‘Okay, it is what it is’: Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect’s ’embarrassed’ wife’s reaction to cops after they showed her ‘certain images that tie him to the murders’
- Asa Ellerup, 59, and daughter Victoria, 26, met with lawyers on Wednesday
- She had been married to Rex Heuermann, 59, for over two decades, before he was arrested Thursday and charged with three murders of sex workers in 2010
- She has filed for divorce at Suffolk County Supreme Court on Wednesday
The wife of suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann was shocked when cops burst into their Long Island home the same time he was arrested outside his Manhattan office last week for the grisly murders of at least three sex workers.
But Asa Ellerup, 59, had a different reaction after she was shown ‘certain pictures’ to help her come to terms with the fact that he is suspected of carrying out the notorious killings 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 her certain pictures and she said, ‘OK, it is what it is.”
Ellerup, who filed for divorce from Heuermann, 59, on Wednesday, nearly a week after his arrest, was spotted walking out of her attorney Robert Macedonio’s office in East Islip, New York. Their daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, and her stepson Christopher Sheridan were with her.
Asa Ellerup, 59, who filed for divorce from Heuermann, 59, on Wednesday, nearly a week after his arrest, was spotted walking out of her attorney Robert Macedonio’s office in East Islip
Ellerup and Heuermann’s daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, and their stepson Christopher Sheridan were with her at the lawyer’s office on Wednesday
Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested outside his Manhattan firm and charged with the murder of three women. He is the prime suspect in a fourth homicide
The Heuermann-Ellerup home in Long Island pictured Saturday, as investigators remove items
Heuermann has been charged with murder in the deaths of Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Megan Waterman, 22. He pleaded not guilty on Friday.
The police commissioner did not reveal what images were shown to his wife, but Heuermann has been pictured in an array of images that range from posing for selfies while allegedly hooking up with sex workers to surveillance video footage of him buying a burner phone.
Robert Macedonio, Ellerup’s lawyer, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that police executed a search warrant at the family’s New York home in Massapequa Park the same time they arrested Heuermann in Midtown Manhattan.
‘She was in complete shock,’ as were her two adult children, the lawyer said. ‘Their entire lives have been turned upside down.’
Attorney Robert Macedonio walks out of court with Ellerup on Wednesday when she filed for divorce from suspected Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heurmann
Ellerup and Heuermann’ daughter and stepson trail behind outside of court on Wednesday
Their daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, worked with her father at his firm as a receptionist
Ellerup emigrated to the United States from Iceland as a child, and grew up near Heuermann on Long Island.
She was away when the women were murdered, and neighbors said the couple were rarely seen together.
It has now emerged Heuermann owns two other homes – in Las Vegas and South Carolina – and police are investigating if he could be connected to any unsolved killings there.
Under New York State law, all filings in divorce proceedings are sealed from public scrutiny, but the cases and party’s names are docketed and posted.
Asa Ellerup v. Rex Heuermann is listed as an ‘uncontested’ matrimonial filing dated Wednesday, with a complaint, summons and ‘notice concerning continuation of health care coverage’ filed and processed.
Macedonio told DailyMail.com Wednesday: ‘I can confirm that we did file a summons complaint for the divorce today in Suffolk County Supreme Court.’
Macedonio told DailyMail.com Wednesday: ‘I can confirm that we did file a summons complaint for the divorce today in Suffolk County Supreme Court’
Police said Ellerup was shocked when cops burst into their Long Island home the same time he was arrested outside his Manhattan office last week for the grisly murders
He said Ellerup was home at the time of her husband’s arrest in Manhattan, and that authorities simultaneously swooped in to search the residence.
‘When they made the arrest, they executed the search warrants at exactly the same time, so there’s no tipoff for anyone to destroy any kind of evidence,’ Macedonio said.
‘So as they’re taking him down in Manhattan, there was already a team waiting on the house to do it as soon as they got him so he doesn’t call and say ‘hey.’
Ellerup attended Farmingdale High School and married briefly in her 20s, divorcing in the early 1990s in Queens. It was unclear if she had a professional life outside the home.
Their daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, worked with her father as a receptionist, and they have a stepson, Christopher Sheridan.
Dr. Johanna Ellerup, a pharmacist who lives just seven miles from the Long Island home Heuermann shared with her sister said the family had not heard from Asa Ellerup
An elderly man believed to be Asa Ellerup’s father, Frode, was seen at Johanna’s home
Heuermann’s daughter Victoria works with him at the architecture firm where he was arrested
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said he does not believe Heuermann’s family was aware of his double life. His daughter, Victoria, is pictured
The family kept to themselves and neighbors said no one recalled ever being invited in to their home.
Ellerup’s sister Johanna Ellerup, a pharmacist who lives seven miles from their Long Island home, told DailyMail.com their mother has died and their father still lives in the house where Asa and Johanna Ellerup grew up.
‘We have not heard from her, we don’t have an address for her,’ said Johanna Ellerup. ‘We don’t know anything.’
She added her father is elderly ‘and this is overwhelming’ for him.’
‘Honestly, I swear we know less than you,’ Johanna said. ‘We know nothing. We don’t know anything.’
The first victim, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, was discovered by Suffolk County Police on December 11, 2010. The body of Megan Waterman, 22, was found two days later
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was 25 years old when she went missing (left). Amber Lynn Costello was 27 years old. Their bodies were found near Barthelemy’s the same day
The suspect’s house sits directly north of Gilgo Beach across the South Oyster Bay
An aerial view of the area near Gilgo Beach and Ocean Parkway on Long Island
Heuermann was arrested in connection to the murders. Police are now investigating whether he may be related to any other unsolved crimes
Ellerup was said to have been traveling to Maryland, New Jersey and Iceland during the murders of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy, whose bodies were found dumped on Gilgo Beach.
When sex worker Barthelemy disappeared from her Bronx home on July 12, 2009, travel records showed Asa was in Iceland.
She left for her homeland on July 8, 2009, and remained there until August.
A year later, Megan Waterman, a 22-year-old prostitute, was last seen on June 6, 2010.
Records suggest her phone likely traveled to Massapequa Park, and the cell site location was near Heuermann’s home.
Ellerup was in Maryland during this period, traveling from New York on July 4, 2010, and returning four days later, according to cellphone billing records.
Amber Costello, a 27-year-old also working as a sex worker, was last seen by acquaintances on September 2, 2010.
Ellerup was again traveling at the time, leaving home on August 28, 2010, and returning from New Jersey on September 5, billing records show, according to court documents.
A member of the Crime Lab is seen investigating items outside of Heuermann’s home Tuesday
Police remained on the scene Tuesday of Heuermann’s Long Island home
The home of Rex Heuermann was first searched by police after his arrest on July 13, 2023
New York State Police officers are seen carrying a vast array of evidence out of Rex Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park, NY, on Monday afternoon, July 17, 2023
On Monday night, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said he does not believe Heuermann’s family was aware of his alleged crimes.
‘They were disgusted. They were embarrassed,’ Harrison said.
‘So if you ask me, I don’t believe they knew about this double life that Heuermann was living.’
At the IGA supermarket in Massapequa, where Ellerup and her children would frequently shop, cashiers knew them as a quiet, cheerless family.
And even though Ellerup would visit the store several times a week, they said Heuermann never accompanied her and their children.
‘He never came with them,’ store manager Mery Salmeri told the New York Times.
‘I’m not sure what that says about them.’
She added Ellerup often looked depressed, and the family would pay for their groceries using food stamps.
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