Photo:Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office
Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office
Asa Ellerup, the wife of Gilgo Beach murder suspectRex Heuermann, is opening up for the first time since her husband wasarrested.
Ellerup previouslyfiled for divorce from Heuermanna week after he was arrested on murder charges at his Manhattan office. Her lawyer Bob Macedonio confirmed this week to PEOPLE that a complaint for divorce and summons were filed.ABC Newsnoted that she filed the documents at Suffolk County Supreme Court.
Ellerup’s lawyer issued a press release on Friday stating that she and her children “are enduring a profound and indescribable catastrophe.” The press release also included a direct statement from Ellerup who pleaded for “normalcy.”
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As previously reported, Heuermann was charged with the murders ofAmber Costello, 27,Melissa Barthelemy, 24, andMegan Waterman, 22, and has sincepleaded not guiltyto the charges of first- and second-degree murder. He is also a suspect in the murder of 25-year-oldMaureen Brainard-Barnes. All four women worked as online escorts and were reported missing between 2007 and 2010.
Earlier this month, Ellerup’s attorney Macedoniotold Fox Newspolice arrived at the Heuermann family home in Massapequa Park an hour after his arrest and informed Ellerup and her children of the charges.
“They were home and the cops came in, and they were completely blindsided, and they told them what was going on,” Macedonio told the outlet.
He added that the ordeal “is all still a whirlwind” for the family. “Her and her children’s lives have been completely turned upside-down,” Macedonio continued, per Fox News. According toCNN, the pair married in April 1996 and resided with their daughter and Heuermann’s stepson.
The “Long Island Serial Killer” case first came to light in December 2010 when the four women’s bodies were discoveredwrapped in burlapand placed within about 500 feet of one another, buried in the marsh on Gilgo Beach. Two months later, the remains ofsix more bodieswere unearthed along the beach.
As previously noted, four of those remains were women, one was a female toddler and one was a male in women’s clothing. Two sets of the remains were later linked to the dismembered torsos of women discovered 40 miles away.
“They found his car, and they found his address, and then they found out his physical description, and then they found out where he worked,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney told PEOPLE. “And every time they dug further, you were getting more associations, which obviously got people excited.”
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Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison has since toldCNNthat he didn’t believe the suspect’s family “knew about this double life that Mr. Heuermann was living.”
source: people.com
