Gilgo Beach murder suspect's wife giving him the 'benefit of the doubt'

LONG ISLAND, N.Y. (PIX11) --- The estranged wife of Gilgo Beach murder suspect Rex Heuermann is giving him the benefit of the doubt until she hears all the evidence at trial, according to her lawyers.

Heuermann is accused of killing four women on Long Island between 2007 and 2010. The former New York architect was arrested last year after investigators caught a break in the case in 2022.

But Asa Ellerup said she still does not believe he is capable of the slayings while acknowledging "nobody deserves to die that way." Ellerup said she still visits the alleged serial killer while he's awaiting trial.

“I will listen to all of the evidence and withhold judgment until the end of trial. I have given Rex
the benefit of the doubt, as we all deserve," Ellerup said in a statement through her attorneys.

Heuermann was formally charged in the killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, months after having been labeled the prime suspect in her death when he was arrested in July in the deaths of three other women, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello.

Police say the breakthrough came from DNA extracted from hair at the scene. A hair found with Brainard-Barnes’ remains is genetically similar to a DNA sample taken from Heuermann’s ex-wife. During the period when Brainard-Barnes disappeared in 2007, Heuermann’s ex-wife and his daughter were staying out of town at a hotel in Atlantic City, the indictment and her attorney confirmed.

Brainard-Barnes left her hometown of Norwich, Connecticut, on July 9, 2007, and headed to Manhattan for sex work, with plans to return the following day, according to friends who became concerned when she uncharacteristically stopped using her phone.

But the 25-year-old never came back.

Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the murders and is being held without bail.