CRIME & SAFETY

Valley Stream Man Indicted for Criminally Negligent Homicide

Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly has announced that a Valley Stream driver was arraigned on a charge of criminally negligent homicide for allegedly striking and killing teenager Gerrin Hagen, who was skateboarding on Cantiague Lane in Westbury in January.

Mactyme Michel, 19, was arraigned before Judge Christopher Hoefenkrieg on one count of criminally negligent homicide (an E felony). The defendant pleaded not guilty and was released to pretrial services. He is due back in court on Aug. 21. If convicted, the defendant faces up to 1-1/3 to 4 years in prison.

“Gerrin Hagen’s life was tragically cut short when this defendant allegedly ran through a stop sign and struck the young man, who was riding on a skateboard,” DA Donnelly said. “Hagen was a talented ice hockey and lacrosse player who was beloved by the entire Long Beach community. We continue to mourn with his family members, friends, and classmates as we prosecute this case.”

DA Donnelly said that, according to the charges, on Jan. 12, at approximately 2:25 p.m. the defendant was driving a 2012 Honda Pilot northwest on Cantiague Lane near Sunnyside Lane when he allegedly drove around a vehicle driving in front of him and continued driving without stopping at the intersection’s stop sign.

The defendant, while still on the left side of the road, then allegedly struck 18-yearold Gerrin Hagen from behind as Hagen was riding his skateboard from a Nassau BOCES location to his car.

The victim was transported to Nassau University Medical Center where he succumbed to his injuries on Jan. 13.

Michel surrendered to the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad on July 10.

—Submitted by the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office

For more information, contact 516-465-4774 or email htract@tscli.org.

The screenings will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The Legislator is also partnering with NuHealth to bring the breast cancer screening van to the Littig House Community Center in Port Washington on Wednesday, Sept. 20 and the Glen Cove Boys & Girls Club on Thursday, Sept. 28. Free mammograms will be made available to women over the age of 40. Appointments include a breast exam from a nurse, a mammography, and self-examination instructions.

Appointments are required, and mammograms are free for uninsured women based on eligibility guidelines. Women with health insurance may be required to make a copayment. Women who have gone more than a year since their last mammogram will be required to get a prescription from their doctor (if they have insurance) and provide any past films (if available).

For more information and to make an appointment while availability lasts, contact Legislator DeRiggi-Whitton’s office at 516-571-6211 or dderiggiwhitton@ nassaucountyny.gov.

—Submitted by the Office of Nassau County Legislator Delia DeRiggi-Whitton

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Over a decade later, language around sex workers has improved.

“I have seen improvements, but just because there’s improvements doesn’t mean it’s time to ‘rest on our laurels’ kind of thing,” said Phoenix Calida, the Co-Executive Director of Sex Workers Outreach Project-USA. “There’s still a lot of stigma, still a lot of dehumanization. I’ve seen that some outlets who are covering this are still using the term ‘prostitute,’ instead of the preferred term, ‘sex worker’ ... also victim-blaming. So yes, there’s been some progress, but not nearly enough, and not nearly enough in general to make sex workers feel safe in society.”

And while the narrative around sex work is improving, it’s still far too late.

“If sex workers were able to talk about this more publicly years ago [without fear of criminalization], maybe some of it could have been averted,” Calida said. “There’s just something really heartbreaking about that, because it’s unnecessary damage, collateral damage.”

Along with society’s view of sex workers, the investigation was also hindered by a scandal that hit the Suffolk County Police Department that led to the jailing of the former chief of the Suffolk County Police Department James Burke, who was caught brutalizing a suspect in custody who stole private items from Burke in late 2012 and pressuring detectives to cover it up. Suffolk County District Attorney Thomas J. Spota and Christopher McPartland, the former Chief of Investigations and Chief of the Government Corruption Bureau of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, were also jailed for covering up Burke’s crimes.

The Evidence

Approximately two months into the renewed joint investigation, according to the Bail Application Form, a comprehensive review of evidence led to the discovery of a Chevrolet Avalanche registered to Heuermann. A witness to the disappearance of Costello had identified the vehicle, as well as a description of a man that matches Heuermann’s features.

(The FBI has seized that vehicle from South Carolina, and it’s been returned to Suffolk County.)

This discovery led to a comprehensive investigation of Heuermann which consisted of over 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence.

Among the evidence that was found were cellphone billing records corresponding to cell site locations for the burner cellphones used to arrange meetings with three of the four victims, calls checking Brainard-Barnes’ voicemail after her disappearance, a call made by a detective to Barthelemy’s cellphone after her disappearance and taunting calls to a relative of Barthelemy. Additionally, Heuermann lived in Massapequa Park where the victims were believed to have disappeared from, and he worked in Midtown Manhattan, as an architect, in the vicinity where the taunting calls were made.

