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Initially arrested in 2023, Heuermann faced charges for the murders of Amber Lynn Costello, Melissa Barthelemy, and Megan Waterman. By January 2024, additional charges were brought against him for the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, followed by further homicide charges for Jessica Taylor, Sandra Costilla, and Valerie Mack later in the year. Heuermann has consistently proclaimed his innocence and currently awaits trial, maintaining a not guilty plea.

Asa Ellerup, Rex Heuermann’s wife, emerges as a key figure in the new Peacock docuseries titled The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, which premiered today. In this series, she provides her unique viewpoint on the shocking allegations against her husband and the heinous crimes he is accused of committing.

Ellerup makes her first appearance in the second episode of this gripping three-part series, during which she recounts the traumatic experience of her family’s home being raided when her husband was arrested.

“The night of the raid, they drove us over to the hotel and secured us a room. A police officer was stationed outside to monitor me constantly,” she remembered. “I watched the news as they took bag after bag of evidence out of our home. My mind was racing, trying to process everything.”

Eventually, they returned to their house, which prosecutors suspect may have been the site where Heuermann killed some of his victims. The condition of the house was devastating, left in disarray from the search and seizure. “We needed to come home,” Ellerup expressed, sharing how they rode a wave of “fear, anxiety, and guilt… all emotions swirling like a rollercoaster” during that time.

“There are many sentimental items in the house, and I still feel Rex’s presence here,” she shared, explaining why she was so determined to return to their home, even as it became a potential crime scene.

During one poignant moment in the episode, Ellerup receives a phone call from her husband as he awaits his trial in jail. In their conversation, he checks in on her well-being, and she responds with, “I’m doing great now that I have you on the phone.” He describes his jail meals — he had a burger and mashed potatoes for dinner — before they discuss her visit plans for later that week, making it a brief yet intimate call.

While Ellerup mentions that they maintain regular communication, she reveals that he can only contact her during specific hours. She also notes that she has to be cautious about discussing topics that may harm him, admitting that expressing her love for him “could hurt him.”

She further cast doubt on the charges against him, a sentiment that seems to persist even today. “We were 100% part of each other’s lives. Does everyone really believe everything they hear?” she questioned the viewers. “Do you truly believe everything that is being said? We didn’t buy it.”

As the documentary unfolds, the family is seen examining what has been referred to as a potential “kill room” — a locked space in the basement where authorities discovered an arsenal of weapons.

While showing this area to the cameras, Ellerup explained that the door had a combination lock on the outside, but a lever on the inside, asserting, “Nobody can get locked in here.” She described the room as a place where her husband showcased his extensive firearms collection.

She also confessed that Heuermann “didn’t want anyone to have access to it,” labeling it a “secret room.” While she insisted that “nobody would know” it existed, she added that he wasn’t “hiding anything,” but only “wanted to secure a safe in there.”

“They are making assumptions for their narrative. I know that,” she commented regarding the investigators’ findings. “I am aware of what this room was originally used for, and they are just allegations.”

After attending her husband’s first court appearance, Ellerup described it as “comforting” to see him in person, and not recognizing the individual being portrayed in the media.

“I don’t see him that way; that’s not the Rex I know,” she expressed regarding the charges against her husband, as prosecutors claim that all the murders coincided with times Heuermann was alone at their home, while the family was away on vacation.

“If you’re going to tell me that he only committed these acts during those specific time periods, I was away on vacation, I have to question that,” she informed his lawyer. “If this man is that much of a genius that he’s capable of doing that, I don’t believe it.”

She also firmly stated that her husband was “not seeing prostitutes,” portraying him as a “family man” who “didn’t engage in that behavior.”

Focusing specifically on the disappearance of Melissa Barthelemy in July 2009, Ellerup recounted that she and their children were on a trip to Iceland at the time. She insisted that her husband was home renovating their bathroom.

“I remember July 10, 2009, I planned a five-week trip to Iceland to visit my family. I asked Rex, ‘Are you okay with me taking the kids to spend time with my family?’ and he said yes. Rex was always working hard to provide for us,” she reflected.

“The reason he didn’t accompany us on the trip was due to the construction business being busiest during the summer months in New York City. He would often try to utilize the time we were out of the house to work on renovations,” she added, explaining that the entire bathroom was “completely gutted” and remodeled while they were away, highlighting his nature as a “problem solver.”

