Some Long Island real estate agent is about to have the toughest job of their career. The lifelong home of Rex Heuermann, the alleged Long Island serial killer behind the deaths of multiple women since the 1990s, is reportedly about to hit the market as his wife and adult children leave New York for a new life elsewhere. Now, neighbors are speculating about who might buy such a property—or what might take its place.
Heuermann is believed to be the killer characterized as “LISK” in Robert Kolker’s 2013 non-fiction bestseller Lost Girls: An American Unsolved Mystery. Investigators say that the same killer—now believed to be Heuermann—was responsible for the deaths of at least ten women whose bodies were dumped in the region. Long unsolved, the case saw a break in 2023 when DNA testing and cell phone and credit card data linked Heuermann to some of the remains.
Heuermann, a 60-year-old architect who police say stocked his residential basement with (per the New York Times) “an arsenal and a manual of grisly methods on how to hunt and kill women,” maintains his innocence, and has pled not guilty to charges in six deaths stretching back to 1993. His wife, Asa Ellerup, also believes that he had nothing to do with the crimes. Ellerup “still has the same opinion: She doesn’t believe he’s capable of what he’s been accused of,” her attorney, Robert Macedonio says.
Despite that, Macedonio tells ABC 7 that Ellerup and the couple’s two adult children “are moving out of the home and in the process of relocating.” Speaking with NBC 4, Macedonio says that the family will move to South Carolina as repeated raids by law enforcement have caused her to lose “her attachment to her house of 30 years.”
“To start the healing process, she wants to move on,” Macedonio told the broadcast station via statement.
Even before Ellerup moved into the home, Heuermann was there. According to the Associated Press, the single-story house had been Heuermann’s home since his childhood. Neighbors say that it had been in a state of disrepair for years, with one nearby resident saying, “It was weird. He looked like a businessman. But his house is a dump.”
The condition of the home has not improved in the meantime. Since July of 2023, it’s attracted tourists and true crime gawkers, as well as repeat visits from police seeking additional evidence in the case. According to Macedonio, investigators have left the interior seriously damaged, and Ellerup—who was reportedly paid as much as $1 million to participate in a Peacock documentary about the Long Island serial killer case—“has no money to repair it.”
According to a Daily Mail report from late 2023, the home was valued at $530,000 when Heuermann transferred the deed to Ellerup for $0, months after she filed for divorce. At the time, Ellerup’s attorney characterized the split merely as a “precautionary measure to protect her from future liability in case the families of Heuermann’s alleged victims sue.”
That divorce is expected to be finalized within six months, clearing the way for the home’s sale. Meanwhile, a trial date for Heuermann remains up in the air. During a hearing in October, a judge said a trial might be scheduled during a December 17 court date, even as Heuermann’s defense attorney argues that the trial should be moved elsewhere to ensure an untainted jury.
“We talked about a change of venue. We’re going to look into that. We have been looking into that, whether we can get a fair and impartial jury here in Suffolk County,” defense attorney Michael Brown said. “Where do I hope it would be? The trial itself? Mars, I don’t know.”
