Who is Asa Ellerup? All about Rex Heuermann's wife and family as Gilgo Beach serial killer is arrested 

In shocking news that reverberated across the country Rex Heuermann, a quiet suburban dad of two from Long Island, was arrested in connection to a string of murders in Gilgo Beach. The deaths were connected to the disappearance of multiple women between 2007 to 2010.

The investigation into the killings reportedly began with the disappearance of Maureen Brainard Barnes in 2007. Since then, police have found at least 10 bodies on Gilgo Beach, leading them to believe that a serial killer was on the loose.

Dubbed the Gilgo Beach serial killer, Rex Heuermann, a 60-year-old architect in Manhattan who started his company, RH Architecture Design, in 1994, was arrested late Thursday, July 13, in the Long Island home he grew up in.

According to the New York Post, the 1956 home on 1st Avenue Massapequa Park is reportedly located across the crime scene where police discovered the bodies of 11 women strewn along the Gilgo beach. Per court documents, the suspect is connected to at least 4 of the deaths.

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Rex Heuermann's second wife, Asa Ellerup, worked at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center

Asa Ellerup/Facebook

Neighbors told CBS News that Rex Heuermann, a resident of Massapequa Park in Long Island, had been living for decades in the neighborhood in the home where he grew up with his parents and brother, Craig.

Rex Heuermann reportedly bought his parent's home in 1994, where he raised his two kids - a daughter and a son with special needs. Per multiple reports, Heuermann, who was described by neighbors as a quiet family man, has reportedly been married twice.

On Friday, July 14, suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann's second wife, Asa Ellerup, was seen standing by her husband in the courtroom where he pleaded not guilty to the murder charges levelled against him.

Asa Ellerup, a 59-year-old who was described by neighbors as an Icelandic woman, is the suspect's second wife. A Facebook account belonging to Ellerup stated that she went to Farmingdale High School and worked at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center.

While at the court, a visibly distraught Ellerup appeared disinclined to answer the reporter's questions. When asked about her husband’s situation, she told Newsday:

“Please leave me alone. I will not be saying anything.”

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Rex Heuermann was previously married to Elizabeth Ryan in 1990

Rex Heuermann and Elizabeth Ryan (Image via Michael Lakat/Facebook)

Before his marriage to Asa Ellerup, the suspect reportedly married Elizabeth Ryan in 1990. Ryan, who at the time of her marriage was working at a New Jersey office supply company, graduated from St. Peter’s High School and subsequently obtained a business administration degree from Montclair State College.

While it is unclear when the couple split, Ryan’s neighbors told the New York Post that she had been living in her current house for at least 15 years.

Victoria Heuermann (Image via JLR/Twitter)

Per the now-taken-down RH Architecture Design website, the suspect's 26-year-old daughter Victoria Hermann reportedly worked in her father’s architectural firm. Neighbours, who described the children as “nice” and “quiet” kids, said that their son was a special needs child who was partially disabled.

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What we know about Rex Heuermann's parents

According to records cited by the New York Post, Huermann’s dad, Theo, was an aerospace engineer who died in 1975 when the suspect was 11. The accused architect’s mother, Dolores, 93, is still alive.

The arrest of the seemingly normal man in connection to a string of murders has rattled the community, including actor Billy Baldwin, 60, who tweeted that the suspect was his high school classmate from Berner High School’s class of 1981.

“Married, two kids, architect. ‘Average guy… quiet, family man.’ Mind-boggling. Massapequa is in shock.”

Court documents released on Friday, July 14, showed Heuermann has been charged in the deaths of "Gilgo Beach Four," after the bodies of Amber Costello, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, were found near one another in 2010. The victims were reportedly s*x workers who were petite and found bound in burlap bags.

In the documents, authorities listed a string of evidence that led to the suspect's arrest, including DNA evidence, cell phone records and a car registered to the accused assailant. The murders reportedly took place when his wife and kids were out of town.