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New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann says he's her 'hero'
The wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann says he's her 'hero'' — and that it was like falling in love with him all over again when she first saw him behind bars. Asa Ellerup, 61, said during an explosive interview in the upcoming Peacock docu-series, 'The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets' that she is convinced cops have the wrong guy — and that her 'wonderful' husband isn't the monster who killed and mutilated seven sex workers on Long Island over nearly 30 years. 'I know what bad men are capable of doing,' she told the show, which begins airing Tuesday. 'I've seen it, and I've heard it from other men. Not my husband. You have the wrong man.' Advertisement 9 Asa Ellerup, the wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, walks outside court with the couple's daughter, Victoria, 28. Dennis A. Clark 9 Ellerup has called her accused serial killer husband Rex Heuermann her 'hero.' Peacock 'I want him to come back home to me,' Ellerup said. 'They're trying to sit there and tell me that, but I have no knowledge of what they keep talking about. 'Oh, you must have known.' Know what? My husband was home here. He's a family man, period.' Heuermann, a hulking Manhattan architect, was arrested in July 2023 at his Midtown office and charged with the cold-case murders of three young sex workers. Advertisement Suffolk County prosecutors later also charged him with the murder and mutilation of four other victims, all also sex workers whose bodies were dumped along Ocean Parkway over nearly 30 years. He allegedly kept news clips of the brutal slayings in his basement. Despite a mountain of evidence, including DNA matches to all the victims, among them hairs from Ellerup and the couple's daughter, Victoria, the accused fiend's wife continues to believe her husband is innocent. Advertisement Adopted by Icelandic immigrants, Ellerup met a 'tall, dark, handsome' Heuermann when she was an 18-year-old working at a Long Island 7-11, she said, adding that the pair formed an immediate bond. 9 Ellerup said she was 18 and working at a local 7-11 when she met a 'tall, dark and handsome' Rex Heuermann. Facebook Ellerup said she was molested at 16 by a classmate, tried to commit suicide and was forced to hide in a dumpster for hours at 19 to foil a kidnapping attempt — making the hulking Heuermann her savior. She said he has stuck with her through more recent travails, too, including a double mastectomy. Advertisement 'He's my hero,' she said. 'There were times where he was working, but I'd call him, and he would come by and pick me up.' 9 The last three victims linked to Heuermann were (from left) Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack. Suffolk County Police Department 9 Heuermann was arrested July 13, 2023, outside his architecture office in Midtown Manhattan. Newsday The pair formed a years-long, platonic bond that eventually turned into a romance as their first marriages fizzled and they moved in together — which led to their wedding in Sweden in 1995. The next year, their daughter Victoria was born. These days, Ellerup said, she's brought to tears by the Buddy Holly tune, 'Crying, Waiting, Hoping.' She denied claims that the couple had 'swinger' parties in the past, calling the notion 'absurd' — and maintained Rex would never ask. She appeared to be in denial of some of the evidence Suffolk County prosecutors pulled from the couple's home, including sick porn involving videos, claiming she doesn't know if the footage is actually his. Advertisement She also claimed her husband didn't solicit hookers, although she said she believes prostitution should be legal. 9 The slain victims known as the initial 'Gilgo Four' were (clockwise from top left) Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn and Megan Waterman. Suffolk County Police Department Ellerup filed for divorce shortly after her husband's arrest, but their daughter maintained in the documentary that the move was 'to protect the assets.' Despite the divorce filing, Ellerup said she regularly speaks to her husband behind bars. Advertisement 'I haven't seen him in all this time, and when I went down there, I was excited, and like I was, I don't know, I guess on a first date. You're nervous, you're scared. You don't know how the date is gonna go,' she said. But she said she hasn't gone to see him in several months and is paranoid about their conversations being recorded behind bars — which makes her afraid to be open with him. 9 Ellerup is escorted from the Suffolk County Courthouse after a hearing for her husband. Dennis A. Clark 9 Heuermann lived in his mother's former home in Massapequa Park and had an architecture firm in Manhattan. Rex Heuermann Consultants & Associates Advertisement 'Telling him that I love him, that will hurt him,' Ellerup said. 'What I want to say to him is, 'I love you, no matter what.' But I don't even want to say 'no matter what' because I don't believe he did this. I don't see what everybody else is saying. I don't see phone calls to sex workers. 'I'm trying to keep myself sane,' she said. 'At the same time, people are saying, 'How could you not know that your husband was a serial killer?' Wait a minute, I picked him up from the train station every single day. He was home here on the weekends. He smoked a cigar in the garage.' 9 Ellerup and Heuermann were married in Sweden in 1995. Peacock Advertisement 'If he told me that he went out to Lowe's to pick something up and he was gone for an hour, no freaking way is this man going out soliciting sex from a sex worker, killing them and dumping them on Gilgo Beach.' She did have one issue with her embattled husband — she doesn't like his new haircut. Additional reporting by Mikella Schuettler and David DeTurris
