Wife of Gilgo Beach murder suspect files for divorce

The couple had been married for over 25 years

By Kelly McClure

Nights & Weekends Editor

Published July 19, 2023 8:40PM (EDT)

Crime scene investigators bring out evidence from the home of Rex Heuermann who was arrested as a suspect in the Gilgo Beach serial killings In Massapequa Park, Long Island, New York on July 14, 2023.  (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Crime scene investigators bring out evidence from the home of Rex Heuermann who was arrested as a suspect in the Gilgo Beach serial killings In Massapequa Park, Long Island, New York on July 14, 2023. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

In a Suffolk County Supreme Court filing dated Wednesday, Asa Ellerup, wife of over 25 years to Gilgo Beach murder suspect, Rex Heuermann, filed for an uncontested divorce. This comes shortly after the July 13 arrest of Heuermann in connection with three of the 10 murdered women found along Ocean Parkway on Long Island's South Shore in December 2010, as reported by ABC News

Heuermann, a 59-year-old Manhattan architect and father of two, was identified as the main suspect in the case that was the basis for the 2020 film, "Lost Girls," after female hairs were discovered on items used to tie-up and subdue the victims and mitochondrial DNA testing concluded them to be a 99% match for Heuermann's wife. Per ABC News, "Police don't believe she was involved, as she was out of the country when the killings occurred, according to cellphone records noted in the court records, but that Heuermann had the hairs on his body."

Heuermann "pleaded not guilty to the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello and remains the prime suspect in the killing of a fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes," according to court documents sourced by CNN. He's been charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder and is currently being held without bail. 


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