Suspected Gigolo Beach serial killer’s wife has revealed she is ‘finding it hard to understand things’.
Asa Ellerup, 59, was married to Rex Heuerman for two decades before he was arrested last week at the Massapequa Park, Long Island, home they shared with their two grown children. Ellarup filed for divorce Wednesday in Suffolk County Superior Court.
Police say Heuerman was behind the 2010 deaths of three sex workers who were buried at Gigolo Beach. He is the prime suspect in the fourth murder.
Attorney Robert Macedonia also said the family was blindsided by the shocking murder charges. ‘Obviously it was a traumatic time for them and a very difficult time to understand,’ he told US Sun.
‘Like any family, it’s very upsetting and they’re completely shocked and defensive. The family does not wish to comment further.’
Asa Ellarup has retained attorney Robert Macedoniano and filed for divorce from her husband, Rex Heuerman, who was arrested and named the prime suspect in the Gilgo Beach murders. Pictured: Ellerup, 59, with daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, and son Chris Sheridan
Rex Heuerman, 59, was arrested outside his Manhattan farm and charged with murdering the three women. He is the prime suspect in the fourth murder
Roller skates are loaded into a truck by law enforcement and forensic teams at Rex Heuerman’s home in Massapequa Park.
Ellerup was home Thursday when police raided the property at the same time they arrested Heuermann outside his Manhattan architecture firm.
Heuerman is charged with murder in the deaths of Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Megan Waterman, 22. He pleaded not guilty on Friday.
Ellarup was shocked but then the police showed him ‘specific pictures’ to help him come to terms with the fact that he was a suspect in the notorious murders that have haunted the area for decades.
‘When we told the wife, she was shocked, she was embarrassed,’ Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told Fox 5. ‘But there was a point where we showed him certain pictures and he said, “Okay, this is it.”
The police commissioner did not reveal which images were shown to his wife, but Heuermann is depicted in a variety of images, from taking selfies while hooking up with sex workers to surveillance video footage of purchasing a burner phone.
Macedonia told Newstimesuk.com on Wednesday that police executed a search warrant at the family’s New York home in Massapequa Park at the same time they arrested Heuerman in midtown Manhattan.
“He was in complete shock,” the lawyer said. ‘Their whole life has been turned upside down.’
Ellarup immigrated to the United States from Iceland as a child and grew up near Heuerman, Long Island.
Law enforcement and forensic teams at Rex Heuerman’s home in Massapequa Park
He was away when the women were killed and neighbors said the couple were rarely seen together.
It has now emerged Heuerman owns two other homes – in Las Vegas and South Carolina – and police are investigating whether he may be connected to any unsolved murders there.
Under New York state law, all divorce filings are sealed from public scrutiny, but the case and party names are docketed and posted.
Asa Ellerup vs. Rex Heuemann is listed as an ‘uncontested’ matrimonial filing on Wednesday, with a complaint, summons and ‘notice regarding continuation of health care coverage’ filed and processed.
Macedonia told Newstimesuk.com on Wednesday: ‘I can confirm that we filed a summons for divorce today in Suffolk County Supreme Court.’
She said Ellarup was home at the time of her husband’s arrest in Manhattan, and authorities searched the residence at the same time.
“When they made the arrest, they executed the search warrant at the same time, so there’s no tipoff for anybody to destroy any kind of evidence,” Macedoniano said.
‘So when they were taking him to Manhattan, there was already a team waiting at home to do it as soon as they got him so he wouldn’t call and say ‘hey.’
Ellerup was walking with a cane on Wednesday when he was spotted with his daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26 (left).
The suspect’s home sits directly north of Gilgo Beach across South Oyster Bay
Ellerup attended Farmingdale High School and was briefly married at age 20, divorcing in the early 1990s in Queens. It is unclear whether she had a professional life outside the home.
Their daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, worked with her father as a receptionist.
Chris Sheridan, Heuerman’s stepson, worked at a Burlington Coat Factory store in Massapequa where he stocked shelves.
A young man with special needs, his colleagues said he had some difficulty performing simple tasks and was discharged or let go a few months ago.
They saw him as an enthusiastic colleague who would post friendly, uplifting messages and photos on the internal branch website, including one of him cuddling with his dog at home.
Co-workers reacted with shock when they learned his stepfather was the alleged Long Island serial killer.
‘It’s not scary,’ a worker who knew him told Newstimesuk.com. ‘I hope he’s all right.’
Ellarup was reportedly traveling in Maryland, New Jersey and Iceland at the time of the murders of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy, whose bodies were dumped on Gilgo Beach.
The first victim, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, was discovered by Suffolk County police on Dec. 11, 2010. Megan Waterman, 22, was found two days later.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was 25 when she disappeared (left). Amber Lynn Costello was 27 years old. Their bodies were found near Barthelemy on the same day
When sex worker Barthelemy disappeared from her Bronx home on July 12, 2009, travel records show Asa was in Iceland.
He left for his native land on July 8, 2009 and stayed there till August.
A year later, 22-year-old prostitute Megan Waterman was last seen on June 6, 2010.
Records suggest his phone likely traveled to Massapequa Park and the location of the cell site was near Human’s home.
According to cellphone billing records, Ellerup was in Maryland during this time, traveling from New York on July 4, 2010, and returning four days later.
Amber Costello, a 27-year-old who also works as a sex worker, was last seen by acquaintances on September 2, 2010.
Ellerup was traveling again, leaving home on Aug. 28, 2010, and returning from New Jersey on Sept. 5, billing records show, according to court documents.
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