SAD Christmas decor hangs outside the home of accused Long Island Serial Killer Rex Heuermann ahead of his first holiday season behind bars.
The dilapidated Massapequa Park home Heuermann shared with his wife, Asa Ellerup, for over two decades was seen adorned with icicle lights on Thursday, hanging above a modest display of paper peppermint wheels, a small tree, and random stacks of clutter on the front porch.
On Thursday morning, Ellerup was spotted paying a visit to a bank in Bethpage, a short drive from her home.
Donning a green coat and black pants, the Iceland native appeared in an upbeat mood as she made her way inside the building.
The 60-year-old also appeared to still be wearing her wedding ring despite filing for divorce from Heuermann days after his July arrest.
Ellerup’s apparent holiday cheer comes despite mounting criticism she’s been facing in recent weeks for signing a $1 million deal with Peacock for a tell-all documentary series about her husband and his impending trial.
She has been accused of attempting to capitalize on Heuermann’s alleged crimes, leaving family members of his believed victims outraged and disgusted.
Lawmakers in New York are now lobbying to make such deals illegal in the future by updating the state’s Son of Sam law.
The Son of Sam law, named after the infamous serial killer David Berkowitz who terrorized New York City in the 1970s, prevents convicts from profiting off their crimes in any capacity.
Now, Senator Kevin Thomas and Assemblymember Fred Thiele have announced plans to expand the law to also ban spouses, ex-spouses, and any other family members of convicts from cashing in.
“With the alarming reality of media companies exploiting tragedy for profit, my hope is that victims are given the opportunity to receive the justice and compensation they deserve,” Kevin Thomas told the Long Island Press.
“New York has a long history of blocking people convicted of a crime from benefiting from their illegal activity.
“My legislation aims to take it a step further to ensure that media deals surrounding a crime are subject to the same transparency and accountability as the perpetrator themselves. No one should be profiting off a crime.”
The move was applauded by John Ray, an attorney for the family of Shannan Gilbert, whose 2010 disappearance kick-started the Gilgo Beach investigation.
Speaking with The U.S. Sun in November, Ray called Ellerup a “ghoul” and accused her of “feeding on the dead” for her own financial benefit.
Ellerup’s attorney, meanwhile, called the proposed law change a thinly veiled publicity stunt.
“It’s a sad day in America when people are willing to trample on the constitution to get press coverage,” wrote Bob Macedonio in a statement.
“The next thing they will attempt is to control media coverage.”
Macedonio is also taking part in the docuseries.
He is set to pocket $400,000, while a lawyer for Ellerup’s children is rumored to have received $200,000, according to a report by News Nation.
Peacock, for its part, has insisted that Ellerup “was not paid for her participation, but was paid a licensing fee for use of her archive materials,” which cannot go to Heuermann or his defense.
The streaming service said it also reached out to the victim’s families to appear in the series but all either declined or failed to respond.
If passed, Thomas and Thiele’s legislation would take effect immediately and could potentially impact the Ellerup deal.
Macedonio has not yet responded to a request for comment from The U.S. Sun seeking further information.
DNA BOMBSHELL
Thursday’s sighting of Ellerup comes just weeks after police announced that DNA evidence found at the scene of the Gilgo Beach murders matched a cheek-swab sample she provided to investigators when Heuermann was arrested on July 13.
Through her attorney, Ellerup has continued to deny any involvement in – or prior knowledge of – the murders.
She told The U.S. Sun in September that she was left so shocked and disorientated by her husband’s arrest that she didn’t know where she was for weeks on end afterward.
In the months since, Ellerup, who filed for divorce from Heuermann in July, has since visited him in prison, attended one of his court hearings, and agreed to take part in the Peacock documentary.
Ellerup has also announced that she plans to attend the entirety of her estranged partner’s trial.
“She wants to see and hear the evidence that’s presented in court,” Macedonio said in a November statement.
“The only thing she knows about this case is what’s been reported in the media […] If this happened, he was living a complete double life.”
Ellerup’s participation in the Peacock project was confirmed in late November.
Hours later, an anonymous law enforcement source told Newsday about the positive match between Ellerup’s cheek swab and material found on and near Heuermann’s alleged victims.
The cheek swab sample was used to confirm earlier DNA tests conducted by police that pointed to Ellerup as a source of hairs found with the victims’ remains, the source said.
No new DNA evidence was discovered.
Attorney John Ray called the time of Newsday’s report most curious.
‘INVESTIGATE ASA’
For months, Ray has called for investigators to thoroughly investigate Ellerup, believing they ruled her out as a potential suspect too hastily.
In October, he unearthed new witness testimony alleging that Ellerup knew of Heuermann’s frequent patronizing of sex workers and was even complicit in some of the exploits herself.
According to one of Ray’s sources, sex workers would enter the couple’s small Massapequa Park home – sometimes two at a time – while Ellerup was allegedly present.
A second woman claimed to have attended a sex party at the home in the mid-1990s.
