Facebook (Asa Ellerup) Asa Ellerup
Asa Ellerup is the current wife of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, who is accused of killing at least three women on Long Island in 2009 and 2010.
Hairs that investigators believe match Ellerup’s hair were found on some of the victims’ bodies, authorities wrote in a bail letter in the case, the letter, published in full by Daily Mail, said. Investigators believe the hairs were in the couple’s home or transferred from Heuermann’s clothing because Ellerup was out of state at the time of the killings, the letter said.
Ellerup, who has not been accused of any involvement in the crimes, is Heuermann’s second wife. He also has two children, according to The New York Post.
“If you ask me, I don’t believe, that they knew about this double life that Mr. Heuermann was living,” Suffolk County police commissioner Rodney Harrison said of the suspect’s family to CNN.
CNN reported that Ellerup has now filed for divorce.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney confirmed that Heuermann is under arrest in a news conference on July 14, 2023. “These young women went missing between July 2007 and September 2010. They were found in September 2010,” Tierney said.
He said Heuermann is charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Lynn Costello, and Megan Waterman. The murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes remains under investigation, according to Tierney. Barthelemy was killed in 2009 and Costello and Waterman were killed in 2010, authorities said.
According to NBC News, Heuermann’s attorney, Michael J. Brown, told reporters that Heuermann maintains his innocence and called the accusations “extremely circumstantial in nature.”
Heuermann is an architect who runs a company called RH Consulting & Associates, Inc., in New York City.
“RH Consultants & Associates, Inc. was incorporated in 1994, founded by Rex Heuermann, a Registered Architect,” the company’s website says.
Here’s what you need to know about Rex Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup:
1. Although Hair Believed to Match Asa Ellerup Was Recovered on the Victims, She Was Out of the State, Including in Iceland, at the Time of the Killings, Authorities Say
Suspected Long Island Serial Killer is a straight up GIANT! 😳 Look how tall he is. Very different from Richard Allen in the Adelphi Murders #RexHeuermann #longislandserialkiller #gilgobeachmurders
In the news conference, Tierney described how the victims, all petite women who were sex workers, were bound at the head with camouflage burlap used in duck blinds for hunting.
He said that Heuermann was caught because of a complex web of cell phone evidence and because he drove a vehicle similar to that driven by a tall and large man who frequented one of the victims before her death and was seen by other people.
Tierney said he could not speak about the DNA evidence in great detail at the press conference, but he said a hair was recovered from Brainard-Barnes in a belt buckle around her legs. Three hairs were recovered from Waterman, one from around her head area, one from around her leg area in the burlap and one caught in between the tape, the DA said.
3/x More on #RexHeuermann’s wife:
Reputable media sources are confirming that Asa Ellerup has filed for divorce.
My personal belief, based on what we know thus far, is that she and her kids are victims of him, as well.
A significant hair was recovered on Costello’s body, Tierney said. The hairs could not be tested for years until DNA technology improved because they had degraded, he said.
Tierney said that, during the murders of the last three women, Heuermann’s wife and children were out of New York state, and he was alone in the tri-state area.
In a lengthy bail application, posted on the Daily Mail’s website, prosecutors revealed that they believe the hairs match Heuermann’s wife, likely coming from their residence or transferring from his clothing while she was out of the state.
The document also reveals that prosecutors believe Heuermann continued frequenting sex workers and was searching information online on the victims, their families, and the case as well as terms relating to child pornography and torture.
“Defendant Heuermann’s wife was out-of-state at the time of Ms. Waterman and Ms. Costello’s disappearance and murders,” prosecutors wrote in the bail application. “As such, it is likely that the burlap, tape, vehicle(s) or other instrumentalities utilized in furtherance of these murders came from Defendant Heuermann’s residence, where his wife also resides, or was transferred from his clothing.”
2. Rex Heuermann & Asa Ellerup Live in a ‘Ramshackle’ Home in the Town Where He Grew Up
According to the New York Post, Heuermann is married to Ellerup today and is the father of two children, one with special needs and the other a daughter, Victoria, who worked for his architectural firm in New York City until the web page was scrubbed after his arrest.
The New York Post reported that Heuermann lives with his family in the “ramshackle Long Island home he grew up in” in Massapequa, and has been married twice.
He grew up there, the Post reported, with his brother Craig Heuermann and their parents, although the father died when Rex Heuermann was 11.
The house where Heuermann and his wife lived was regarded as “creepy” in the neighborhood, and they were described as loners who kept to themselves, according to NBC News.
Asa Ellerup, Who Worked for a Jewish Medical Center, Posted a Photo on Facebook That Appears to Show Heuermann in the Background
A 2015 photo on Ellerup’s Facebook page appears to show Heuermann in the background.
The page says Ellerup “Worked at Long Island Jewish Medical Center” and “Went to Farmingdale High School.”
She also posted a picture of a cat and about Icelandic sea life. Ellerup has an old Twitter page. On it, she wrote about the weather and other mundane things. “Went to the Macy”s day parade on thanksgiving it was awsome, ate turky with family. Dad, Sis, and old friends. More Turky or dinner tonight,” read one tweet with spelling errors.
4. Rex Heuermann’s Ex-Wife Worked as a Junior Planner for an Office Products Company
Newspapers.com (Central New Jersey Home News)Rex Heuermann with his first wife
A 1990 article in The Central New Jersey Home News said Heuermann’s first wife was Elizabeth R. Ryan of North Brunswick. It says he is the son of Dolores Heuermann of Massapeaqua Park, New York, and the late Theodore Heuermann. Their wedding took place at St. Peter’s Church.
Heuerman also has a brother named Craig Heuermann, the wedding announcement confirmed. It said the bride worked for an office products company as a junior planner.
The announcement says Heuermann was a graduate of Berner High School in Massapequa and New York Institute of Technology in Westbury, New York “with a degree in architectural technology.” At that time, he was employed by Greer Construction Corp. in Freeport, New York, as an intern architect.
5. Rex Heuermann Was Described as a ‘Quiet Family Man’
Woke up this morning to learn that the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect was my high school classmate Rex Heuermann.
Berner High School
Massapequa, New York
Class of 1981
Married, two kids, architect.
“Average guy… quiet, family man.”
Mind-boggling… Massapequa is in shock.…
The actor Billy Baldwin tweeted that he went to high school with Heurmann, “Woke up this morning to learn that the Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect was my high school classmate Rex Heuermann. Berner High School. Massapequa, New York. Class of 1981.”
Baldwin added: “Married, two kids, architect. ‘Average guy… quiet, family man.’ Mind-boggling… Massapequa is in shock. 23andMe strikes again???”
A former neighbor, Rosemarie Kafka, told NBC News that Heuermann was “the regular guy who goes to work, has kids in the local school and in a good neighborhood.”
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