president of the screen actors guild, fran drescher, will join us in moments. welcome to the lead, i am jake tapper. we re going to start with our law and justice lead and the hunt for a serial killer. any moment, state and federal investigators in long island, new york, will update the public on the first arrest in their dede-long investigation into the gilgo beach murders. this is a case tied to at least ten sets of human remains discovered since 2010 along the shore in suburban long island. earlier this afternoon, a married father of two and a new york city architect named rex huerman was arraigned and pleaded not guilty. he s connected to the serial murders of three women and is the prime suspect in a fourth. those three women were part of a group known to law enforcement as the gilgo four. their bodies were found near each other, wrapped in burlap, discovered within 2010. they were all in their 20s and offered sex services on craigslist. as details emerge showing hum
could set all-time records. 12 and a half years ago, the bodies of four people were found over several days buried on long island. all four women were murdered, wrapped in burlap. they were eventually identified as melissa bar tholmy, megan, marie and amber lynne costello, and they were not the only ones. investigators would uncover seven more sets of human remains across two long island counties, bringing the total to 11. but there were few clues. the case went cold. no arrests were made until now. tonight the remarkable story of how authorities came first to suspect and build a six-count murder case against a 59-year-old married architect with two children of his own in a home in a quiet long island neighborhood. miguel? reporter: anderson, i want to show you what s been happening outside this home. this case, this unsolved murders, have gripped long island and so many people for so long. police have been out here all day going through his home, bringing out tons of e
more than a dozen years ago, my next guest pretty much nailed the profile of the person who would later be arrested as the gilgbeach serial killer. new york times piece in april 2011 described the likely suspect this way. he is most likely a white in his mid 20s to mid 40s, he is married or has a girlfriend, well educated or well spoken, financially secure, has a job and owns an expensive car or trk. as part of his job or interests, he has access to or a stockpile of burlap sacks. and he lives oused to live on our near ocean parkway on the south shore of long island where the politicsce have found ten s of human remains. one of the experts cited by the new york times in that piece, jim clementeretired in 2009 where he was a senior
in 2010 i m sorry, 2011 you couldn t use traditional dna analysis methods. so, the dna technology improved where you could now go from you couldn t use what s known as traditional nuclear dna testing, but you could do mitochondrial dna testing. and as we got into the late teens and into the early 20s now, the technology caught up to where we could do that, which was very fortunate. well, it s extraordinary work. thank you so much. appreciate it. thank you. thank you, anderson. the new york times report 12 ayears ago drew on criminologists and experts to p and thaticture resembles the suspect. he s a white male in his mid 20s to mid 40s, married or has a girlfriend, well spoken, has a job, and owns an expensive car or truck. our next guest is former fbi
you are, number one, first-degree murder in the commission of, for example, a kidnapping or a rape, there happens to be a murder, that s first degree. what is the distinction? new york doesn t have the death penalty. you can do up to 40 years in jail. as it relates to a second-degree murder charge, premeditated murder in new york, that s 25 years to life. whether first degree or second degree, certainly you re looking at a life sentence. but i think the distinction as to first was because of the fact of whether there was some sexual, you know, certainly he took, that is the suspect, allegedly, if there was a rape or the kidnapping, that gets you to the first degree. as i noted, the second degree would be premeditated murder. so prosecutors, jake, generally charge under both theories because that s what they believe they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt. and dr. o toole, a profile on a potential suspect compiled by experts, reported on by the new york times in 2011 predicted, que