Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Judge Sets Rex Heuermann Trial Date Two Years in the Making: "Come Hell or High Water" | Crime Alert 6AM 01.23.26

Transcript

Judge Sets Rex Heuermann Trial Date Two Years in the Making: "Come Hell or High Water" | Crime Alert 6AM 01.23.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alart hourly update, breaking crime news. Now a key
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  Speaker 1: serial killer erects. Huermann's lawyer reprimanded by a New York
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  Speaker 1: judge of emotions that would further delay the trial. Michael Brown,
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  Speaker 1: the lawyer, challenging evidence and twenty search warrants carried out
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  Speaker 1: by l law enforcements, frustrating the judge, this case has
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  Speaker 1: been dragging through the system over two years. According to Mazzi,
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  Speaker 1: the judge, the trial will begin after Labor Day, Come
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  Speaker 1: hell or high water. Okay, Judge, that's a promise, right.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Sidney Sumner, just as Tim Mazzi was very clear
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  Speaker 2: he expects trial to begin a schedule despite the challenges
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  Speaker 2: on several key pieces of evidence. Huerman's main argument stems
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  Speaker 2: from the piece of pizza crust connecting him to the
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  Speaker 2: murders of six women between nineteen ninety three and twenty ten.
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  Speaker 2: Huerman claims investigators violated his right to privacy rifling through
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  Speaker 2: his trash for possible DNA. Experts call the argument far reaching,
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  Speaker 2: explaining that by discarding an item, you are essentially giving
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  Speaker 2: up any rights associated with the item. A similar argument
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  Speaker 2: failed before the coburger case went to trial. The last
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  Speaker 2: nail in the coffin before changing his plea to guilty.
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  Speaker 2: Attorney Michael Brown is also challenging the evidence tying Huerman
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  Speaker 2: to a seventh victim, Sandra Castillo, a single piece of
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  Speaker 2: hair found on her shirt when her body was discovered
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  Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety three. Brown wants the entire indictment thrown out,
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  Speaker 2: claiming the hair as insufficient evidence to charge Hewerman with
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  Speaker 2: Castillo's murderer. The defense plans to pin Castillo's murder and
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  Speaker 2: several others on already convicted killer John Bitrolf. Bit Rolf
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  Speaker 2: was found guilty of killing sex workers Rita Tangretti and
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  Speaker 2: Colleen McNamee. Tangretty was found dead on November two, nineteen
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  Speaker 2: ninety three, in Suffolk County. Mcname was found naked in
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  Speaker 2: the woods of Shirley, New York, beaten and strangled. Bit
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  Speaker 2: Rolf was previously a suspect in the Long Island serial killings,
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  Speaker 2: two of the victims Hewerman is now accused of murdering
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  Speaker 2: found just three miles from bit Rolf's home. The victims
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  Speaker 2: were partially dismembered, and friends of bitralfh claimed he once
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  Speaker 2: cut the heart out of a deer he shot and
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  Speaker 2: ate it raw. When Huerman was named a suspect. Bitralf
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  Speaker 2: requested DNA testing of evidence in the Tangretti and mcname cases,
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  Speaker 2: but Huerman was ruled out as a DNA contributor and
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  Speaker 2: Bitralf remains behind bars. Meanwhile, on the state side, district
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  Speaker 2: Attorney Ray Tierney shares Judge Massi's frustration, telling the court
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  Speaker 2: his team is not contributing to the delays and is
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  Speaker 2: prepared to go to trial after labor day. Tierney did
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  Speaker 2: comment he can't blame Brown for his strategy, saying the
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  Speaker 2: motions filed come with the nature of the business. Tierney
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  Speaker 2: refused to comment on the possibility of a plea deal,
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  Speaker 2: claiming prosecutors are only focused on preparing for trial. Huerman's
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  Speaker 2: family did not appear at his latest hearing, commenting only
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  Speaker 2: they are looking forward to resolution in the case one
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  Speaker 2: way or another. Huerman has staunchly maintained his innocence since
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  Speaker 2: his arrest in twenty twenty three, thirty years after the
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  Speaker 2: first murder he stands accused of. Hureman will be back
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  Speaker 2: in court marched first to hear arguments on the challenges.
