Convicted Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann confessed to his ex-wife that he killed eight women in the basement of their Massapequa home while she was away, a new documentary has revealed. Asa Ellerup, who finalised her divorce from Heuermann in March 2025 after 27 years of marriage, said he admitted to the murders without hesitation during a jail cell meeting.
In a teaser clip for Peacock's The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, Ellerup recalled asking Heuermann how many women he had killed. When he replied 'eight', she questioned who the eighth was, as he had only been charged with seven. Heuermann told her the killings took place in his downstairs room, except for one. Investigators later found a soundproof vault-like room, hundreds of guns and detailed plans for the killings at the home.
Heuermann pleaded guilty on 8 April to seven murders committed between 1993 and 2010, and acknowledged an eighth uncharged murder. The victims included Amber Lynn Costello, Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Valerie Mack, Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla, and Karen Vergata. He used strangulation, dismembered some victims, and tied them in burlap sacking.
Suffolk County prosecutor Ray Tierney said Heuermann 'walked among us playacting as a normal suburban dad when all along he was targeting these women for death'. Heuermann's attorney said the guilty plea was to spare victims' relatives and his family from a trial. He is due to be sentenced to multiple life terms on 17 June.
Ellerup asked for privacy for her family, saying her thoughts and prayers were with the victims' families. Her lawyer stated the focus should remain on the victims and their families, who have suffered immeasurable losses.
