Gilgo Beach Serial Killing Suspect’s Wife Set To Put Long Island Home on the Market: Police Claim He Tortured His Victims in the Basement

The wife of the Gilgo Beach serial killing suspect is preparing to put their dilapidated home in Massapequa Park, NY, on the market.

Rex Heuermann, a 60-year-old Manhattan architect is accused of murdering six women and dumping their remains on a Long Island beach. Heuermann is currently being held in jail without bail.

The home on First Avenue is also where prosecutors claim he tortured the victims. Prosecutors say they found a trove of evidence, including a murder “planning document,” related to the long-unsolved slayings of a half-dozen sex workers who disappeared decades ago and whose remains were found in the area.

Heuermann lived in the home his entire life and spent the last three decades there with with Asa Ellerup and their two children.

Ellerup and the two adult children—whose home has become a dark-tourism hot spot—now plan to relocate to South Carolina, where they own a property. Their daughter, Victoria, 28, previously worked at Heuermann’s Manhattan architecture firm, which has since closed; son Christopher, 35, struggles to avoid public scrutiny even during routine errands like walking his therapy dog, Stewie.

Since Heuermann’s arrest in July 2023, the Long Island house has been a magnet for news crews, tourists, and investigators, turning the once-quiet suburban street into a gruesome spectacle.

And the decision has come as a relief to neighbors.

“The best thing that could happen is they knock that house down and build a brand-new one so that the memory of all this is obliterated,” said neighbor Albert Cella, 80, in an interview with the New York Times.

However, for that to happen, the “murder home” will have to sell. But to whom?

“Some well-known homes could attract buyers due to their storied past, while others may suffer and spend longer on the market,” says Realtor.com® senior economic research analyst Hannah Jones. “Either way, homes with some element of notoriety tend to draw more viewers than similar properties in the same area, though most are not serious shoppers.”

A battered home with a grim history

The single-story house gained notoriety after Heuermann’s arrest. Prosecutors claim the Long Island native led a double life—a family man by day, serial killer by night—operating out of the modest home’s basement, where police found more than 200 guns and gruesome how-to manuals on murder. That trove of evidence also led police to believe he likely tortured his victims in the home’s basement.

Investigators tore the home apart during multiple searches, cutting up floors, dismantling plumbing, and digging up the backyard. The already-rundown house has not recovered from those investigations, with interiors reportedly left in disarray. A bathtub is said to be held together with duct tape, and much of the furniture and personal items were removed as evidence.

Ellerup’s attorney, Robert Macedonio, called the flagging property a burden in explaining her decision to sell.

“People constantly stop in front of the house, to gawk and point and take pictures,” he said. “She’s lost any emotional attachment she had to the premises because of everything that’s gone on, and the only way she can start recovering is to move.”

Despite that, Ellerup has remained in the tainted home for more than a year perhaps because she believes her husband is innocent. As Macedonio says, she “still has the same opinion: She doesn’t believe he’s capable of what he’s been accused of.”

Will anyone buy the home of an alleged serial killer?

The house, however, can’t officially hit the market until Ellerup’s divorce from Heuermann is finalized in about six months.

Some locals even suggested that the village purchase the property to prevent it from being resold to another family.

The 1956 home is now worth at least nearly $600,000, according to estimates on Realtor.com. The modest dwelling is surrounded by much larger homes that can stretch into seven-figures territory because of the area’s proximity to the beach. However, the median listing price is $798,500, according to the latest Realtor.com data.

John Succoso, a real estate professional representing Massapequa and greater Long Island with Douglas Elliman, thinks the home may sell to a builder, but he doesn’t rule out someone buying it themselves.

“I’ve been in the real estate business for 30+ years; every home will sell, including the ‘Amityville Horror’ house,” Succoso insists. “It’s sold three times since I was in the business and every time for money. Will the Gilgo home sell? There will be a stigma. It may sell for less than a similar home, but every house eventually sells.”

The Amityville property is where Ronald DeFeo Jr. shot and killed his parents and four siblings on Nov. 13, 1974. It last sold in 2017 for $605,000.