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Yahoo
What Happened to Suspected Serial Killer Rex Heuermann's Wife & Kids
Originally appeared on E! Online The arrest of Rex Heuermann in 2023 may have been a step forward for the families of a number of murdered women whose cases had grown increasingly cold over the course of two decades. Prosecutors allege Heuermann, a New York architect who lived with his family in Massapequa Park, is a serial killer whose crimes date back to at least 1993, when the body of 28-year-old Sandra Costilla was discovered in a wooded area on the east side of Long Island. Since his arrest, he has been charged with murdering seven women, and he has pleaded not guilty on all counts. The 61-year-old remains in custody at Riverhead Correctional Facility in Suffolk County awaiting trial. Also caught up in the fallout of the investigation, detailed in Netflix's Gone Girls: The Long Island Serial Killer, was Heuermann's own family, particularly his wife Asa Ellerup and their two children, Christopher Sheridan (Ellerup's son from a previous relationship) and Virginia Heuermann. Though some people described Heuermann as unfriendly and at times creepy—"We would cross the street," neighbor Nicholas Ferchaw told the New York Times following his arrest. "He was somebody you don't want to approach"—he still appeared to be living a normal life. "The family is very to themselves, quiet,' neighbor Frankie Musto told the Long Island Press. 'My daughter went to school with their daughter, but we never saw anything suspicious." Here is what to know about Heuermann's wife Ellerup and their kids since he was charged with multiple murders: More from E! Online Denzel Washington Gets Into Confrontation After Being Grabbed by Photographer at Cannes Police Investigating Death of TikToker Emilie Kiser's 3-Year-Old Son Influencer Emilie Kiser's 3-Year-Old Son Dies After Being Found Unconscious in Pool Though some people described Heuermann as unfriendly and at times creepy—"We would cross the street," neighbor Nicholas Ferchaw told the New York Times following his arrest. "He was somebody you don't want to approach"—he still appeared to be living a normal life. "The family is very to themselves, quiet,' neighbor Frankie Musto told the Long Island Press. 'My daughter went to school with their daughter, but we never saw anything suspicious." Here is what to know about Heuermann's wife Ellerup and their kids since he was charged with multiple murders: Heuermann was arrested July 13, 2023—more than a year after the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office formed a special task force to solve the unsolved killings often referred to as the Gilgo Beach Murders, a reference to where the remains of at least 10 people were found in 2010 and 2011. (Three sets of remains have not yet been identified, according to Suffolk County authorities.) Six days after Heuermann was taken into custody, Ellerup filed for divorce after 27 years of marriage. 'If you ask me, I don't believe, that they knew about this double life that Mr. Heuermann was living," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CNN in July 2023, referring to the suspect's wife and kids. But, he added, authorities were still investigating "to see if the family might have known exactly what Mr. Heuermann was up to." Harrison said Ellerup and her daughter "were shocked, they were disgusted, they were embarrassed" when they found out the charges against Heuermann. Ellerup and her kids "are going through a devastating time in their lives," her attorney Robert Macedonio told NBC News in a statement at the time. 'The sensitive nature of her husband's arrest is taking an emotional toll on the immediate and extended family, especially their elderly family members." Before Heuermann's arrest, investigators conducted a 12-day search of the Massapequa Park home he shared with Ellerup and their two grown kids. 'I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering,' Ellerup told the New York Post several weeks later. 