Rex Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, stood by his side for nearly three decades — and continued to defend him publicly even after he was identified as the alleged Long Island Serial Killer. Now, with Heuermann set to be sentenced after admitting to eight murders, Ellerup has decided to step back from the spotlight.
Heuermann pleaded guilty in April 2026 to killing seven women and admitted to an eighth murder as part of a plea deal. He is scheduled to be sentenced on June 17, 2026, and is expected to receive three life sentences without the possibility of parole. The remains of his victims — Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Amber Costello, Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, Sandra Costilla and Karen Vergata — were discovered in New York between 1993 and 2011, but Heuermann wasn’t arrested until 2023.
Throughout the case, Ellerup has offered a rare glimpse into life with a man now confirmed as the serial killer behind the Gilgo Beach murders. Keep scrolling for everything to know about Heuermann’s ex-wife:
Asa Ellerup and Rex Heuermann’s Early Relationship
Ellerup met Heuermann in the 1980s when she was just 18 years old, but their romance didn’t blossom until years later. At the time, she was married to her first husband, Christopher Sheridan, with whom she shares a son also named Christopher.
“I met my first husband and got married. But things didn’t go well at all. After my son, Christopher, was born, my ex-husband became somebody completely different. I was in the process of getting a divorce,” Ellerup recalled in Peacock’s three-part docuseries The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets. “Christopher’s father, he wasn’t very nice about it. He said to me that there’s no way in the world he was going to be OK with me being happy with somebody else.”
Heuermann stepped in to support her during the divorce, even paying for her lawyer. “Rex was the kind of person that you could call. We were friends,” Ellerup said.
After her marriage ended, the two quickly began dating. “There was no reason to hold back. So Rex said to me, ‘I’ve got a nice house. It’s not big and not elaborate. But how about you come and see if you’d like to stay there?’” she shared. “Then I found out I was pregnant with Victoria. He said to me, ‘Well, how do you feel about marrying me?’ I said yes.”
The couple wed on April 13, 1996, and welcomed daughter Victoria later that year. They lived in Heuermann’s childhood home in Massapequa Park, Long Island.
Inside Asa Ellerup’s Life With Rex Heuermann
According to Ellerup, she never noticed anything suspicious about her husband during their marriage — even though his first known murder occurred in 1993 and his final one in 2010.
“There’s no abnormal behavior that I had ever actually noticed. If there was any knowledge at all of some unusual behavior in that man, I would have walked out the door,” she said in the docuseries.
Victoria echoed her mother’s sentiments. “Sometimes he would come home frustrated. He needed to wind down,” she said. “But he never hit any of us. The worst he would do is throw a plate in the sink.”
Therapist Alison T. Winter, who has worked with the family, explained that Heuermann compartmentalized his life. “He divides the world. He said they’re two separate entities. He doesn’t regulate emotions like you and I do.”
Asa Ellerup’s Reaction to Rex Heuermann’s 2023 Arrest
Heuermann was arrested in July 2023, more than a decade after the first remains were discovered. He was initially charged in connection with the deaths of Barthelemy, Costello, Waterman and Brainard-Barnes and later with the deaths of Costilla, Taylor and Mack.
Following his arrest, the FBI raided the family’s home — finding 279 guns and a walk-in vault in the basement. “When we got back home, after they raided it, it was not recognizable. No beds, no clothes and bathroom sink was broken,” Victoria recalled.
Ellerup, meanwhile, refused to believe her husband was guilty. “Nobody deserves what they got. But Rex was not seeing [sex workers]. He’s a family man. He didn’t do this,” she said at the time. “I would need to hear it from Rex face-to-face that he killed these girls for me to believe it. My husband never kept me out of anything.”
She also questioned the timeline of the alleged crimes. “They’re alleging that my husband managed to go to work, solicit sex from a sex worker, sit on a train and then come home to make plans to pick them up, kill them and dump them. Then he turned around to go to Atlantic City to come see us? I’m sorry. It’s bulls***,” Ellerup said.
Asa Ellerup Files for Divorce From Rex Heuermann
Despite her public support, Ellerup filed for divorce just one week after Heuermann was arrested in July 2023. The pair reached a settlement in early 2025.
Victoria insisted the split was a strategic decision to protect the family. “I understand why she divorced my dad. They did the divorce to protect the assets,” she said. “It’s now legally her house. She was married to him so she gets the asset from the divorce. If we lost the house, we’d be homeless. It’s our house. It doesn’t mean that we’re not a family anymore.”
Even after filing, Ellerup continued attending court appearances and visiting Heuermann in prison. “I’m talking to him all the time but he only has a certain amount of time to be able to make calls,” she said. “So I can’t get too comfortable talking to him about things that are gonna hurt him. … Like telling him that I love him. That will hurt him.”
Asa Ellerup’s Reaction to Rex Heuermann’s Guilty Plea
On April 8, 2026, Heuermann pleaded guilty to seven murders and admitted to killing an eighth victim. Before his plea, he sat down with Ellerup and Victoria — alongside Winter — to personally confess.
“He looked very nervous. Very, very nervous. And I said to him, ‘So Mr. Heuermann, I understand that you are confessing to me on these murders. Can you please tell me how many of these women did you kill?’” Ellerup recalled in the docuseries finale. “He said eight.”
According to Ellerup, Heuermann told her she wasn’t home for any of the murders, and that all but one occurred inside their home. Costilla, his first victim, was killed in his car before he married Ellerup.
After his confession, Ellerup said she finally believed her ex-husband was the Gilgo Beach killer. However, she still continued to visit him in jail.
“I want to get to know this other side of Rex. I want to know why Rex killed these women,” she said. “What his triggers were. I’m processing the information in a very different way because now I see the evil in him.”
Asa Ellerup Will Not Attend Rex Heuermann’s Sentencing
Ellerup decided not to attend Heuermann’s June 17, 2026, sentencing, her attorney Robert Macedonio told Us Weekly.
Ellerup “believes this day should be centered on the victims, their families, and the profound impact these crimes have had on their lives,” Macedonio said. “Out of respect for those who have endured unimaginable loss and suffering, she does not wish her presence to distract from the purpose of these proceedings.”
He added, “Her thoughts remain with the victims and their loved ones as they continue their pursuit of justice, healing, and closure.”
This story was compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists.
