LONG ISLAND (WABC) — Suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann is set to make his first court appearance on Tuesday in Riverhead.
Heuermann has already pleaded not guilty of the murders of at least three women. The 59-year-old architect is also the prime suspect in a fourth woman’s murder.
On Monday, his estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, opened up just days after returning to her Massapequa Park home, after police cleared it as a crime scene.
ABC News obtained pictures of Rex Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home, which were taken by his wife Asa Ellerup, following the house’s search by authorities.
The photos depict the fallout of the authorities search of the alleged serial killers home, and were taken after Ellerup and her two adult children returned home last week after initially clearing the premises.
Ellerup told ABC News in a phone call that it feels like “everything is destroyed” as she and her two kids, who are now adults, adjust to the reality that their family member has been arrested for being a serial killer.
“My children have been crying themselves to sleep. And I’ve been crying myself to sleep too,” she said. “Every time my kids go through something… they open a box. Every single time they cry.”
She says the boxed belongings, left behind by authorities, that they encountered when they arrived back home, are a constant reminder of Heuermann’s alleged crimes.
“She had no idea this was going on or the allegations or her husband was a suspect. She is not a suspect, she has not been questioned by the police regarding any of this. It’s been extremely overwhelming for her and the children trying to piece life together to what it was two and a half weeks ago. I don’t know if they’re ever going to return to normalcy,” Ellerup’s lawyer, Robert Macedonio, said.
ALSO READ: Gilgo Beach murders: Complete timeline of events leading up to Rex Heuermann’s arrest
Ellerup added that her son, who she said is developmentally delayed, has been sleeping in a chair at night.
Her attorney says Ellerup has received support from the daughter of another convicted serial killer, Keith Hunter Jesperson, who is known as the “Happy Face Killer.” Jesperson’s daughter reportedly started a GoFundMe for Ellerup and her children.
Under New York state law, prosecutors must get a grand jury to sign off on felony indictments. They decided to arrest him without first securing those grand jury indictments, worried that information about the case could leak and Heuermann might get away.
The grand jury is still seated and could tack on more charges during Tuesday afternoon’s hearing. They’ve been authorizing hundreds of court orders for searches including at his home and his phone records.
Heuermann’s hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m.
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