In an interview with The U.S. Sun on November 30, Ray said the DNA referenced in Newsday’s report could and should be used to investigate her.
“The problem is, and I’ve been saying this from the start, is nobody knows when these girls were specifically murdered, and nobody knows how long their bodies were kept before they moved so the hair thing could still connect her [to the murders],” said Ray.
“She’s not necessarily away. Her cell phone is away […] but again we don’t know exactly when the women were killed and when their bodies were moved.
“So why would the [district attorney] put out a statement right away that she’s not under suspicion because she was away and on vacation when these events occurred?
“It sounds like he shot from the hip too soon and he’s trying to cover it now.
“[The information about the DNA] may justify they’re looking again at what they said, which is maybe what they’re trying to do, kind of wiggling around what was originally said.”
Ray theorized that Ellerup may have also drawn a target on her own back by agreeing to film the Peacock documentary series.
He added: “I think more likely than not it’s been triggered by her emergence and this documentary she’s doing with Peacock.
“And Peacock showed up in the courtroom with her, where a husband and wife exchanged smiles. I mean, that sounds like somebody conspiring together and then maybe they’re taking a second look at the same evidence. That’s what I’m guessing.
“Keep in mind as well that the district attorney’s announcement that she’s not a suspect at the time may have been a very good ploy to get her to slip up, to flush her out, and get her to do exactly what she’s doing now.”
CASHING IN?
Macedonio previously confirmed that Ellerup did provide a cheek swab to investigators but declined to discuss the hairs found at the crime scenes.
He also previously issued The U.S. Sun a blanket refusal to comment on anything Ray says about the case.
Earlier in November, The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed that Heuermann has signed over sole ownership of the couple’s dilapidated Long Island home to Ellerup.
The home was purchased by Heuermann from his parents in 1994 for $170,000. It was most recently valued at around $530,000 as of 2023, property records show.
The paperwork was finalized on October 5 and was subject to $495 in administration fees. It’s unclear who paid those fees.
For 12 days, the home – which she shares with her two adult children – was the subject of an extensive police search as investigators excavated the backyard and hauled truck-loads of evidence from the property.
Suffolk cops said at the time that they were investigating whether some of the murders may have taken place inside the home.
What they found remains unclear, save for a cache of more than 250 guns that were reportedly stored in a locked room in the basement.
At the search’s conclusion, Ellerup was the recipient of a more than $50,000 GoFundMe drive organized by Melissa Moore, the daughter of the Happy Face Killer.
The fundraiser was established shortly after Ellerup and her attorney held a press conference, revealing she was battling two types of cancer, was soon to lose her health insurance, and that her home had been ransacked and partially destroyed by investigators, rendering it unlivable.
An additional reason for the drive was to help pay Ellerup’s attorney fees for her divorce from Heuermann.
She filed for divorce roughly a week after he was arrested, in what her attorney admitted was a precautionary measure to shield her from future liability if the families of Heuermann’s alleged victims decided to sue.
Ray claimed in a previous interview that the divorce, the jail visit, and the transferring of the property deed show the couple are still in cahoots.
“It’s evidence of their unified interest because they’ve been unified in everything that has occurred,” he said in mid-November.
Referencing the deed transfer specifically, Ray accused Ellerup and Heuermann of concocting a scam to defraud creditors – including families of the victims who may later file lawsuits – to benefit Ellerup financially.
He continued: “It’s a scam up their ears, and they know it.
“That’s a presumptive fraud of creditors of Rex Heuermann. So, they conspired together for that to happen.
“And it’s of course during the matrimonial, so there’ll be a pretend claim that it’s a settlement of the matrimonial asset issues, but it’s actually a fraud on creditors, and she’s engaging voluntarily in that.
“She’s not the person at all that is portrayed as someone who is abused and broken – that’s just not the case,” he further claimed.
“So was it a surprise? No, it’s no surprise at all that she’s going to visit him at the jail to talk to him about God knows what else.
“She hadn’t been visiting him at all, but now she does after she’s been given the house.”
GILGO BEACH KILLINGS
Heuermann has been held without bond since he was arrested five months ago for the murders of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, and Amber Lynn Costello in 2010.
He remains the prime suspect in the murder of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, with additional charges believed to be forthcoming soon.
Known collectively as the Gilgo Four, each of the women were petite sex workers in their 20s who advertised their services on Craigslist.
Their bodies were found bound with tape or belts, wrapped in camouflage burlap, and discarded along a desolate beachfront parkway.
The horrific succession of discoveries was made during a search for Shannan Gilbert, another sex worker who vanished in May 2010.
Another six bodies would be found in the area by the close of 2011, including Gilbert’s, whose remains were discovered in December 2011.
Police ruled Gilbert’s death accidental and have long contested her case is in any way connected to the Gilgo Four.
However, Ray and Gilbert’s family disagree and claim an independent autopsy showed the aspiring actress was likely strangled to death.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all counts.
He is expected to reappear in court on February 6.
