The wife of suspected Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann filed for divorce on Wednesday, less than a week after he was arrested in connection to the grizzly cold-case murders.
Asa Ellerup, 59, had been married to Heuermann, 59, for several decades and the pair raised two adult children. But, this week, she filed for a divorce in New York that is described as ‘uncontested.’
Ellerup was also spotted for the first time since Huermann’s shocking arrest in connection to the murder. Ellerup, 59, was seen with her daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, on Wednesday at a Best Buy, the day she filed for divorce, according to photos obtained by Fox News.
Robert Macedonia, Ellerup’s lawyer, told DailyMail.com Wednesday that police executed a search warrant at the family’s New York home the same time they arrested Heuermann in Manhattan.
‘She was in complete shock,’ as were her two adult children, the lawyer said. ‘Their entire lives have been turned upside down.’
Asa Ellerup, 59, is seen with her daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, on Wednesday, the day she filed for divorce from suspect Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann
Ellerup was walking with a cane on Wednesday as she was spotted with her daughter, Victoria Heuermann, 26
Ellerup was born in Iceland but emigrated to the United States as a child, and marries Rex Heurmann over 20 years ago
Rex Heuermann, 59, was arrested outside his Manhattan firm and charged with the murder of three women. He is the prime suspect in a fourth homicide
The Heuermann-Ellerup home in Long Island is pictured Saturday, as investigators remove items from the house
Ellerup emigrated to the United States from Iceland as a child, and grew up near Heuermann on Long Island.
Ellerup was away when the women were murdered, and neighbors said the couple was rarely seen together. It has now emerged he owns two other homes – in Las Vegas and South Carolina – and police are investigating whether he could be connected to any unsolved killings there.
Under New York State law, all filings in divorce proceedings are sealed from public scrutiny, but the cases and party’s names are docketed and posted.
Asa Ellerup v. Rex Heuermann is listed as an ‘uncontested’ matrimonial filing dated Wednesday, with a complaint, summons and ‘notice concerning continuation of health care coverage’ filed and processed.
Macedonia told DailyMail.com Wednesday that ‘I can confirm that we did file a summons complaint for the divorce today in Suffolk County Supreme Court.’
He said Asa Ellerup was home at the time of her husband’s arrest in Manhattan, and that authorities simultaneously swooped in to search the residence.
‘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,’ Macedonia said. ‘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.’
He said ‘no comment’ when asked by DailyMail.com whether Ellerup had been aware of her husband’s alleged crimes, and whether Ellerup has had any communication with her spouse since his arrest.
Ellerup attended Farmingdale High School and married briefly in her 20s, divorcing in the early 1990s in Queens.
It was unclear whether she had a professional life outside the home.
Their daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, worked with her father as a receptionist. Their son’s identity is not known. The New York Times said he has special needs.
Dr. Johanna Ellerup, a pharmacist who lives just seven miles from the Long Island home Rex Heuermann shared with her sister, Heuermann’s wife, said the family had not heard from Asa Ellerup
An elderly man believed to be Asa Ellerup’s father, Frode, was seen at Johanna’s home
The family kept to themselves and neighbors said no one recalled ever being invited in to their home.
Ellerup’s sister Johanna Ellerup, a pharmacist who lives seven miles from their Long Island home, told DailyMail.com their mother has died and their father still lives in the house where Asa and Johanna Ellerup grew up.
‘We have not heard from her, we don’t have an address for her,’ said Johanna Ellerup. ‘We don’t know anything.’
She added her father is elderly ‘and this is overwhelming’ for him.’
‘Honestly, I swear we know less than you,’ Johanna said. ‘We know nothing. We don’t know anything.’
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said he does not believe Heuermann’s family was aware of his double life. His daughter, Victoria, is pictured
The first victim, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, was discovered by Suffolk County Police on December 11, 2010. The body of Megan Waterman, 22, was found two days later
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was 25 years old when she went missing (left). Amber Lynn Costello was 27 years old. Their bodies were found near Barthelemy’s the same day
Heuermann was arrested in connection to the murders. Police are now investigating whether he may be related to any other unsolved crimes
Asa Ellerup was said to have been traveling to Maryland, New Jersey and Iceland during the murders of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy, whose bodies were found dumped on Gilgo Beach.
When sex worker Barthelemy disappeared from her Bronx home on July 12, 2009, travel records showed Asa was in Iceland.
She left for her homeland on July 8, 2009, and remained there until August.
A year later, Megan Waterman, a 22-year-old prostitute, was last seen on June 6, 2010.
Records suggest her phone likely traveled to Massapequa Park, and the cell site location was near Heuermann’s home.
Ellerup was in Maryland during this period, traveling from New York on July 4, 2010, and returning four days later, according to cellphone billing records.
Amber Costello, a 27-year-old also working as a sex worker, was last seen by acquaintances on September 2, 2010.
Ellerup was again traveling at the time, leaving home on August 28, 2010, and returning from New Jersey on September 5, billing records show, according to court documents.
A member of the Crime Lab is seen investigating items outside of Heuermann’s Massapequa home on Tuesday
Police remained on the scene Tuesday of Heuermann’s Long Island home
First look at Gilgo Murders suspect Rex Heuermann as he is led to court from the Suffolk police 7th precinct. Charges to be made public shortly pic.twitter.com/BmysKoGzEy
— GREG CERGOL4NY (@GREGCERGOL4NY) July 14, 2023
The home of Rex Heuermann was first searched by police after his arrest on July 13, 2023
New York State Police officers are seen carrying a vast array of evidence out of Rex Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park, NY, on Monday afternoon, July 17, 2023
On Monday night, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said he does not believe Heuermann’s family was aware of his alleged crimes.
‘They were disgusted. They were embarrassed,’ Harrison said.
‘So if you ask me, I don’t believe they knew about this double life that Heuermann was living.’
At the IGA supermarket in Massapequa, where Asa and her children would frequently shop, cashiers knew them as a quiet, cheerless family.
And even though Asa would visit the store several times a week, they said Heuermann never accompanied her and their children.
‘He never came with them,’ store manager Mery Salmeri told the New York Times.
‘I’m not sure what that says about them.’
She added Ellerup often looked depressed, and the family would pay for their groceries using food stamps.
