Rex Heuermann’s family hasn’t visited him in jail: lawyer

New York architect Rex Heuermann’s arrest in a trio of the infamous Gilgo Beach murders is taking “an emotional toll” on his wife and adult children, who have not visited the accused killer in jail, according to those close to the case.

Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, and their children are asking for privacy in the wake of his shocking arrest 12 years after several women were found killed along Long Island’s Gilgo Beach and surrounding areas.

Heuermann, 59, is now “very comfortable” in a jail cell within the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office’s Riverhead Facility, where a spokesperson told The Post he had not received any visitors as of Wednesday.

Ellerup filed for divorce from the once-successful New York City-based architect Wednesday.

Macedonio & Duncan, LLP, the firm representing Ellerup in the divorce, said Thursday she and her family “are going through a devastating time in their lives.”

“The sensitive nature of her husband’s arrest is taking an emotional toll on the immediate and extended family, especially their elderly family members,” the statement read.


Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, and their children are asking for privacy in the wake of his shocking arrest.
Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, and their children are asking for privacy in the wake of his shocking arrest.
Fox News

Heuermann, 59, is now reportedly “very comfortable” in a jail cell within the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office’s Riverhead Facility.
Heuermann, 59, is now reportedly “very comfortable” in a jail cell within the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office’s Riverhead Facility.
Dennis A. Clark

Police descended on Rex Heuermann's Massapequa Park, Long Island home last week.
Police descended on Rex Heuermann’s Massapequa Park, Long Island home last week.
Paul Martinka

Ellerup and her daughter were photographed that same day in the parking lot of a Best Buy store, Fox News Digital reported.

The couple’s 26-year-old daughter, Victoria Heuermann, was employed by her father’s firm. A LinkedIn page that appears to belong to her describes her as a New York Institute of Technology graduate with a degree in fine arts.

Neighbors have said Ellerup’s adult son has special needs, though it was not immediately clear if he was the man photographed with the pair.

Who is Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann?

A suspected serial killer has been arrested over the notorious Gilgo Beach murders in Long Island, The Post can confirm.

Rex Heuermann, 59, a married dad of two and architect at a New York City firm, has a home on 1st Avenue in Massapequa Park, sources told The Post.


Rex Heuermann
Rex Heuermann, a Long Island architect who was charged July 14, 2023, with murder in the deaths of three of the 11 victims in a long-unsolved string of killings known as the Gilgo Beach murders.
AP

His arrest is tied to the “Gilgo Four,” four women — Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25 — found wrapped in burlap within days of each other in 2010. 

The body of Barthelemy was first found along Ocean Parkway on Dec. 11, 2010, sparking fears of a serial killer in the area.



By spring 2011, the number of bodies had climbed to 10, including eight women as well as an unidentified man and toddler.

Heuermann’s arrest comes after Suffolk County’s new police commissioner created a special Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force in February 2022.

Suffolk County Police Chief Commissioner Rodney Harrison previously described Heuermann’s family’s reaction to the news of his arrest.

“They were shocked,” he said. “They were disgusted — they were embarrassed.”


Ellerup, left, filed for divorce from the once-successful New York City-based architect Wednesday.
Ellerup, left, filed for divorce from the once-successful New York City-based architect Wednesday.
Fox News

Heuermann has been charged with six counts of murder, three in the first-degree and three more in the second. He has so far been accused in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27.

The bodies of each of the three women Heuermann were found along the same stretch of Long Island’s Gilgo Beach between June and September 2010.

Heuermann is also being eyed in the case of the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, whose body was found on the same beach years earlier.

Prosecutors alleged Heuermann had a secret life of seeking prostitutes, searching for child pornography and an obsession with the women he’s accused of killing and their families.

He allegedly taunted those close to the murders and kept tabs on them despite living what looked like an otherwise normal life as a successful architect.


Heuermann has been charged with six counts of murder, three in the first-degree and three more in the second.
Heuermann has been charged with six counts of murder, three in the first-degree and three more in the second.
via REUTERS

Heuermann has so far been accused in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
Heuermann has so far been accused in the deaths of Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, Amber Lynn Costello, 27.
Rex Heuermann Consultants & Associates

And though he stayed under the radar for years, Heuermann actively sought sex through websites and dating applications, such as Tinder, and used burner phones and bogus email addresses to send selfies and connect with prostitutes and other prospects, officials said.

And he made extensive searches on the Gilgo murder and family members of offspring, including over 200 in a single four-month period, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said.

One search allegedly asked: “Why hasn’t the long island serial killer been caught.”

Another allegedly stated: “Why could law enforcement not trace the calls made by the long island serial killer.”