The wife of Rex Heuermann, the architect accused in the Gilgo Beach murders, on Wednesday filed for divorce in Suffolk County Supreme Court. The case docket lists the divorce as “uncontested.”
Asa Ellerup, 59, is being represented by attorney Robert Macedonio, who confirmed to The Daily Beast that a summons and complaint were filed.
Macedonio explained that his client decided to file in Suffolk County—instead of closer to their Massapequa Park home—because that is where Heuermann is currently being held without bail.
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“Under New York State Law, we are allowed to file in any county,” he explained, adding that he and his client are planning to file more in the case at the end of the month.
The lawyer, however, declined to comment on how Ellerup and her children are doing after Heuermann’s arrest. He told Fox News, “This is all still a whirlwind. Her and her children’s lives have been completely turned upside-down.”
It was not immediately clear if Heuermann had obtained legal representation in the divorce proceedings. The attorney representing him in his criminal case, Michael Brown, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ellerup shares two children with Heuermann. Until his arrest last Thursday, the family lived quietly in Massapequa Park, a village of 17,000 people in Oyster Bay, Long Island.
Heuermann has since been charged with three counts of first-degree murder, and is suspected of having killed a fourth woman.
Ellerup has not been charged in any of the killings, and investigators have said she was traveling outside of New York State when they occurred—to her native Iceland in July 2009, when Melissa Barthelemy disappeared; to Maryland in June 2010, when Megan Waterman vanished; and to New Jersey three months later, when Amber Lynn Costello went missing.
Some strands of her hair were found at some of the crime scenes, however, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said last week, helping to eventually lead investigators to Ellerup’s husband.
It remains unclear whether she knew about, or ever suspected, Heuermann’s alleged activities. Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CNN on Monday that the family was “disgusted” and “embarrassed” when investigators informed them of the case against him.
“So, if you ask me, I don’t believe they knew about this double life that Heuermann was living,” Harrison said.
Little is known about the family’s home life, with neighbors and community members telling The New York Times earlier this week that Ellerup appeared somber and cheerless whenever she was spotted in public. She rarely ran errands with her husband present, a local grocery store manager said.
“Could he have been a monster who killed those girls and an angel at home?” the manager speculated. “Or maybe his family was just so scared of him that they were like his prisoners who would never tell anyone, even if they had some idea of what he was capable of.”
