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Tuesday, June 17, 2025

'Gilgo Beach murders tied to Heuermann by ‘unreliable’ DNA software, needed ‘updates’ for glitches'

 The DNA software that linked Rex Heuermann to the Gilgo Beach murders was so glitchy that it was updated multiple times after it tied the accused serial killer to the grisly murders, a defense expert testified Tuesday.

Nathaniel Adams, a biotechnology expert for Heuermann’s defense team, testified at a fiery court hearing that the IDBGEM program was prone to misreading genotype data that was used to link the suspected killer to six of the seven sex workers butchered and dumped on Long Island over more than 30 years.

“It’s unreliable,” Adams, a 27-year-old graduate student and systems engineer for Forensic Bioinformantics in Ohio, testified in Suffolk County court. “The software has been updated multiple times since the DNA in this case has been tested.”

Rex Heuermann, in court with lawyer Michael Brown, is charged with seven Long Island cold case killings.Newsday

He said the software bugs would require a “risk and hazard analysis” to avoid a “catastrophic failure” that could lead to “a miscarriage of justice.”

Adams revealed there here have been 65 small updates, and that even newer software versions of the program have dropped since June 2020, when they tested Heuermann and his family’s DNA.

But Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney scoffed at Adams’ qualifications as an expert on DNA — maintaining his testimony in about 30 other court cases have often been deemed “inadmissible.”

“You’ve been in school for 10 years and have only obtained a bachelor’s degree in all this time?” Tierney said as he grilled Adams on the stand. “You’re supposed to be an expert, but you don’t even know who your adviser was or if you graduated summa cum laude or not.”

DNA is crucial to the prosecution’s case as the most direct link to Heuermann and the killings.

Expert DNA witness Nathaniel Adams testified that DNA software used in the Gilgo Beach killings is unreliable.James Messerschmidt
The seven sex workers allegedly killed by accused Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann between 1993 and 2010.Suffolk County Police Department

Suffolk prosecutors said they have linked Heuermann, a 61-year-old Manhattan architect from Massapequa Park, through hairs found on the seven victims. They were all sex workers who disappeared between 1993 and 2010 and were later found along desolate stretches of Long Island.

The deaths of the victims — Valerie Mack, 24, Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Sandra Costilla, 28, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27 — remained unsolved until authorities reopened the cold case in 2022.

Heuermann, a married father of two, was arrested in July 2023 for three of the murders and was later tied to the other four through the DNA matches.

Investigators matched some of the victims through DNA links to Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, and his adult daughter, Victoria Heuermann, authorities said.

Authorities have searched Rex Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home twice searching for evidence in the killings.New York Post
Suffolk County DA Ray Tierney scoffed at the credentials of the DNA witness called by Rex Heuermann’s lawyer.Dennis A. Clark

Authorities have twice executed search warrants at the Heuermann home, combing through the property, digging up the back yard and testing a basement gun bunker prosecutors believed was a “kill room” — but have not revealed finding any physical evidence.

The DA did uncover a sick computer file, described as a “how to” record on some of the killings and notes that appear to provide tips on how to improve the slayings.

The high-profile serial murder case has captured the nation’s imagination, and is the subject of a newly released three-part Peacock docu-series that features first-ever interviews with Heuermann’s family.

https://nypost.com/2025/06/17/us-news/gilgo-beach-murders-tied-to-rex-heuermann-by-dna-software-that-needed-updates-due-to-glitches-expert-testifies/

Altman’s OpenAI lands $200M deal with US military to address ‘national security challenges’

 Sam Altman’s OpenAI has secured a $200 million contract to provide artificial intelligence support to the US Defense Department.

Work on the contract will be primarily performed in Washington DC and is expected to run through July 2026. The deal was announced months after OpenAI first revealed that it would collaborate with tech entrepreneur Palmer Luckey’s defense firm Anduril to develop AI for “national security missions.”

“Under this award, the performer will develop prototype frontier AI capabilities to address critical national security challenges in both warfighting and enterprise domains,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

OpenAI
OpenAI has a new $200 million deal with the Pentagon.AFP via Getty Images

The ChatGPT maker’s move to work with the US military marked a departure from the company’s earlier position. The company’s terms of service once contained language stating that its AI products were prohibited for use in “military and warfare” circumstances – but the wording was removed last year.

In a blog post alongside the Pentagon’s announcement, Altman’s firm said it was “launching OpenAI for Government, a new initiative focused on bringing our most advanced AI tools to public servants across the United States.”

“Our goal is to unlock AI solutions that enhance the capabilities of government workers, help them cut down on the red tape and paperwork, and let them do more of what they come to work each day to do: serve the American people,” the blog post said.

