Gilgo Beach murders – latest: Rex Heuermann appears in court as mass of evidence including tapes revealed

An attorney for Asa Ellerup, the wife of Rex Heuermann, described a chaotic scene inside the house that she shared with the accused killer.

“Everything in the house was turned upside down,” Bob Macedonio, Ms Ellerup’s attorney told CNN.

“Dresser drawers were emptied out. The bathroom tub – which was a vinyl tub – was actually cut open. The floors were ripped up. The couches and the mattresses have been removed,” Mr Macedonio said.

Investigators in the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said that law enforcement found “massive amounts” of material when they investigated the suspect’s home.

For more than a decade, the accused killer continued to go about his day-to-day life – going to work at his architecture firm in Manhattan and coming home to his wife and two children.

He seemed just as baffled by his lack of arrest as the local residents and victims’ families who questioned why police had not been able to catch the killer.

Rex Heuermann’s attorney has said that the suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer is “traumatised” by his sudden arrest – as he claims that the 59-year-old married father-of-two has already been “convicted by the media”.

Attorney Michael Brown told ABC News that he met the accused serial killer for the first time on Friday when he was arraigned on charges for murdering three women and dumping their bodies along the shores of Long Island.

He said that Mr Heuermann seemed normal in the meeting but was “traumatised” by the fact he had been taken into custody over the unsolved killings.

“Nothing struck me as unusual about him. He was articulate, he was intelligent, he was soft-spoken,” he said.

Shannan Gilbert, 24, disappears after working a job as an escort in Oak Beach, Long Island.

Suffolk County police find four bodies along Ocean Parkway between Gilgo Beach and Cedar Beach while searching for Ms Gilbert.

Victims identified as Megan Waterman, 22, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Amber Lynn Costello, 27. All four women were escorts.

Ms Waterman was last seen in the spring of 2010. Ms Brainard-Barnes was last seen on 9 July 2007. Ms Barthelemy was last seen on 12 July 2009. Ms Costello was last seen on 2 September 2010.

By April, eight other bodies were found in a several-mile stretch along the Long Island Shore. Among those were a toddler and one man.

Remains of Ms Gilbert are found.

Police release a photo of a black leather belt embossed with the letters “WH” or “HM” and ask for the public’s help in identifying what it could mean or who it could belong to.

Suffolk County Police Department, Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police and the FBI form a task force to investigate the Gilgo Beach killings.

Rex Heuermann arrested in Midtown Manhattan and charged with three counts of first-degree murder for Ms Waterman, Ms Barthelemy, and Ms Costello. He is also named as the prime suspect in Ms Brainard-Barnes’ death.

Dave Schaller told the Associated Press in an exclusive interview that, by the time Rex Heuermann’s mugshot was plastered on every local and national news channel on 13 July, he was very familiar with the Frankenstein-like figure with an “empty gaze” he had long ago described to investigators.

Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann had just one chilling question for jail officials following his arrest last week, it has been revealed.

As the 59-year-old married father-of-two was processed into Suffolk County Jail on a string of murder charges, sources told CNN he was curious about his newfound notoriety.

“Is it in the news?” he asked.

Mr Heuermann’s alleged interest in the media coverage of the killings isn’t new.

Court documents revealed that over the last year between March 2022 and June 2023, he repeatedly looked online for updates in the investigation, searched for details about the victims and their families, read news stories about the case and looked for podcasts and documentaries about the murders.

The wife of suspected killer Rex Heuermann described the overwhelming emotions she and her family have experienced since her soon-to-be ex-husband was arrested and accused of murdering three women.

“[My children] have been crying themselves to sleep. And I’ve been crying myself to sleep too. Every time my kids go through something… they open a box. Every single time they cry…” Asa Ellerup told ABC News.

Ms Ellerup has since filed for divorce from Mr Heuermann after 27 years of marriage.

Her attorney told CNN that she had “no idea” of her husband’s alleged actions.

The estranged wife of Gilgo Beach murders suspect Rex Heuermann has pleaded with the media to respect her family’s privacy.

Asa Ellerup, 59, filed for divorce after Mr Heuermann was charged on 13 July with the murders of three women whose bodies were found on a stretch of Long Island shoreline more than a decade ago.