MEAWW.COM / NEWS / CRIME & JUSTICE

Did Rex Heuermann's wife live in denial? Expert wonders how Asa Ellerup ignored suspected Gilgo Beach killer's 'double life'

Heuermann was arrested on July 13, as a primary suspect in the murder of the 'Gilgo Four,' whose remains were discovered on a remote Long Island beach

LONG ISLAND, NEW YORK: Manhattan architect Rex Heuermann’s arrest has notably sent shockwaves through the quiet Long Island community. After evading arrest for over a decade, the 59-year-old father of two was finally arrested on July 13, as a primary suspect in the murder of the "Gilgo Four," whose remains were discovered on a remote Long Island beach.

Following Heuermann’s arrest, authorities discovered a massive haul of evidence that unearthed his double life. Last week, investigators raided his Massapequa Park residence, where they found several eerie items including a Playboy magazine, film negatives, and a macabre painting. Officials were also seen removing a child-sized doll and a massive trove of up to 300 firearms from a locked vault in the basement of the home. During the investigation, authorities uncovered several additional pieces of evidence including gruesome child porn searches and a fake Tinder account, on which Heuermann posted bathroom selfies and used fictitious names to trap women.

Did Asa Ellerup live in denial about husband Rex Heuermann?

The discovery of new petrifying evidence has shifted the attention to Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup, who hasn’t been seen in public since his arrest. Experts are now wondering how Ellerup did not catch on despite the chilling bits of evidence pointing to Heuermann’s "double life" even though she lived in the same Massapequa Park residence with him. "How does a woman not have any suspicions of anything?" asked Dr Carole Lieberman, a Los Angeles-based psychiatrist. Lieberman then claimed that Ellerup was simply attempting to deny the possibility that her spouse could be doing something wrong. "I think that she's just been trying to be in denial and not know that her husband might be up to no good,” she told the Patch.

Many netizens raised the same question on the Internet, arguing about how Ellerup never got suspicious of Heuermann’s criminal activities. “My thoughts exactly. As if she didn’t find it very concerning that every time she went away someone in her town was murdered?” one Twitter user asked. “My thing is, how did she not know about the very uniqu (sic) WH letters on his belt?” a second user said while the third wrote "Extremely disturbing… I’ve read that his wife had ongoing health issues and he probably used that to his advantage as well. Her focus may have been on her health and not that her husband was a potential serial murderer. Maybe the doll was hers?" Additionally, several users contended that Heuermann may have physically hurt or intimidated Ellerup to stop speaking out against him.

'They were disgusted'

“Unless he was beating the crap out of her and she was petrified by him, I’m not buying she wasn’t even a tad suspicious,” another user said. One more user argued that Ellerup, who worked for the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, was unaware of Heuermann’s activities as they might be living two separate lives. “The Commissioner’s statement—is that #RexHeuermann & his wife lived separate lives. He may have had his own living space in the basement,” the user remarked. These comments came after an official revealed that Heuermann’s family is embarrassed and disgusted by his arrest. “When we initially informed them about their husband, their father, they were shocked,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CNN Monday. “They were disgusted — they were embarrassed. So, if you ask me, I don’t believe they knew about this double life that Mr. Heuermann was living. They have been cooperative — there hasn’t been any resistance,” he continued.