Rex Heuermann’s wife returned to court for a critical hearing about the bombshell DNA in the case – just hours after her divorce was finalized from the man accused of being the notorious Gilgo Beach serial killer.
Asa Ellerup’s attorney Robert Macedonio told DailyMail.com Friday that both sides had signed the divorce papers after he visited Heuermann in prison to run through the details with him.
Macedonio would not disclose the terms of the settlement that had been reached but said that it would need to go to a judge for review.
He added that Heuermann appeared to be doing okay behind bars but was ‘concerned’ about Ellerup and their two adult children Victoria and Christopher.
Despite ending their marriage, Ellerup and Victoria appeared in court in Riverhead, Long Island, Friday, to witness the showdown between the prosecution and defense over the DNA evidence in the case.
Hairs belonging to both Ellerup and Victoria were found on some of the accused serial killer’s victims, according to prosecutors.
Macedonio said that the family members wanted to be in court for the Frye hearing as they seek ‘closure’ from the horrific case and want to understand exactly how their DNA had been tied to the victims.
‘It is important to their own closure that they figure out how they came to their conclusions that it’s Asa’s DNA and it’s Victoria’s DNA,’ he said.
Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann returned to court on Friday for a hearing about crucial DNA evidence in the case
The suspected serial killer is seen speaking to his attorney Michael Brown in the courtroom
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney’s Office has made it clear that the family was out of town at the time of the murders and was not involved in any of the alleged crimes.
The defense is asking the judge to throw out the DNA evidence allegedly tying Heuermann to the murders, branding the technique used – whole genome sequencing – ‘magic.’
Prosecutors are fighting back, with the first expert witness testifying how the method is well-regarded in the scientific community.
Heuermann lumbered into the courtroom at Arthur Cromarty Criminal Courthouse in Riverhead for the hearing at around 10.15am ET Friday.
The 61-year-old hulking architect, dressed in a suit and blue and pink striped shirt, had his hands cuffed behind his back as he towered over the court security officers.
He casually told an officer ‘no problem’ as he was guided to sit down between his attorneys.
The hearing came just hours after Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup finalized her divorce against the suspected serial killer. Pictured: Ellerup and her attorneys back in July
Throughout the day’s proceedings, he did not appear to make eye contact with his now ex-wife and adult daughter who were sat in the third row of the public gallery, staring straight ahead.
The accused serial killer is currently charged with the murders of seven women over a two-decade reign of horror running from 1993 to 2011.
The Gilgo Beach serial killer case had haunted the Long Island community for more than a decade, ever since the first of multiple bodies were discovered along Ocean Parkway in December 2010.
More than a decade later, in July 2023, the Massapequa Park local was then dramatically arrested as he left his office in midtown Manhattan.
Heuermann was initially charged with the murders of three women: Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy and Megan Waterman.
Since then, he has been charged with the murders of four more victims: Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack.
All the victims were working as sex workers when they vanished after going to meet a client.
Their bodies were found dumped along Ocean Parkway near Gilgo Beach and other remote spots on Long Island.
Some of the victims had been bound, others had been dismembered and their remains discarded in multiple locations.
The 61-year-old has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.
His defense is seeking to split the case into five separate trials.
The judge is yet to rule on that matter.
In Friday’s Frye hearing, Judge Timothy Mazzei heard testimony from the state’s expert witness Dr Kelley Harris as the prosecution fights to keep the key DNA evidence in the case.
According to prosecutors, the DNA analysis had linked Heuermann or individuals who lived with him – including Ellerup, Victoria and an individual known as ‘witness 3’ – to six of the seven victims through hairs found at the scene or on the murdered women.
The defense claims the technique has never been tested before in a New York court – and wants it excluded from his trial.
Melissa Barthelemy (top left), Amber Costello (top right), Megan Waterman (bottom left), and Maureen Brainard-Barnes (bottom right) became known as the ‘Gilgo Four’
Harris, an associate professor of genome sciences at the University of Washington who has won several awards for her work on genetics, testified throughout the day, explaining how whole genome sequencing can be used to develop a DNA profile – in this case, the source of hairs found on the victims’ bodies.
Harris reiterated multiple times that the method is ‘widely accepted’ within the scientific community.
