The wife of suspected Long Island serial killer Rex Heuerman filed for divorce Wednesday, less than a week after he was arrested in connection with the grizzly cold-case murder.
Asa Ellerup, 59, was married to Heuerman, 59, for decades, and the pair raised two grown children. But, this week, she filed for divorce in New York in what has been described as ‘uncontested’.
Ellerup is also seen for the first time since Heuermann’s shocking arrest in connection with the murder. According to photos obtained by Fox News, Ellerup, 59, was seen with his daughter Victoria Heuerman, 26, at a Best Buy on Wednesday, the day he filed for divorce.
Ellerup’s lawyer, Robert Macedonia, told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that police executed a search warrant at the family’s New York home when they arrested Heuerman in Manhattan.
“He was in complete shock,” the lawyer said. ‘Their whole life has been turned upside down.’
Asa Ellarup, 59, is seen with her daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, on Wednesday, the day she filed for divorce from suspected Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann.
Ellerup was walking with a cane on Wednesday when he was spotted with his daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26.
Ellarup was born in Iceland but moved to the United States as a child and married Rex Heuerman 20 years ago.
Rex Heuerman, 59, was arrested outside his Manhattan farm and charged with murdering the three women. He is the prime suspect in the fourth murder
The Heuerman-Ellerup home on Long Island is pictured Saturday, as investigators remove items from the home.
Ellarup immigrated to the United States from Iceland as a child and grew up near Heuerman, Long Island.
Ellarup was away when the women were killed and neighbors said the couple was rarely seen together. It has now emerged that he owns two other homes – in Las Vegas and South Carolina – and police are investigating whether he may be linked to any unsolved murders there.
Under New York state law, all divorce filings are sealed from public scrutiny, but the case and party names are docketed and posted.
Asa Ellerup vs. Rex Heuemann is listed as an ‘uncontested’ matrimonial filing on Wednesday, with a complaint, summons and ‘notice regarding continuation of health care coverage’ filed and processed.
Macedonia told DailyMail.com on Wednesday that ‘I can confirm that we filed a summons for divorce today in Suffolk County Supreme Court.’
She said Asa Ellarup was home at the time of her husband’s arrest in Manhattan, and authorities searched the residence at the same time.
‘When they made the arrest, they executed the search warrant at the same time, so there’s no tipoff for anyone to destroy any kind of evidence,’ Macedonia said. ‘So when they were taking him to Manhattan, there was already a team waiting at home to do it as soon as they got him so he wouldn’t call and say “hey”.’
Asked by DailyMail.com whether Ellarup was aware of her husband’s alleged crimes and whether Ellarup has had any contact with his wife since his arrest, he said ‘no comment’.
Ellerup attended Farmingdale High School and was briefly married at age 20, divorcing in the early 1990s in Queens.
It is unclear whether she had a professional life outside the home.
Their daughter Victoria Heuermann, 26, worked with her father as a receptionist. Their son has not been identified. The New York Times says he has special needs.
Dr. Johanna Ellarup, a pharmacist who lives just seven miles from the Long Island home Rex Heurman shares with her sister Heurman’s wife, said the family has not heard from Asa Ellarup.
An elderly man believed to be Asa Ellarup’s father Frode was seen at Johanna’s house
The family kept to themselves and neighbors said no one remembered being invited to their home.
Ellerup’s sister Johanna Ellerup, a pharmacist who lives seven miles from their Long Island home, told DailyMail.com that their mother has died and their father still lives in the house where Asha and Johanna Ellerup grew up.
‘We haven’t heard from him, we don’t have his address,’ said Johanna Ellarup. ‘We know nothing.’
She added her father is old ‘and it’s overwhelming for him’.
‘True, I swear we know less than you,’ said Johanna. ‘We know nothing. We know nothing.’
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said he does not believe Heuerman’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 Dec. 11, 2010. Megan Waterman, 22, was found two days later.
Maureen Brainard-Barnes was 25 when she disappeared (left). Amber Lynn Costello was 27 years old. Their bodies were found near Barthelemy on the same day
Heuerman was arrested in connection with the murder. Police are investigating whether he is involved in any other unsolved crimes
Asa Ellarup was reportedly traveling in Maryland, New Jersey and Iceland at the time of the murders of Megan Waterman, Amber Costello and Melissa Barthelemy, whose bodies were dumped on Gilgo Beach.
When sex worker Barthelemy disappeared from her Bronx home on July 12, 2009, travel records show Asa was in Iceland.
He left for his native land on July 8, 2009 and stayed there till August.
A year later, 22-year-old prostitute Megan Waterman was last seen on June 6, 2010.
Records suggest his phone likely traveled to Massapequa Park and the location of the cell site was near Human’s home.
According to cellphone billing records, Ellerup was in Maryland during this time, traveling from New York on July 4, 2010, and returning four days later.
Amber Costello, a 27-year-old who also works as a sex worker, was last seen by acquaintances on September 2, 2010.
Ellerup was traveling again, leaving home on Aug. 28, 2010, and returning from New Jersey on Sept. 5, billing records show, according to court documents.
A member of the crime lab was seen examining items outside Human’s Massapequa home on Tuesday
Police were on the scene Tuesday at Heuerman’s Long Island home
First look at Gilgo Murders suspect Rex Heuerman as he is led into court from the Suffolk Police 7th Precinct. Charges will be made public soon pic.twitter.com/BmysKoGzEy
— GREG CERGOL4NY (@GREGCERGOL4NY) July 14, 2023
Police first searched Rex Heuerman’s home after his arrest on July 13, 2023.
New York State Police officers are seen carrying large amounts of evidence outside the home of Rex Heuerman in Massapequa Park, N.Y., Monday afternoon, July 17, 2023.
On Monday night, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison said he did not believe Human’s family was aware of his alleged crimes.
‘They were upset. 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 often shopped, the cashiers knew them as a quiet, cheerful family.
And although Asa visited the store several times a week, they said Heuermann never visited with her and their children.
Store manager Mary Salmeri told the New York Times, ‘He never came with them.
‘I’m not sure what that says about them.’
Ellerup often looked depressed, she added, and the family would pay for their groceries using food stamps.