A new documentary has revealed that the convicted Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann confessed to his ex-wife that he killed multiple women in the basement of their family home while she was away. Asa Ellerup, who divorced Heuermann in March 2025 after 27 years of marriage, said he told her he killed eight women without hesitation, although he was formally charged with and pleaded guilty to seven.
In a teaser clip for Peacock’s four-part series The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, Ellerup recalled refusing to address her ex-husband by his first name during a jail cell meeting. She said she asked: “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?” When he replied “eight,” she asked who the eighth was, as he had only been charged with seven. She said he told her the killings took place in his room downstairs, except for one, while she was not at home.
Investigators searching the Massapequa house later found a soundproof vault-like room, hundreds of guns and detailed plans for the killings, according to court records. Suffolk County prosecutor Ray Tierney said after Heuermann’s confession in court: “He walked among us playacting as a normal suburban dad when all along he was targeting these women for death. He thought that by killing them, he could silence them forever and get away with murder. But he was wrong.”
Heuermann pleaded guilty on 8 April to the murders of Amber Lynn Costello, 27; Megan Waterman, 22; Melissa Barthelemy, 24; and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, known as the “Gilgo Four”. He also confessed to killing Valerie Mack, 24; Jessica Taylor, 20; and Sandra Costilla, 28, as well as to the uncharged murder of Karen Vergata, 34. In court, he said he used strangulation for each killing, dismembering some victims and binding them in burlap sacking, with hairs found on the material linking him to the crimes.
Ellerup said her thoughts and prayers were with the victims’ families after the plea hearing, and asked for privacy for her own family. Her lawyer, Bob Macedonio, said in a statement: “Ms Ellerup would like the focus to remain where it belongs – on the victims and their families, who have suffered immeasurable and lasting losses.” Heuermann is scheduled to be sentenced to multiple terms of life imprisonment on 17 June.
