PLong Island prosecutor Ray Tierney gives update on Gilgo Beach murder case
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney rips New York Gov. Kathy Hochul for her crime policy after four people suspected of dismembering two different bodies around Long Island were able to walk free.
Asa Ellerup, the estranged wife of the architect turned suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, revealed in a statement Wednesday night that she doesn't think her husband is "capable" of the allegations against him.
"I will listen to all of the evidence and withhold judgment until the end of trial," she said through her attorneys, Bob Macedonio and George Duncan. "I have given him the benefit of the doubt, as we all deserve."
Heuermann is facing counts of first- and second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of four women whose remains were found in the brush alongside Ocean Parkway, about 50 miles east of New York City. The victims were Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; Amber Costello, 27; and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
Asa Ellerup attends a press conference at the Suffolk County Courthouse in Riverhead, New York, on Jan. 16, 2024. Ellerup is the estranged wife of accused serial killer Rex Heuermann, who appeared in court that day to face an additional murder charge for the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes. (Robert Miller for Fox News Digital)
"Ms. Ellerup visits Mr. Heuermann weekly and still maintains that Rex is not capable of the crimes he is accused of," her lawyers said in the statement.
Ellerup, who filed for divorce from Heuermann after his arrest in July, has begun visiting him regularly at the Suffolk County Jail.
A spokeswoman for the county sheriff said visitation logs show Ellerup first visited him in November, and she has stopped by a total of seven times. In her statement, she claimed to be going every week.
Her lawyer said she began visiting more frequently after her husband's indictment in Brainard-Barnes' death in January – months after prosecutors filed charges in the other three cases.
The "Gilgo Four," clockwise from top left, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello. The background shows a wooden cross in the marsh next to Gilgo Beach, New York, where their remains were found in the brush just yards from Ocean Parkway. (Suffolk County Police Department/Mega for Fox News Digital)
The divorce proceedings remain ongoing, Macedonio told Fox News Digital, and the couple had issues even before Heuermann's arrest. Prosecutors have alleged that Heuermann continued to patronize sex workers regularly up until his arrest, and women in the industry have described encounters with him in places as far apart as Atlantic City, Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Her lawyers said she wanted to send her "heartfelt sympathies" to the victims and their families.
"Nobody deserves to die in that manner," she said.
Alleged Gilgo serial killer Rex Heuermann appears inside Judge Tim Mazzei’s courtroom in Suffolk County, New York on Feb. 6, 2024. Heuermann is accused of killing four women whose remains were found in Gilgo Beach in 2010. (James Carbone/Newsday via Pool )
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Now that she's overcome the initial shock of learning her husband has been accused of committing the community's most infamous cold case murders, however, she's decided to let due process unfold while remaining skeptical of the allegations, Macedonio added.
Heuermann is accused of killing a group of women known as the Gilgo Four, whose remains were all found in close proximity during the search for Shannan Gilbert, who went missing after a panicked 911 call in 2010. More than a decade later, Suffolk County police said they believed Gilbert's death had been an accident.
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However, the search uncovered the remains of the Gilgo Four and six other victims found further east down Ocean Parkway.
A road sign directing drivers to Gilgo Beach off Ocean Parkway, about 45 miles east of New York City. (Michael Ruiz/Fox News Digital)
The investigation into the remaining deaths is ongoing.
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Heuermann faces three counts of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail and due back in court April 17.
He was born and raised in Massapequa Park, New York. He bought his childhood home from his mother in the 1990s and moved his family there.
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Neighbors described him as a quiet businessman who carried a briefcase to the nearby train station, wearing a three-piece suit to head into his Manhattan office five days a week.
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