Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said his investigators would examine whether it could be used to help solve the hundreds of other cold cases in Suffolk County.

A judge allowed key DNA evidence to be used in Rex Heuermann’s trial in the Gilgo Beach case. It’s a significant advancement for criminal forensic testing.

The decision is an important win for prosecutors and a blow for the defense team that challenged the validity of this type of technology that specializes in extracting nuclear DNA from damaged or