“I was in Iceland for five weeks. She went missing on July 10, and they are assuming she was held captive here in this house, that he killed her and disposed of her body the night before he left for Iceland,” she added, noting that he later joined the family overseas. Investigators have claimed that “taunting calls” made to Barthelemy’s family about her murder from an anonymous caller stopped around the same time he was in Iceland.

Megan Waterman was last seen on June 6, 2010, while Heuermann’s wife and children were on a trip to Six Flags in Maryland.

As for why he was absent during that getaway, Ellerup explained, “Rex doesn’t enjoy roller coasters and water slides due to severe motion sickness. I had purchased season tickets to take the kids to Six Flags.”

She added, “I’m convinced that the person they are looking for isn’t a family man.”

Maureen Brainard-Barnes was last seen on July 9, 2007, in New York City, coinciding with the time Ellerup and the children were vacationing in Atlantic City.

“They’re alleging that my husband managed to work, solicit sex from a sex worker, take a train, come home, plan, pick them up, kill them, dispose of them, and then turn around to go to Atlantic City to see us?” she questioned, incredulous at the accusations.

“I’m sorry, that’s complete nonsense. Excuse my language,” she exclaimed, expressing her disbelief.

Jessica Taylor was last seen on July 21, 2003, shortly before her torso was discovered days later. At that time, Ellerup and the children were on a trip to Vermont.

“The only thing I was focused on while I was on vacation was trying to do something fun with my children,” she asserted.

Their daughter, Victoria, also appeared in the docuseries, recalling her father’s need to stay home for work. She mentioned that while they were on vacation, “he was always calling, several times a day” — noting that it was unusual for her father to “just drop off the map and not reach out.”

“It never occurred to me that he was checking to ensure we weren’t coming home early,” she then reflected — adding, “it’s hard to imagine these allegations, while we were enjoying our vacation and he was home murdering and dismembering women.”

According to Ellerup, she never noticed any “irregular behavior” from her husband, firmly stating, “And if there was any indication of unusual behavior at all, I would have walked out the door.”

She mentioned that he never concealed his computer from the family and never withheld the password, emphasizing, “There was nothing off-limits for Rex Heuermann.”

At one point in the documentary, Ellerup also spoke with Kerri Rawson, the daughter of the infamous BTK killer, about her shock over the allegations against her husband.

“The FBI agent told me that my husband was soliciting sex from a sex worker two days before Thanksgiving. I said, ‘No, he wasn’t doing that on that day,’” she insisted to Rawson. “Then she told me he was disposing of a body on Gilgo Beach the night before he called me, and I was sitting here saying, ‘No!’ I was thinking, ‘What was my husband doing during that timeframe? He was fixing up the bathroom.’”

At the very end of the series, an off-camera producer brings up the overwhelming evidence stacked against Heuermann, to which Ellerup remains resolute in her belief that her husband is innocent.

When asked if she still questions, “How could you not know?”, Ellerup replied, “No, I’m not asking myself that question, because I believe I would know. Until I see definitive proof, there’s no way I’ll know for sure whether or not I saw the signs.”

When questioned about the discovery of a “significant collection of violent, bondage, and torture pornography” dating back to 1994, as noted by prosecutors, Ellerup again hesitated.

“I don’t know that they are his. I honestly do not,” she replied, before a producer asked if she believes the material belonged to someone else but was found on Heuermann’s hard drive. She did not provide a direct answer.

The producer then highlighted the connection between seven hairs found across six different bodies linked to their family, which Ellerup simply referred to as “circumstantial evidence.” When asked about a pattern indicating he allegedly solicited sex whenever they were out of town, resulting in the murders of escorts, she stated, “I’m not going to believe any of that information until I see it… We all have to wait for the court case to play out, period.”

“My husband, he’s a family man. He’s my hero. What I want to say to him is, I love you, no matter what,” she added, expressing her unwavering support.

The documentary concluded with the family discussing the possibility of selling their home.

“Now that this life in this house is coming to an end, it makes me feel like there’s a new beginning,” Ellerup reflected. “What that life will be like, I don’t know. I will find out in time. And I will deal with it the best that I can. I did what I needed to do to protect myself and my children.”

Peacock’s The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets is now available for streaming.