We All Matter News 
A Community Still Reeling as Gilgo Beach Killer’s Ex-Wife Speaks Out
In the latest chapter of the long and painful reckoning over the Gilgo Beach murders, Asa Ellerup, the ex-wife of confessed serial killer Rex Heuermann, says she has moved into the very basement room where he admitted to murdering and dismembering seven women.
Ellerup shared the revelation in a recent episode of a streaming docuseries, describing the basement as the place where Heuermann carried out much of the violence that would devastate families and haunt Long Island communities for decades.
“The brutal truth is that Rex Heuermann said he dismembered the bodies in this room,” she said. “I’m here because I feel spiritual. I am trying to say, in my own way, that I am really sorry for what these victims went through.”
Ellerup said she moved into the basement about a month before Heuermann formally pleaded guilty earlier this month. She also revealed that she visited him a dozen times after he privately confessed his crimes to her.
A Guilty Plea After Years of Denial
On April 8, Heuermann — a 62-year-old former New York City architect — pleaded guilty to murdering seven women: Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla, and Valerie Mack. He also confessed to an eighth killing, that of Karen Vergata, though he had not yet been formally charged in that case.
The murders spanned nearly two decades, from 1993 to 2010. Most of the victims were found along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach, about 45 miles east of Manhattan. Several were dismembered. All were strangled. Prosecutors have described torture in some of the cases.
Costilla, killed in 1993, was the only victim not murdered inside Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home. Authorities say she was slain in a vehicle later recovered in Pennsylvania.
Heuermann had maintained his innocence for nearly three years after his July 2023 arrest outside his Midtown Manhattan office. A trial had been scheduled for September before his guilty plea.
Grief, Accountability, and Unanswered Questions
According to her attorney, Ellerup is grappling not only with the horror of the crimes but with the reality that the man she was married to for decades was leading a double life. Her lawyer said she is struggling to understand how she could have lived alongside such violence without recognizing it.
“This has been an extremely emotional and painful process,” her attorney said, emphasizing that the focus should remain on the victims and the families who have suffered immeasurable loss.
Ellerup herself acknowledged that the trauma is ongoing. She described being haunted by nightmares and said the weight of what happened will never fully lift.
“There will never be any justice for anyone, and there will never be any way to forget about this,” she said.
She also said she wants to understand what drove Heuermann to commit the killings — what “triggers” led to such cruelty — and admitted that she now sees what she called “the evil in him.”
The Broader Tragedy
The Gilgo Beach investigation first gained national attention after 23-year-old Shannan Gilbert disappeared in 2010 after making frantic 911 calls for help from Oak Beach. The search for Gilbert led to the discovery of 10 sets of human remains. Heuermann has admitted responsibility for seven of those deaths.
Police have ruled Gilbert’s death an accidental drowning. In separate cases, authorities have charged other individuals in connection with the deaths of Tanya Jackson and her 2-year-old daughter, Tatiana Dykes.
For many advocates, the broader story is about whose lives are valued and protected. Several of Heuermann’s victims were women who faced economic hardship and stigma, and critics have long argued that law enforcement’s response in the early years reflected deeper societal biases about which victims receive urgent attention.
As the community continues to mourn, the central truth remains: eight women lost their lives in acts of calculated, prolonged violence. Their families endured decades of uncertainty and grief. The guilty plea closes one chapter in a long fight for accountability — but it cannot erase the suffering inflicted.
In the wake of the confessions, advocates and loved ones alike are calling for more than headlines. They are demanding a justice system — and a society — that prioritizes the safety and dignity of every woman, no matter her background.
