Accused Gilgo Beach Serial killer Rex Heuermann greeted by wife at latest court date
The estranged wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, just four months after filing for divorce, turned up Wednesday at his latest Long Island court appearance.
Spouse Asa Ellerup wore a slight smile on her face while staring at the towering 60-year-old defendant as he was led into the Suffolk County courtroom for a quick procedural hearing, with the district attorney agreeing to turn over more evidence in the serial killing case against her estranged spouse.
She left the courtroom and said nothing to a crowd of trailing reporters while walking to her car.
Heuermann stands accused of murdering three young women on Long Island in a 14-month stretch of 2009 and 2010, with the long-cold cases finally closed after Suffolk County police reopened the probe in 2022. The Long Island father of two was arrested a year later as he walked down a Manhattan street near his architecture office, and was charged with murder in the deaths of the suburban sex workers.
Ellerup had filed court papers seeking to end their marriage of 27 years this past July after the allegations against her husband were made public. Her attorney declined comment on reports that his client was working with a documentary film crew on the case.
The defendant’s next court appearance was set for Feb. 6.
Police finally nabbed the long-sought serial-killing suspect based on a tip from a Long Island pimp, a DNA sample from a pizza crust and his own damning internet searches about the crimes and victims, with prosecutors collecting a “massive amount of materials” in their investigation.
In addition to murder victims Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, Heuermann is still a prime suspect in the killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, last seen alive on July 9, 2007. He was ordered held without bail as the headline-making investigation continued.
The couple shared a home in Massapequa Park, L.I., with their two children, and authorities spent 12 days scouring the suburban residence once Heuermann was in handcuffs.
