Suspected Long Island serial killer’s daughter, ex-wife appear in court following Netflix documentary

Suspected Long Island serial killer Rex Heuermann's daughter, Victoria Heuermann, and soon-to-be-ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, have "questions and concerns" after watching the recent Netflix docuseries Gone Girls — and they need to hear the answers for themselves, their lawyer said. Victoria Heuermann, 27, and her mother, Asa Ellerup, 61, attended the ongoing pre-trial hearing for the first time since it began on March 28. The Frye hearing serves to determine the admissibility of DNA evidence in the case — a topic the pair has a vested interest in, considering both of their DNA were allegedly found on the victim's bodies. "It is important for the family to be here to obtain whatever type of closure they're going to get out of this case," Ellerup's lawyer, Bob Macedonio, told reporters outside the Suffolk County courthouse. "She (Ellerup) wants to see this play out in the courtroom and listen to the evidence there — not the media, not the podcast, not the Netflix series." Gone Girls, the three-part Netflix docuseries released on March 31, explores the corruption in the Suffolk County Police Department at the time of the original Gilgo Beach serial killer investigation. Richard Burke, police chief at the time, led the investigation, allegedly blocked collaboration between the SCPD and other county agencies and ultimately served 46 months in prison for it. One of the questions the docuseries raised, Macedonio said, was whether the DNA evidence was obtained illegally — but that's a question that will have to wait until the trial itself. It's "difficult" for the family to attend the pre-trial hearing and see Rex Heuermann sit in front of the judge, Macedonio said, but necessary. "They're the only people in that courtroom that their DNA is alleged to be on victims of homicide, victims of a serial killer," he said. "So it's very important to see and listen and hear it for themselves, instead of have somebody else tell them that 'It was your DNA.'" "Asa has said from the beginning she does not believe Rex, the man she married and the father of her children, was capable of committing these crimes," Macedonio added.

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As the Frye hearing — characterized by lengthy, jargon-heavy scientific presentations — continued on April 15, the mother-daughter duo watched from the gallery as Dr. Richard Green, co-founder of the lab that analyzed the nuclear DNA evidence, took the stand. Astrea Labs, in California, is a forensic genetics lab that specializes in analyzing "challenging samples" — DNA samples that are ancient, or especially fragile or small. The lab also identifies human remains for FBI and local law enforcement cases at the agencies' request. Dr. Green asserted that the method of DNA extraction and testing used on the evidence in this case is widely accepted in the forensics field and the scientific community as a whole. However, Astrea Labs is "not currently" accredited by ANAB, the American National Standards Institute’s accreditation board. They are "in the process," Dr. Green said, and ANAB has given them an approximate timeline of winter in early 2026. Without the nuclear DNA, however, Heuermann is still allegedly linked to five of the victims he is charged with via hairs for which he, his daughter, and his estranged wife could be donors. Rex Heuermann's defense attorney, Michael Brown, has repeatedly argued that mitochondrial DNA results are not strong in court. Brown is set to cross-examine Dr. Green when the hearing continues on Wednesday, April 16.