The neighborhood in Massapequa Park where Rex Heuermann’s estranged wife and children live was quiet Thursday hours after he was charged with two more murders.
Some clutter lay in the backyard and a gray sedan sat in the driveway of the red one-floor house alongside the overgrown lawn.
A note hung on the door.
“To any media, representatives, law enforcement, or any other person, we ask that you respect our privacy and contact our attorneys only for any matter,” the note reads. “Please do not trespass or loiter on this property.”
His estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, and the couple’s two children are out of state, according to their attorney, Robert Macedonio.
“Asa was away prior to the second search warrant,” Macedonio told Newsweek. “They’ll be back next week.”
Heuermann, the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer, was charged with now his fifth and sixth murders on Thursday. The 60-year-old architect was first arrested in July 2023 for the deaths of four women whose remains were found in burlap sacks along the Ocean Parkway in New York over a decade ago. He was charged Thursday for the additional deaths of Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor.
At least half a dozen law enforcement agents were spotted in Heuermann’s driveway on May 20 for the second search warrant. Cars, including state trooper vans, lined the street along the Massapequa Park neighborhood. Some officers wore gloves. Others carried white cardboard boxes into the home, as seen in videos on social media.
This search came months after investigators had “300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence” and search the house when Heuermann was initially charged in July 2023.
The family plans to remain at the house on Long Island until at least the conclusion of the trial, their attorney said. It is still under discussion as to whether they will be present at Heuermann’s next court appearance.
Ellerup filed for divorced in July 2023 shortly after her husband was charged. But she has still shown up at several of Heuermann’s hearings throughout the last few months.
Four neighbors declined to speak with Newsweek, and others did not answer their doors on Thursday.
‘Living a double life’
Ellerup married Heuermann in 1996. She says that if Heuermann did commit the murders he was “living a double life” she knew nothing about.
“After 27 years with Mr. Heuermann, Ms. Ellerup maintains the belief that her estranged husband is not capable of committing these heinous acts,” Macedonio told Newsweek.
Heuermann was charged Thursday for the deaths of Sandra Costilla and Jessica Taylor.
Heuermann already faces charges in connection to the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello and Maureen Brainard-Barnes—also known as “The Gilgo Four.”
Photos as well as phone and financial records show that Heuermann’s family were out of state during the time of Taylor’s murder. They were in Virginia from July 20 to 27 that year, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney.
Ellerup was not living with Heuermann in Massapequa Park in 1993, the year Costilla was murdered, Macedonio told Newsweek.
“Today indictment further illustrates that Asa Ellerup has no involvement in any of the alleged crimes that her estranged husband, Rex Heuermann, has been charged with,” Macedonio said.
Who is Rex Heuermann?
Heuermann graduated from the same local high school as actor Billy Baldwin who tweeted after the news broke about his 1981 classmate’s arrest, describing it as “mind-boggling.”
After getting a bachelor’s degree from the New York Institute of Technology, Heuermann started his architecture firm RH Consultants in 1994. He did most of his architectural work in New York City, according to a company biography and the firm’s website.
Police have found Heuermann owned a book of other serial killers, authored by John Douglas, according to court records obtained by Newsweek.
Heuermann is currently being held at the Riverhead Correctional Facility in Suffolk County, about 50 miles from his home.
Suffolk County Sheriff Dr. Errol Toulon Jr. said Heuermann busies himself with reading books, reading his discovery, watching TV and sleeping, according to an Oxygen article.
He has been separated from other inmates “for his safety,” according to the article. Toulon called him “very compliant.”
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