Rex Heuermann's Wife and Children 'Trying to Piece Life Together': Lawyer

The wife of a successful architect accused of having a dark secret identity as the Gilgo Beach serial killer has broken her silence as she surveys the ruins of her former life.

Asa Ellerup had been married to Rex Heuermann for 25 years, when the 59-year-old was arrested last month and charged with the murders of missing sex workers Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello. He was also named as the prime suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and she and the other three victims were dubbed the "Gilgo Four."

Heuermann, who is due to attend a preliminary "status conference" hearing in court on Tuesday afternoon, has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him.

The bodies of the three women, who were in their 20s and had been bound with tape or belts, were found between 2007 and 2010 among 11 sets of human remains along a stretch of beach in Long Island, New York. The grim discovery sparked fears that a serial killer had been using the area as a dumping ground in a case that baffled police and went unsolved for more than a decade.

Prosecutors allege that Heuermann was living a double life, secretly murdering women while his family were out of town, all the while maintaining the illusion of being a normal family man who lived in Massapequa Park and ran an architecture firm in New York City.

Heuermann's defense lawyers insist that investigators have arrested the wrong man, and attorney Michael Brown described his client as "a loving husband to his wife of over 25 years and an involved and dedicated father to his daughter and stepson."

Ellerup, and her children, Christopher Sheridan, 33, and Victoria Heuermann, 26, have been left reeling, and Ellerup has now filed for divorce, according to The Associated Press.

She spoke to local news channel ABC7 New York over the phone, telling reporters that it feels like "everything is destroyed." She shared pictures of her home, showing rooms piled with mess and boxes, after it was ransacked by investigators searching for clues.

"[My children] have been crying themselves to sleep. And I've been crying myself to sleep too," she told the channel.

Ellerup's lawyer, Robert Macedonio, added: "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."

In a separate interview with the New York Post, Ellerup repeated her claims that the family has been struggling to sleep through their tears. "I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering. Anxiety," she said. "My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they're not children. They're grown adults but they're my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep."

The families of the victims have been suffering too.

Barthelemy's family say their agony after her disappearance was compounded when they received calls from her cell phone from her killer, taunting them about how she died.

Amy Brotz, Barthelemy's cousin, expressed relief at the news Heuermann had been arrested amid allegations he was the murderer. But she is dreading hearing details about her relative's death in court, she said. Barthelemy's mother, Lynn Barthelemy, said: "I'd like him to suffer at the hands of other inmates. Death is too good for him."

Heuermann, who is being held at a Suffolk County jail without bail, is expected to appear at the Suffolk County courthouse in Riverhead for a status conference at 2 p.m. on Tuesday. The legal teams will inform the judge about how the case currently stands.

The investigation into other victims who were discovered along the beach remain ongoing.

Newsweek has reached out by email to Michael Brown and Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney for further information and comment.