Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann's ex-wife shares blunt reaction as he's sentenced to life in prison
Topics: Crime, True crime
Kiesha Dosanjh
Featured Image Credit: James Carbone-Pool/Getty Images
Topics: Crime, True crime
Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann's ex-wife has spoken out after he was sentenced to three life terms.
The 62-year-old was sentenced in Suffolk County court this week, after pleading guilty to killing eight women, who worked as sex workers, between 1993 and 2010 when his wife and two children were out of town.
Earlier this year, Heuermann confessed to the murder of those known as the 'Gilgo Four' Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
He also killed Valerie Mack, 24, Jessica Taylor, 20, and Sandra Costilla, 28, and admitted to Karen Vergata, 34.
Advert
When he was sentenced on Wednesday, he was called 'a disgusting and despicable small man' by Judge Timothy Mazzei.
"If you're a man at all. And you're a coward," he added.
Heuermann was married to his now former wife, Asa Ellerup, for over two decades, in which he murdered eight women.
“She believes Rex got what he deserves,” Bob Macedonio, the lawyer for Ellerup told The New York Post.
“She believes the sentence was 100% appropriate and her thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.”
“There are no words I can say, but I am responsible for what was said today,” Heurmann said after the sentencing. “The words I would have no meaning and I’m going to leave it there at this time."
"I know that you’re sorry you got caught,” the judge responded, before adding: “I assume that you’re sorry for what you did to your wife and children."
However, he then asked Heuermann if he was sorry for what he did 'to these poor innocent women – eight women you strangled to death,' he said before exclaiming: "Get him out of here!"
At this point, it has been reported that the crowd erupted into cheers.
On Thursday morning, the killer was transferred to the Green Haven Correctional Facility in Dutchess County, the county sheriff’s office and state officials said.
“Rex Heuermann is currently undergoing admission processing at Green Haven Correctional Facility, one of the department’s designated intake facilities,” a rep for the state Department of Correction and Community Supervision told the Post.
However, it is not yet known which prison he will be taken to.
After over a decade with no suspects in the case, Rex Heuermann was arrested in July 2023 for the Long Island murders, after a witness tip about his pick up truck, and DNA from a pizza box tied him to the murders.