'Anxiety." Ellerup said their son Christopher has "developmental disabilities" and he "cried himself to sleep" after his father was arrested. Daughter Virginia told the NY Post she felt "not human" amid the investigation, with their attorney Macdeonio explaining to the publication she meant that what authorities had "done to them and the family is not even human. They were just complete animals [to investigators]. They treated them like animals." But what was important was that she and the kids were together, Ellerup noted. "That's really what matters right now," she said. "That you and me are sitting here together and we will get through this." While authorities have said time and again that they don't believe Ellerup knew about Heuermann's alleged crimes—and that she was out of town when the murders he's been charged with were committed—she unwittingly played a key role in his arrest. DNA testing showed that female human hair found on or near four victims' remains belonged to the defendant's wife, according to prosecutors' 2023 bail application (which did not refer to Ellerup by name at the time). Prosecutors said in the filing that travel records put his wife in Iceland when alleged Heuermann victim Melissa Barthelemy was killed in 2009, and cell phone data indicated she was out of the state when Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello were killed in 2010, leading them to determine that the hairs came from his family's residence or were transferred from his clothing. Heuermann was first charged with the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello in July 2023 and named a suspect in the 2010 killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. He was charged in that case in January 2024, then charged with the murders of Costilla (in 1993) and Jessica Taylor (2003) in June 2024 and of Valerie Mack (2000) in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to all seven. Days later, her attorney shared that Ellerup had been battling breast cancer and skin cancer for several years. "Emotionally, she's recovering each day not only dealing with the cancer," Macedonio said during an Aug. 11, 2023, news conference, "but this newfound life that she has to come to terms with protecting herself and children." At the time, Macedonio said Ellerup was undergoing a course of treatment that would last 12 to 18 months, and that her health insurance was attached to her husband's and was set to expire in 60 days. Though she quickly filed for divorce, Ellerup later said that she was waiting to see how her husband's case unfolded before casting judgment, while also extending her "heartfelt sympathies" to the victims' families. "Nobody deserves to die in that manner," she said in a March 2024 statement, per NBC New York. "I will listen to all of the evidence and withhold judgment until the end of trial. I have given Rex the benefit of the doubt, as we all deserve." While authorities have said time and again that they don't believe Ellerup knew about Heuermann's alleged crimes—and that she was out of town when the murders he's been charged with were committed—she unwittingly played a key role in his arrest. DNA testing showed that female human hair found on or near four victims' remains belonged to the defendant's wife, according to prosecutors' 2023 bail application (which did not refer to Ellerup by name at the time). Prosecutors said in the filing that travel records put his wife in Iceland when alleged Heuermann victim Melissa Barthelemy was killed in 2009, and cell phone data indicated she was out of the state when Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello were killed in 2010, leading them to determine that the hairs came from his family's residence or were transferred from his clothing. Heuermann was first charged with the murders of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello in July 2023 and named a suspect in the 2010 killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. He was charged in that case in January 2024, then charged with the murders of Costilla (in 1993) and Jessica Taylor (2003) in June 2024 and of Valerie Mack (2000) in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty to all seven. Though their house had been torn upside down by investigators, Ellerup told the NY Post in July 2023, "It's the only thing I got." But her attorney Macedonio said in November 2024 that she would be relocating to South Carolina and eventually her kids would join her. Ellerup "lost her attachment to her house of 30 years," the lawyer said in a statement, per NBC New York. "To start the healing process, she wants to move on." The Massapequa Park house, which authorities conducted at least two subsequent searches on after Heuermann's arrest, wasn't yet for sale, Macedonio said at the time, but the plan was to list the property once Ellerup's divorce was finalized. It's unclear if Ellerup has since made the move. E! News reached out to her attorney for comment but has yet to hear back. 'People constantly stop in front of the house, to gawk and point and take pictures,' Macedonio told the New York Times in November. 'She's lost any emotional attachment she had to the premises because of everything that's gone on, and the only way she can start recovering is to move.' As for his kids, Victoria worked for her dad at his NYC firm, which has since shut down. Today, she has struggled to find a job while she and her brother try to keep a low profile. 'Chris can't even walk his dog down the block,' their lawyer Vess Mitev told the NY Times. ' He gets photographed, people stop and take pictures, he's catcalled, the whole thing. They can't even check the mail. That kind of scrutiny is not for my clients. They never asked for it.' For the latest breaking news updates, click here to download the E! News App
