The suspect’s wife unwittingly played a role in his arrest in relation to the Gilgo Beach killing. Divorce papers have been filed by her.

The senior cop in Suffolk County claims that Asa Ellerup, who was married to Rex Heuermann for over 27 years, was probably unaware of the horrific double life that her husband is suspected of leading.

Suffolk County police commissioner Rodney Harrison expressed his belief that the suspect’s family was unaware of Mr. Heuermann’s hidden life.

To see whether the family might have known exactly what Mr. Heuermann was up to,” Harrison told CNN’s Erica Hill on Monday, adding that officials are still gathering information and have not ruled anything out just yet.

The suspect in the Gilgo Beach serial killings case has been characterized by the deputy police commissioner as a monster.

In relation to the murders of three of the “Gilgo Four, the 59-year-old Heuermann was apprehended and charged with murder last week.

a quartet of females whose bodies were discovered in 2010 in a narrow section of Gilgo Beach on Long Island. Additionally, he has not been charged with the disappearance or murder of the fourth woman, despite being the primary suspect in that case.

On Wednesday, less than a week after her husband’s imprisonment, Ellerup filed for divorce, her attorney, Robert Macedonio, told CNN. He did not comment further on the topic.

She was surprised to hear what her spouse was accused of, Harrison said.

But she unintentionally played a vital part in her husband’s imprisonment; it was her DNA, among other evidence, that officials believe helped link Heuermann to the crimes.

Here’s what we know about his wife, their life together, and the unexpected role she played in the case.

The two have been married for 27 years

Heuermann and Ellerup were married in April 1996, the suspect stated in a 2018 deposition. Since then, they have resided in Heuermann’s red and green boyhood house in the Long Island suburb of Massapequa Park with their daughter and Heuermann’s stepson.

But despite their extended stint in the neighborhood—and though Heuermann’s life was long established in the same community—neighbors knew little detail about the family.

Neighbors regarded the residence as spooky and the family as aloof, according to the Long Island Press, a monthly publication servicing Long Island.

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Wife’s hair found with all three victims

When the corpses were first discovered, there were strands of deteriorated hair retrieved by officials, but DNA testing at the time did not provide the answers investigators looked for.

A suspect was charged in the Gilgo Beach serial killings investigation. Here’s a timeline of the case and the investigation

Technological developments rapidly helped generate outcomes.

Hair that is now believed to belong to Ellerup—which probably had been unintentionally carried by the suspect on his clothes—was found on or near the three victims, prosecutors stated in the bail application, citing DNA tests.

That DNA came from 11 bottles inside a rubbish can outside the Heuermann home, the court document alleges. Authorities had been surveilling Heuermann and his family for months after they identified him as a suspect in early 2022, and during that time they collected DNA samples from objects the family tossed out.

Though her hair was found with the murders, Ellerup and their daughter were both traveling when the homicides were committed, and Heuermann was “alone in the tri-state area, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said during a Friday news conference.

It’s incredibly significant in as much as it then limits it down to him,” criminal defense attorney Joey Jackson told CNN’s Jake Tapper regarding the result. If the suspect’s wife is out of town, then why would her hair be there if he’s in town?

Suffolk County authorities said DNA evidence also linked Heuermann to a male hair discovered on the burlap sack where one victim’s remains were found.

Shocked, appalled, and embarrassed

Harrison told CNN on Monday that he was informed that once officials told Ellerup and her daughter about the crimes Heuermann is accused of, the two were “shocked, they were horrified, they were embarrassed.

Their reply, he added, is why he feels they were not aware of what he was doing.

But time will tell, he added. And once again, there are still a lot more questions that need to be answered by family and friends.

CNN has made several attempts to contact Heuermann’s wife and daughter.

The attorneys for Ellerup said Thursday she and her family “are going through a tragic moment in their lives” and are asking for privacy.

The delicate nature of her husband’s imprisonment is having an emotional toll on the immediate and extended family, especially their senior family members,” said a statement from the Macedonio & Duncan legal company. “Ms. Ellerup does not wish to talk further and has begged the public and press to kindly respect the family’s privacy at this time.

Following his arrest, Heuermann was.

Heuermann has had no visitors in the Suffolk County detention facility where he’s being kept since his Friday arraignment, Suffolk County Sheriff Errol D. Toulon, Jr., told CNN’s Brynn Gingras. He is allowed to make two phone calls every day, but it’s unclear if he has communicated with anyone, the sheriff noted.anded without bail. He submitted a not-guilty plea through his attorney. His next court date is scheduled for August 1.