Wife of suspect in Gilgo Beach serial killings files for divorce

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MASSAPEQUA PARK, N.Y. — The wife of Rex Heuermann, charged in the deaths of three women whose remains were found along a Long Island beach roadway, filed for divorce Wednesday, her attorney said.

Asa Ellerup filed the complaint in Suffolk County Supreme Court. Her attorney, Robert Macedonio, declined any additional comment.

Meanwhile, authorities spent another day at the Massapequa Park home where the couple had lived, continuing their search of the premises.

Heuermann, an architect, was charged last week with murdering the three women, and is a suspect in a fourth death, a prosecutor said.

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He has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody under suicide watch; an email seeking comment about the divorce filing was sent to his attorney.

The bodies of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and Megan Waterman were discovered in a 0.4-kilometre section of Ocean Parkway.

They were among 10 sets of human remains found along Long Island’s Gilgo Beach in 2010 and 2011, an accidental discovery while authorities were searching for another woman who had gone missing.

That woman, Shannan Gilbert, was found dead in 2011 in another area, a coastal marsh, in what Suffolk County police labelled an accidental drowning, which her family has refuted.

The Gilgo Beach discoveries turned into a longstanding New York mystery about who was responsible for their deaths. While authorities didn’t think it was likely that one person was responsible for all the remains, they did think the presence of some of the bodies near each other indicated the work of a serial killer.

Investigators are working to link Heuermann, 59, in the death of a fourth person, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, prosecutors said.

Police searching his home in recent days have been seen taking out boxes of material, including more than 200 firearms, a filing cabinet and a computer, as well as a large doll in a glass case and other household items.

Heuermann lived in the house, across a bay from where the remains were discovered, for decades.