RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (PIX11) — The estranged wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer, Rex Heuermann, showed up for court for the first time since her husband was accused in July of killing 3 women discovered on Ocean Parkway in 2010.
Asa Ellerup, wearing a teal blouse and white sweater, has reportedly reached a deal with a major streaming service to tell her story. She was escorted into court on the fourth floor of Suffolk County criminal court by her attorney, Robert Macedonio.
Ellerup visited her husband in jail for the first time last week. She had filed for divorce within a week of the architect’s arrest.
There are reports that Heuermann has transferred the deed to their Massapequa Park home to Ellerup, who is the mother of two children. Her son, Christopher, is Heuermann’s stepson. Ellerup has a daughter, Victoria, with Heuermann.
Assets have become an issue in this case.
Ellerup was seeking 283 guns that were seized from the Heuermann household during a 12-day search after Heuermann’s arrest. The Suffolk County District Attorney fought that move.
The guns, including automatic weapons, will be turned over to the Nassau County Police Department, the jurisdiction where the Heuermanns live.
Ten sets of human remains were discovered on Ocean Parkway between December 2010 and April 2011. Heuermann is already a prime suspect in a fourth killing. He has pleaded not guilty to the first three he was charged with.
Ellerup was sitting quietly in the fourth row in court, while Judge Timothy Mazzei held a private conference with attorneys before deciding the hearing.
The Assistant District Attorney on the case told Judge Timothy Mazzei, “Since October 17, we’ve turned over two hundred pages of the search warrant application, detailing the probable cause for his arrest.”
Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney told reporters, “We have a lot of forensic evidence cellular, mitochondrial DNA, and nuclear DNA.”
Yet defense attorney Michael Brown is already trying to punch holes in the case, saying this about a hair found on Gilgo victim Megan Waterman that was tied to Heuermann.
“The lab says he is potentially a donor of that hair. There are thousands of people in the New York area who are not excluded from being a donor.”
The defense also wants all the investigative notes taken by detectives since 2010, when the case started, pointing out there was another person of interest focused on by previous District Attorney Tim Sini.
“Mr. Sini, some of you know, actually wanted to arrest someone else for this crime,” Brown said. “This person was not Rex Heuermann. They had another suspect very close to Mr. Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park.”
A source told PIX11 News that the other suspect worked in law enforcement and was eventually eliminated from the suspect pool.
Heuermann, a Manhattan architect who took the Long Island Railroad to midtown weekdays, has pleaded not guilty to the murders of three women working as escorts.
The DA said Heuermann did hundreds of searches, using burner phones and phony web accounts, looking for child porn, torture porn, and information about the Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation.
DA Tierney said a grand jury is finishing up work on the fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who is among the “Gilgo Four—the focal point of this case. The grand jury started hearing evidence in June and returned an indictment on three murders in July.
The DA said his office has turned over more than 13,000 photos to the defense team as part of the discovery process, which involves the handing over of evidence.
The next court date is not until Feb. 6, 2024. It could be way more than a year before we see a trial.
