Rex Heuermann, the Long Island serial killer who pleaded guilty earlier this month to murdering eight women, told his wife that he killed seven of them in their house, according to an excerpt released on Monday of an upcoming documentary episode.
Mr. Heuermann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, who has since divorced him, tells her lawyer in the Peacock documentary, “The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets,” that as Mr. Heuermann prepared to speak to her about the murders, “he looked very nervous — very, very nervous.”
“I said to him, ‘So, Mr. Heuermann, I understand that you are confessing to me on these murders,’” she says. “‘Can you please tell me how many of these women did you kill?’ He said eight.”
“He said I wasn’t home during all of them,” says Ms. Ellerup, who is in her early 60s and who, according to prosecutors, was away with their children on vacation when the crimes occurred.
Her lawyer, Bob Macedonio, asks her if any of the women were killed in their house in Massapequa Park, on Long Island.
“He said yes, they were killed in his room downstairs, all except one,” Ms. Ellerup says.
Most of the women’s remains were found at or near Gilgo Beach on the South Shore of Long Island, a half-hour drive from the Heuermann home.
The excerpt does not state when the conversation between Ms. Ellerup and her then-husband took place. The episode will be released on Thursday. It is the finale of a four-part series.
Mr. Heuermann, 62, an architectural consultant with a successful practice in Manhattan, was arrested in July 2023. Ms. Ellerup filed for divorce days after his arrest.
A few months later, Peacock, the streaming service owned by NBCUniversal, made a deal to pay his family to participate in a documentary series through the end of Mr. Heuermann’s trial, outraging some of the victims’ families.
There will be no trial: Mr. Heuermann, who was facing seven murder charges and had initially professed his innocence, pleaded guilty on April 8 to all seven plus an eighth that he had not yet been charged with. He said he had strangled all the women.
He is expected to be sentenced to multiple terms of life in prison.
Mr. Macedonio said in a statement Monday night: “This has been an extremely emotional and painful process for the family to endure, and come to terms with the allegations that Rex Heuermann was the Gilgo Beach serial killer. Ms. Ellerup would like the focus to remain where it belongs — on the victims and their families, who have suffered immeasurable and lasting losses.”
Corey Kilgannon contributed reporting.
Andy Newman has reported from the New York region for The Times for more than 30 years.
The post Gilgo Beach Killer Told His Wife That He Murdered 7 Women in Their Home appeared first on New York Times.
