The estranged wife of New York area architect Rex Heurmann, suspected of being the Gilgo Beach series killer, released a statement on Wednesday saying she does not believe her ex-husband is "capable" of committing the crimes he is being accused of.
"I will listen to all of the evidence and withhold judgment until the end of the trial," she said through her attorneys, Bob Macedonio and George Duncan. "I have given him the benefit of the doubt, as we all deserve."
Fox News reported that the suspect faces counts of first and second-degree murder in connection to the deaths of four women whose remains were found alongside Ocean Parkway, approximately 50 miles east of New York City.
The victims were Melissa Barthelemy, 24; Megan Waterman, 22; Amber Costello, 27; and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25.
"Ms. Ellerup visits Mr. Heuermann weekly and still maintains that Rex is not capable of the crimes he is accused of," her lawyers said in the statement.
Ellerup divorced Heurmann after his arrest in July 2023 but began visiting him at the Suffolk County Jail.
A county sheriff spokeswoman said Ellerup's first visitation showed up in the logs in November of last year and that she has gone a total of seven times.
In her statement, Ellerup claimed to be visiting him weekly. Divorce proceedings are ongoing, an attorney told Fox News Digital.
Prosecutors contend that Heuermann continued to patronize sex workers regularly up until his arrest, and women in the industry have described encounters with him in places as far apart as Atlantic City, Las Vegas, and San Francisco.
The suspect is accused of killing four women known as the Gilgo Four, whose bodies were found in close proximity to one another during a search for Shannan Gilbert, who had gone missing after a harrowing 911 call in 2010.
More than a decade later, Suffolk County police said they believed Gilbert's death had been an accident. But the search did uncover the bodies of the Gilgo Four as well as six other victims found along Ocean Parkway.
An investigation into the other deaths remains ongoing, police say. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail and is due back in court on April 17.