Investigators have located a number of online accounts and burner cellphones linked to Heuermann, but were held by him in fictitious names and used for illicit activities, including contacting sex workers and massage parlors and conducting thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography.

“I’ve seen reports that police actually knew he was seeing sex workers while he was under investigation, and just sort of let that happen, which seems incredibly harmful and somewhat disrespectful to the sex work community,” Calida said. “Who would have been there to protect sex workers had he chosen to make them his next set of victims?”

He also used a burner email account to conduct over 200 searches between March 2022 and June 2023 related to active and known serial killers, the disappearances and murders of Brainard-Barnes, Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello and the investigation into their murders.

Investigators believe, using modern day DNA analysis, that hairs that were found on Brainard-Barnes, Waterman and Costello belong to Heuermann and his wife. Travel records confirm she was out of state during three of the murders (cellular billing records and travel/financial records of his wife from 2007 could not be obtained because they were no longer available due to retention policies. Therefore it is undetermined if his wife was out-of-state during Brainard-Barnes’ disappearance and murder.)

It is likely that the burlap, tape, vehicles and other instrumentalities utilized in the murders came from Heuermann’s residences, where his wife resides, or was transferred from his clothing. The DNA was obtained by an undercover Suffolk County Police Officer taking bottles left out for collection at the Heuermanns’ residence and a surveillance team taking a pizza box that contained leftover pizza crust thrown out by Heuermann into a garbage can in Manhattan.

Heuermann faces multiple sentences of life without parole.

Heuermann pleaded not guilty to all the charges. “We just got appointed on this case. There’s not much I can tell you folks at this point in time,” his attorney, Michael Brown, told NBC. “I will say to you folks that it’s extremely circumstantial in nature. In terms of speaking to my client, the only thing I can tell you that he did say, as he was in tears, was ‘I didn’t do this.’”

Heuermann’s wife has reportedly filed for divorce.

Massapequa Park, The Center of a National News Story

Massapequa Park has approximately 7000 residents with about 6000 homes in the village. It’s a typical small town, with numerous parks and a quaint downtown. Mayor Daniel Pearl has been living in the Massapequas his whole life, moving to the village of Massapequa Park 22 years ago when he got married. He has been serving in the village government for nearly half that time.

“It’s a quiet place. All the neighbors know each other,” he said.

Pearl remembered the unease that surrounded the start of the case in 2010, since the bodies were discovered nearby. The news that Heuermann was the main suspect in these murders was certainly a shock to him and his constituents. “The way this whole thing started breaking out 10 plus years ago, over a decade ago, it was unbelievable to hear and everybody was scared. You know, serial killer and all that. Then to get up Friday morning (July 14) and find out that we have a possible serial killer living in the heart of the village. It was a total shock, not just to me, but to the majority of the community, especially the folks that live on that street.”

“I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished,” Tierney said. “I know we have more to accomplish. But I’m also thankful for the partnership of the task force. Because certainly, without the participation of the task force, I know we wouldn’t be standing here.”

At the time of Heuermann’s arrest, he had the burner cellphone that was linked to the email used to conduct the online searches. Searches of his residence and other locations are currently ongoing.

Based on the serious and heinous nature of the offense, the strength of the case, the life sentence Heuermann faces, the measures he took to avoid apprehension, his recent online searches and his history of possessing firearms, the Bail Application Form requested that he be held without bail.

“While we did our part in this investigation, we continue because we have to house this individual,” Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. said at the press conference. “We have already designated, or talked about, certain locations where we will house him, and in addition, the security measures we will implement in our facility to make sure this individual is brought to justice the way he should be.”

If convicted of the current charges,

Practical matters are also a concern, but Pearl wanted residents to know that municipal services and other concerns were being addressed by the village and law enforcement.

Going forward, Pearl stated that they would be watching the situation closely to help address residents’ concerns about gawkers, who are already trying to visit the home. “One of the things that we’re hearing a lot of now is people don’t want to live next to this home. They would like the home to be knocked down. We would love nothing more than to bring back the peace of the community or the neighborhood, of any memory of this incident. We’re not looking for an Amityville Horror type situation with people that are coming up to the house,” Pearl said.

The message from the village of Massapequa Park as a whole is one of empathy and respect: “Our thoughts and prayers are with the families involved and affected by these horrific crimes. We thank all levels of law enforcement for their tenacity in bringing this case to justice. While we understand the intrigue surrounding this situation, we ask everyone to please be respectful of the community and the residents.”

The defendant has not yet been sentenced for these crimes.