During a fiery cross-examination, Heuermann’s defense attorney Michael Brown sparred with Harris and tried to cast doubts on her credibility as an expert witness on the genetic method.
Under peppered questioning, Harris was forced to admit that she is not an expert in forensic science.
Brown reeled off a list of topics of papers she has worked on – including molluscs, red wolves, polar bears, mice and great apes – questioning the relevance of her experience to the DNA analysis in a criminal case.
Harris stood her ground, correcting the attorney on several pronunciations of expert terms and eliciting laughter in the courtroom when she dismissed his claim that someone can use genetic genealogy databases like 23 & Me to find out if they’re related to Napoleon.
In a press briefing outside the courthouse, Brown continued to blast the ‘magic’ method used by prosecutors in the case.
‘You either have science or certainty and it’s official and trustworthy and reliable,’ he told reporters.
Sandra Costilla (left) was murdered in 1993, making her the earliest known victim. Karen Vergata’s (right) remains were identified in 2023. Heuermann has not been charged in connection to her death
Valerie Mack (left) disappeared in 2000 and parts of her body were discovered in Long Island that November. Jessica Taylor (right) vanished in 2003 with some of her remains being found in Manorville that year
‘And the alternative is I call magic as they want to in essence have you rely on this which is not trustworthy and it’s not scientific and should not be used in court.’
Brown also hit out at Harris’ testimony calling it ‘problematic’ and saying she has ‘no forensic background.’
‘Hopefully, that point got across to Justice Mazzei that this has no business being utilized in a criminal court,’ he said.
Heuermann’s attorney added that the hearing – where live witnesses were testifying and being cross-examined – was ‘one step closer to trials.’
Multiple witnesses are expected to be called for the prosecution and the defense over the coming weeks before the judge issues a ruling on the admissibility of the DNA evidence.
The next hearing is scheduled to take place Wednesday with another witness for the prosecution.
Heuermann was linked to the murders following a tip about a pickup truck.
According to a witness, Costello had disappeared after going to see a client who drove a green Chevy Avalanche in September 2010.
The backyard of Rex Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park during a search in June 2024
Following the launch of a new taskforce, investigators learned that Heuermann drove that same type of vehicle at the time of the murders, prosecutors say.
He also matched the description of the client seen by the witness.
As well as the DNA evidence, prosecutors said investigators also found a chilling ‘planning document’ on a hard drive in the basement of Heuermann’s family home in Massapequa Park.
In the haunting document, he allegedly had a section detailed ‘PREP’ and noted that ‘small’ women were preferred.
Heuermann has lived his entire life in Massapequa Park and would commute to his architecture job in Midtown Manhattan, where some of the victims worked and were last seen alive.
He was especially familiar with Ocean Parkway, where the victims’ bodies were dumped, thanks to a job he had at Jones Beach in his 20s, according to prosecutors.
Fears that a serial killer or killers were at large on Long Island began back in May 2010, when Shannan Gilbert vanished in bizarre circumstances one night.
The 24-year-old, who was working as an escort, had gone to see a client in the Oak Beach Association community when she made a terrifying 911 call, saying that someone was trying to kill her.
Rex Heuermann in selfies submitted as evidence in the case. The accused serial killer is charged with murders dating from 1993 to 2011
During a search for Gilbert in December 2010, officers came across the body of Barthelemy in the marshes by Gilgo Beach.
Within days, three more bodies – Costello, Brainard-Barnes and Waterman – had been found.
The four victims, who became known as the Gilgo Four, had been dumped within a quarter mile of each other, some of them bound and wrapped in burlap.
Over the following months, the remains of seven other victims were found.
Gilbert’s body was found last. Investigators maintain that she was not a victim, but died by accidental drowning after she fled into the dense thicket that night.
Heuermann has not been charged in connection to the deaths of the other four victims: Karen Vergata and three still-unidentified victims, known only as ‘Asian Doe,’ ‘Peaches,’ and Peaches’ toddler daughter.
Costilla, meanwhile, had never been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killer case until Heuermann was hit with charges for her murder in 2024.
Her murder expands the timeline that the accused serial killer is alleged to have been actively preying on victims.
Heuermann is expected to return to court in person Wednesday.