(CNN) — In her greater than 27 years of marriage to Rex Heuermann, Asa Ellerup probably didn’t know concerning the grotesque double life her husband is accused of main, says Suffolk County’s high police officer.
“When you ask me, I don’t suppose they knew about this double life that Mr. Heuermann was main,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison stated of the suspect’s household.
However authorities will not be ruling something out but and are persevering with to collect info “to see if the household might need identified precisely what Mr. Heuermann was as much as,” Harrison instructed CNN’s Erica Hill on Monday.
Final week, Heuermann, 59, was arrested and charged with homicide in reference to the homicide of three of the “Gilgo 4,” a bunch of 4 ladies whose stays had been discovered alongside a brief stretch of Gilgo Seaside. on Lengthy Island in 2010. He’s additionally the prime suspect within the disappearance and homicide of the fourth girl, however has not but been charged in that case.
On Wednesday, lower than every week since her husband’s arrest, Ellerup filed for divorce, her lawyer, Robert Macedonio, instructed CNN. She didn’t remark additional on the matter.
She was shocked to listen to what her husband is accused of, Harrison stated.
However unknowingly, she performed a key position in her husband’s arrest: It was his DNA, amongst different proof, that authorities say helped hyperlink Heuermann to the crimes.
Right here’s what we learn about his spouse, their life collectively, and the surprising position she performed within the case.
The 2 have been married for 27 years.
Heuermann and Ellerup had been married in April 1996, the suspect stated in a 2018 assertion. Since then, they’ve lived in Heuermann’s red-and-green childhood residence in Massapequa Park, a Lengthy Island suburb, with their daughter and stepson. from Heuermann.
However regardless of his lengthy keep within the neighborhood, and although Heuermann’s life was lengthy rooted in the identical group, few particulars concerning the household had been identified to the neighbors.
Neighbors described the home as creepy and the household as distant, in accordance with the Lengthy Island Press, a Lengthy Island month-to-month journal.
“The household may be very reserved, quiet,” neighbor Frankie Musto instructed the publication. “We by no means noticed something suspicious.”
In his 2018 deposition, Heuermann stated that he had been married as soon as earlier than. That marriage, he stated, lasted three years and so they had no kids.
Authorities search Heuermann’s residence on July 18, 2023, in Massapequa Park, New York. (Credit score: John Minchillo/AP)
The spouse’s hair was recognized on all three victims.
When the victims had been first found, authorities recovered strands of degraded hair, however DNA testing on the time failed to offer the solutions investigators hoped for.
Technological enhancements quickly helped produce outcomes.
Hair now believed to belong to Ellerup, which had allegedly been unintentionally carried by the suspect on his clothes, was discovered on or close to all three victims, prosecutors alleged within the bond request, citing DNA proof.
That DNA got here from 11 bottles inside a trash can outdoors Heuermann’s residence, the courtroom doc says. Authorities had been watching Heuermann and his household for months after they recognized him as a suspect in early 2022, throughout which era they collected DNA samples from objects the household dumped.
Though her hair was discovered with the victims, Ellerup and her daughter had been touring when the murders happened and Heuermann was “alone within the tri-state space,” Suffolk County District Lawyer Ray Tierney stated throughout a information convention. The final friday.
“It’s very vital in that it limits him,” felony protection lawyer Joey Jackson instructed CNN’s Jake Tapper of the discovering. “If the suspect’s spouse is out of city, then why would her hair be there if he’s on the town?”
Suffolk County authorities say DNA proof additionally linked Heuermann to a male hair discovered within the burlap sack the place the stays of a sufferer had been discovered.
Rex Heuermann in a file picture from the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Workplace. Credit score: Suffolk County Sheriff’s Workplace/AP
Shocked, disgusted, embarrassed
Harrison instructed CNN on Monday that she was knowledgeable that when authorities instructed Ellerup and her daughter concerning the crimes Heuermann is accused of, they had been each “shocked, disgusted, embarrassed.”
His response, he stated, is the rationale he believes they had been unaware of what he was doing.
“However time will inform,” he added. “And as soon as once more, there are nonetheless many extra inquiries to be requested of household and pals.”
CNN has made a number of makes an attempt to contact Heuermann’s spouse and daughter.
After his arrest, Heuermann was remanded with out bail. He pleaded not responsible via his lawyer. His subsequent courtroom date is scheduled for August 1.
Heuermann has not had guests on the Suffolk County Correctional Heart the place he’s being held since his arraignment Friday, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr. instructed CNN’s Brynn Gingras. He’s allowed to make two cellphone calls a day, however it’s unclear if he has related with anybody, the sheriff added.
— CNN’s Patricia DiCarlo and Rob Frehse contributed to this report.
