Wife of Gilgo Beach murder suspect returns to their Long Island home after search ends

MASSAPEQUA PARK, Long Island (WABC) -- The estranged wife of Gilgo Beach suspect Rex Heuermann returned to her Massapequa Park home, after police cleared it as a crime scene.

A Nassau police officer stood guard as Asa Ellerup, who filed for divorce from Heuermann earlier this month, arrived at the 1st Avenue home Thursday morning.
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She was escorted by a detective and accompanied by her children.

The property was turned back over to the family after a large-scale police search, which lasted 12 days, ended.

That search involved ripping up the yard and the discovery of a basement vault containing hundreds of weapons kept by the man accused of killing at least three women more than a decade ago.



A coalition of law enforcement agencies had been poring over the property since July 14th, when Heuermann was arrested and charged with killing three women - Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello, and Megan Waterman - and dumping their bodies along a remote stretch of coastal highway near Long Island's Gilgo Beach more than a decade ago. Prosecutors identified him as the prime suspect in the death of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes.



Heuermann, who worked as an architect in Manhattan, has denied the charges through his lawyer.
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Massapequa Park village officials are in contact with Ellerup's lawyers about their expectation that the property be cleaned up or sold.

Village officials are preparing to buy the house from them as a potential eventuality, but said they would prefer the Heuermanns restore or sell the property to a private buyer.

The end of the search at the Long Island home comes as police in Las Vegas and South Carolina are beginning their own investigations into whether the suspect may have been connected to any unresolved cases. Heuermann owns a timeshare in Las Vegas and planned to retire in a remote area of South Carolina, where his brother currently lives.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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