OpenAI described its $200 million deal with the Pentagon as a “pilot program” meant to “help the Defense Department identify and prototype how frontier AI can transform its administrative operations, from improving how service members and their families get health care, to streamlining how they look at program and acquisition data, to supporting proactive cyber defense.”

Altman had previously appeared alongside President Trump in January to promote OpenAI’s role in a $500 billion “Stargate” project to build out AI data centers and other infrastructure across the US.

Elsewhere, OpenAI, which is attempting a complex restructuring of its business, is reportedly at loggerheads with its chief financial backer Microsoft.

Sam Altman
Sam Altman’s OpenAI is currently navigating a complex restructuring.AFP via Getty Images
The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that OpenAI executives were considering accusing Microsoft of anticompetitive behavior as the restructuring talks cause friction between the two sides.

“We have a long-term, productive partnership that has delivered amazing AI tools for everyone. Talks are ongoing and we are optimistic we will continue to build together for years to come,” Microsoft and OpenAI said in a joint statement in response to the report.

https://nypost.com/2025/06/17/business/openai-lands-200m-deal-with-us-military-to-meet-national-security-challenges/

FBI delivers intel to Congress on alleged Chinese plot to interfere in 2020 election

 FBI Director Kash Patel forked over a trove of documents to Congress detailing an alleged Chinese campaign to meddle in the 2020 election that involved thousands of bogus US driver’s licenses.

Precise details about the alleged effort are murky, but a confidential source alleged the Chinese planned to use those licenses for thousands of mail-in votes to benefit former Vice President Joe Biden, a spokesperson for the FBI honcho explained to The Post.

Authorities had caught wind of the alleged plot around August 2020, but intelligence reports on it were recalled for reasons that aren’t fully clear, the spokesperson added.

FBI Director Kash Patel sent the intelligence to Sen. Chuck Grassley.AP

US Customs and Border Protection seized almost 20,000 fake licenses around that time.

Biden won the swing states of Arizona and Georgia by more than 10,000 and 12,000 votes, respectively, and President Donald Trump’s margin of defeat in Wisconsin was more than 20,000 votes.

Patel declassified the intelligence report and sent it over to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) for additional vetting.

“The FBI has located documents which detail alarming allegations related to the 2020 U.S. election, including allegations of interference by the CCP,” Patel revealed on X.

“I have immediately declassified the material and turned the documents over to the Chairman Grassley [sic] for further review.”

Grassley had raised concerns that the intelligence wasn’t fully probed — despite evidence of the bogus US driver’s licenses — and pushed for the bureau to revisit the matter.

“Thanks to the oversight work and partnership of Chairman Grassley, the FBI continues to provide unprecedented transparency at the people’s Bureau,” Patel told Just the News, which first reported on this story. “To that end, we have located documents Chairman Grassley requested.”

Chinese-backed actors had allegedly created thousands of fake US driver’s licenses.AP

“Specifically, these include allegations of plans from the CCP to manufacture fake driver’s licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots — allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public.”

A somewhat new confidential source had tipped off authorities to the plot. The extent to which the FBI took any steps to counter the scheme at the time is not fully clear.

“Chairman Grassley is in receipt of an FBI document responsive to a request he made based on legally protected whistleblower disclosures. The document alleges serious national security concerns that need to be fully investigated by the FBI,” a Grassley spokesperson told The Post.

Sen. Chuck Grassley had pushed the FBI to turn over the intelligence.Getty Images

“Grassley is requesting additional documentation from the FBI to verify the production, and is urging the FBI to do its due diligence to investigate why the document was recalled, who recalled it and inform the American people of its findings.”

Following the FBI’s delivery of those documents, Grassley sent another request to Patel seeking internal communications of at least three key officials who were involved with the decision-making process regarding the Intelligence Information Report (IIR).

“Lastly, explain why the FBI under your predecessor required the original IIR to be destroyed, whether this practice is consistent with the FBI’s past and current practice, and how it comports with federal record preservation requirements,” Grassley added in the letter.

Concerns about the Chinese mass-producing fake licenses have swirled for some time.

Back in 2012, for example, several senators, including Grassley and retiring Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), penned a letter to the Chinese ambassador urging Beijing to crack down on production of fake US driver’s licenses and other documents.

At the time, the senators were concerned about reports that some 1,700 fake driver’s licenses had been confiscated at O’Hare Airport in Chicago.

Since ascending to the top of the FBI, Patel has vowed to bring more transparency to the bureau and provide lawmakers with material that they have long struggled to obtain from the agency.

https://nypost.com/2025/06/17/us-news/fbi-delivers-intel-to-congress-on-alleged-chinese-plot-to-interfere-in-2020-election/