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The ex-wife of Rex Heuermann, the man convicted as the Gilgo Beach serial killer, has revealed that she continues to live in their Long Island home-specifically, in the basement she refers to as the “kill room,” where Heuermann committed multiple murders.
In the concluding episode of the Peacock documentary series The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, Asa Ellerup discusses renovating the basement of their Massapequa Park residence. She says this was the site of Heuermann’s grisly acts, where he allegedly dismembered victims before discarding their remains along Gilgo Beach.
Ellerup’s disclosure comes as Heuermann faces sentencing on June 17. The episode shows her descending the basement stairs, noting that she had been sleeping there for about a month prior to his April 8 guilty plea.
“This whole basement looks very different,” Ellerup explains. “It’s been completely gutted and redone-new floor, new walls, new moldings, new doors.”
When asked why she chose to occupy the room tied to such horrific crimes, Ellerup was candid: “The brutal truth is that Rex said he dismembered the bodies in this room. That is the brutal truth, OK?
Now there’s me, I’m in this room and I’m here because I do feel spiritual. I am trying to say spiritually, in my own way, that I am really sorry for what these victims went through.”
Despite the renovations, Ellerup says she cannot escape the trauma. “I am haunted by dreams every night,” she said.
“It will never go away. It will follow me for the rest of my life.”
Heuermann admitted to murdering eight women whose remains were discovered along Gilgo Beach. Before formally pleading guilty, he was allowed a private meeting with Ellerup and their daughter, Victoria Heuermann. The couple divorced following his arrest in July 2023.
Both mother and daughter shared in the documentary that they sought answers from Heuermann about his motives but never received a clear explanation. Victoria quoted him saying, “his demons got to him.” When she asked if he ever saw the victims as “somebody’s daughter,” he reportedly responded, “he didn’t even see them as human.”
Victoria also revealed that her father kept his criminal life entirely separate from his family. “They were completely kept in separate worlds,” she said.
“He never let the two cross. So I’m like, OK, he’s a loving dad and a serial killer: How did he manage that the two never crossed?
Seven women have been murdered in this house. It’s hard to stomach.”
The series includes recorded jail calls between Heuermann and his family, mostly routine conversations, though one exchange shows Heuermann directing and criticizing his family’s communication style.
Authorities described Heuermann, a 6-foot-4, 250-pound man, as targeting primarily sex workers, many under 5-foot-5. He admitted that nearly all the killings were planned and carried out inside his family home, often in the basement while his family was away.
Heuermann confessed to killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Lynn Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla, Valerie Mack, and Karen Vergata. He is set to be sentenced to life in prison without parole on June 17.