John Bittrolff, a Long Island man convicted of two killings in the early 1990s, is seeking a review of his case after alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann was charged in a similar homicide during the same period. Bittrolff was convicted in the 1993 murder of Rita Tangredi and the 1994 killing of Colleen McNamee and is now pushing for exoneration after Heuermann was indicted in the 1993 killing of Sandra Costilla. The crime scenes of the three murders were described as “eerily similar,” prompting Bittrolff’s attorney Lisa Marcoccia to request DNA testing on hairs found at the Tangredi and McNamee crime scenes and the release of forensic evidence from the Costilla crime scene.
Marcoccia pointed out that all three women were killed within the same time frame, found in wooded areas with similar positioning, missing shoes, and with wood chips on their bodies. She believes that the similarities in the crimes indicate that one person could be responsible for all three murders. However, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney denied Marcoccia’s requests, stating that he had reviewed the cases and would take action if he believed there was a problem with the convictions.
Before Bittrolff’s arrest in 2014, Suffolk County investigators had suspected that the person responsible for the deaths of Tangredi and McNamee was also responsible for Costilla’s killing. Despite Marcoccia’s previous unsuccessful attempts to overturn Bittrolff’s conviction, she sent a letter to Tierney requesting records related to Heuermann’s case and forensic analysis from the Costilla crime scene in June. However, her requests were denied by Assistant District Attorney Guy Arcidiacono, who stated that there was no basis in law or fact for providing her with the materials.
Rex Heuermann, who was linked to Costilla through DNA testing on hair found at the crime scene, was arrested in July 2023 for the brutal killings of three women and has been charged in the murders of three other women. Heuermann’s murder trial is set to begin in September in Suffolk County Supreme Court. Marcoccia believes that further testing of DNA evidence could assist Bittrolff in his appeal, as there were unknown hairs found on Tangredi and McNamee’s bodies that were never tested against. Despite the developments in Heuermann’s case, the District Attorney’s Office has maintained that Bittrolff was not charged in Costilla’s murder and that the new charges against Heuermann do not impact Bittrolff’s conviction.
