of the case to by completed by July. 

Suffolk DA Ray Tierney said prosecutors have 'a tremendous amount of material' to contend with.

'When you are talking about terabytes upon terabytes upon terabytes on information - it doesn't happen overnight,' he told reporters outside court.  

Heuermann last appeared in court early February for an update on the progress of his case, during which he stayed silent.

He was brought into a silent Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead, Long Island, New York, for a procedural hearing not attended by Ellerup. 

It marked the first time the architect had appeared in court since January 16, when he pleaded not guilty to killing Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, in 2007.

Heuermann was earlier charged with three counts of first-degree murder over the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy in 2009, and Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello in 2010. 

He has spent most of his days since his July 2023 arrest in a small windowless cell at the Riverhead Jail as he awaits trial. 

His attorney earlier revealed to DailyMail.com that the accused murderer was still being held in solitary confinement and was 'lonely and depressed'. 

Officials at the high-security New York prison said he has been isolated because he would otherwise be a 'major target' for inmates.

'We have very good information that he would be a target of violence if he was not in a secure location,' Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon Jr. told Newsday previously. 

'There was an individual that did say if he was able to get into close contact with him, 'I'm going to do something.' 

Alleged victims Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27 went missing between 2007 and 2010.

They were all sex workers who advertised their services on Craigslist and Backstory The women were found tied up in burlap sacks within a few miles of each other.  

Long Island architect Heuermann was arrested outside his Manhattan office last year after DNA evidence linked him to their disappearances.

Burke, 59, was busted in an area known for gay cruising dubbed 'pickle park', when he was caught in a coordinated sting by undercover cops in August 2023. 

He was arrested by Suffolk County Parks Rangers at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Park in Farmingville after he was allegedly offering oral sex to an undercover male park ranger.

Once Suffolk County's highest-ranking cop, Burke was less than 10 miles from his Smithtown home and in a rental car with Rhode Island plates when he was picked up by the authorities in the area of Bald Hill and North Ocean Avenue. 

Burke was charged with offering a sex act, indecent exposure, public lewdness and criminal solicitation in the fifth degree.  

He was also accused of stymying the Gilgo Beach case in its early stages by blocking the FBI's role in the investigation.

He forged a 'tough cop' reputation throughout his career that included dubious policing tactics and a penchant for cigars dipped in cherry brandy. 

Burke, who enjoyed a close relationship with several disgraced local officials, rose through the ranks of the department despite scandals that included sleeping with a prostitute in his patrol car.

His alleged secret taste for drugs and prostitutes came to light in 2015 after he was investigated for attacking Christopher Loeb, a young heroin addict who stole a bag from the police chief's car.

Inside the bag, Loeb found sex toys and a porn DVD with sickening footage that showed a bound and gagged women being tortured.

Burke was determined to catch the thief and protect his career - knowing the contents of the duffel bag could land him in hot water. 

He then orchestrated a failed cover-up when Loeb complained about the beating and the FBI investigated Burke and his cronies in Suffolk County.

Loeb broke into Burke's department-issued SUV in December 2012 and was later identified and arrested.

He was taken to a police station and handcuffed to the floor of an interrogation room before Burke violently battered Loeb. The police chief, who ran a force of 2,200 officers, also threatened to kill Loeb before a junior cop urged his boss to stop.

The episode ultimately exposed a culture of corruption at the highest levels of Suffolk County government. Ex-District Attorney Thomas Spota and Christopher McPartland, the former chief of an anti-corruption bureau, were also jailed for five years for their roles in the scandal.

The FBI had spent two years probing the cover-up before Burke was arrested after at least ten police office agreed to cooperate in the case.

The judge who jailed Burke, who was charged with conspiring to obstruct justice and violating Loeb's civil rights, said he 'corrupted a system'.