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  Speaker 2: More crime and Justice news After this, a Port Authority
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  Speaker 2: Police officer shot and killed his sister and critically wounded
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  Speaker 2: their mother before killing himself on Thursday. New York police
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  Speaker 2: responded to the Bronx apartment Thursday morning after someone at
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  Speaker 2: the reception desk called nine one one and reported hearing gunshots.
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  Speaker 2: At about eight a m. Officers found the fifty five
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  Speaker 2: year old man and his fifty nine year old sister
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  Speaker 2: dead with gunshots to the head. They rushed their eighty
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  Speaker 2: six year old mother, who was shot in the face,
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  Speaker 2: to a hospital. Police said they found two firearms in
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  Speaker 2: the apartment. Law enforcement sources said the killer had worked
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  Speaker 2: for the port authorities for twenty years, most recently at
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  Speaker 2: LaGuardia Airport. Police have not released the identities of any
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  Speaker 2: of the people involved. The killer was found in a hallway,
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  Speaker 2: a firearm in his Port Authority Police identification next to
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  Speaker 2: his body. The sister was found in a bedroom and
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  Speaker 2: the mother was found in another room. She was said
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  Speaker 2: to be in critical but stable condition. Neighbour Jane Burbank
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  Speaker 2: says the fifty nine year old woman had lived in
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  Speaker 2: the apartment for years and that her mother had recently
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  Speaker 2: moved in with her. Quote she had nieces and nephews.
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  Speaker 2: She had a big family. She was a wonderful person.
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  Speaker 2: She was full of life. She loved to dance, She
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  Speaker 2: loved to get people together. She loved to cook. She
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  Speaker 2: loved to travel and was looking forward to her retirement
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  Speaker 2: so she could travel more. A missing Arizona woman's boyfriend
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  Speaker 2: was arrested last week for stealing and damaging her car,
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  Speaker 2: which was reportedly discovered with blood in it. Avondale police
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  Speaker 2: said Isabella Comas, twenty one, was last seen leaving a
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  Speaker 2: friend's home on January eleventh. Not only was Komas's phone
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  Speaker 2: discovered at a recycling center a day after her disappearance,
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  Speaker 2: her car was also found in Phoenix on January thirteenth.
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  Speaker 2: On January fifteenth, Tommy Rodriguez, thirty nine, was arrested upon
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  Speaker 2: returning from a trip to California. Rodriguez allegedly admitted to
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  Speaker 2: arguing with Komas a day before she vanished, but police
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  Speaker 2: noted other inconsistencies with his claims. Detectives said license plate
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  Speaker 2: readers and surveillance footage showed Rodrigaez drive being Komas's car
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  Speaker 2: on January twelfth. They also claimed that a passenger seat
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  Speaker 2: and trunk lining were missing from Comas's vehicle, which was
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  Speaker 2: covered in blood. There were also gas canisters, trash cans,
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  Speaker 2: and a tarp found inside the car. Authorities also stated
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  Speaker 2: that a tracking application on Komas's phone was manually turned
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  Speaker 2: off shortly after she vanished. While police said Rodriguez could
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  Speaker 2: not explain where Comas was, he has not been charged
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  Speaker 2: in connection with her disappearance. Rodriguez has a lengthy criminal history,
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  Speaker 2: which includes a prison sentence for second degree murder. He's
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  Speaker 2: also on probation for a twenty twenty incident in which
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  Speaker 2: he stocked an ex girlfriend and threatened her with a
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  Speaker 2: hammer and machete. Komos was described as standing five feet
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  Speaker 2: three inches tall, weighing about one hundred and ten pounds,
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  Speaker 2: and having brown eyes and pink hair. She was last
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  Speaker 2: seen wearing a baggy navy blue shirt, blue pants with
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  Speaker 2: a white stripe down the side, and sandals. Anyone with
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  Speaker 2: information regarding Komas's whereabouts is asked to call the Avondale
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  Speaker 2: Police Department at six two three three three three seven
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  Speaker 2: thousand for the latest crime and justice breaking news. Be
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  Speaker 2: sure to follow the Crime Alert hourly update on your
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  Speaker 2: favorite podcast app with this crime Alert I'm Sydney Sumner,