Says who? H. Erectus obviously predated both H. Sapien and H. Neanderthalensis, but that does not make him "further removed." Picture H. Erectus as being the crux of a "V" with H. Sapien and H. Neanderthalensis being the two arms. The differences between the latter two's DNA is only about one percent which is more than possible if both broke from a common ancestor and evolved separately. It would not require that H. Erectus' DNA be all that much different than either modern man's or Neanderthal's.
Says who? Guess? You want to guess? Evoutionists say so. Not your strawmen, the non-atheists, but evolutionists. Homo erectus ceased to exist at the most 200,000 years ago. Most sources say it perished even before that. Here's a hint for you: dead species do not reproduce.