LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: The "disgusted" wife of the Gilgo Beach killing suspect Rex Heuermann has filed for divorce less than a week after his arrest. The 59-year-old Manhattan architect was arrested from his office on July 13 on charges related to the murders of four Craigslist sex workers, whose bodies were found on an isolated Long Island beach in December 2010.
Rex's wife, Asa Ellerup, 59, reportedly filed for divorce in Suffolk County Supreme Court on Wednesday, July 19. The case has been listed as an "uncontested" matrimonial filing, according to the NY Post. The couple, who had been married for several decades, reportedly lived in the same Massapequa Park residence, from where authorities confiscated a plethora of items, including more than 300 firearms, a child-sized doll, and a petrifying poster. News of the divorce broke as Ellerup and the couple's daughter, Victoria Heuermann, were spotted for the first time since Rex's shocking arrest in connection to the murders.
'Their entire lives have been turned upside down'
Following the divorce filing, Ellerup's attorney, Robert Macedonia, claimed that she and her two children are "in complete shock" since Rex was named as the suspected Gilgo Beach killer. "Their entire lives have been turned upside down," Macedonia told Daily Mail. He also noted that investigators executed a search warrant at the family's New York home at the same time they arrested Rex in Manhattan. "When they made the arrest, they executed the search warrants at exactly the same time, so there's no tipoff for anyone to destroy any kind of evidence," the attorney clarified, adding, "So as they're taking him down in Manhattan, there was already a team waiting on the house to do it as soon as they got him so he doesn't call and say 'hey'."
Will Rex Heuermann's wife be charged in Gilgo Beach murders?
Macedonia didn't agree to make any comments when questioned if Ellerup knew of her husband's alleged crimes and if she had spoken to him since his arrest. As of now, Ellerup has not been charged with the crimes, as investigators stated that she had been traveling to Maryland, New Jersey, and Iceland during the suspected murders of the sex workers. However, previously it was revealed that her hair strands were found inside the burlap material used to wrap a victim's body, and his wife's hair allegedly helped investigators link Rex to the bodies.
The architect has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and second-degree murder for allegedly killing Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Megan Waterman, 22, and Amber Costello, 27. He is also named the prime suspect in the death of a fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, but authorities weren't able to charge him in the case due to missing cell phone records. Police have been tracking him for months before nabbing the suspect in front of his Manhattan Fifth Avenue office on July 13 at around 8.39 pm. Later, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said he does not believe Rex's family was aware of his alleged crimes, stating, "They were disgusted. They were embarrassed. So if you ask me, I don't believe they knew about this double life that Heuermann was living."
