The suspected Gilgo Beach killer has been linked to two more victims in a new testimony, according to the lawyers of the women’s families.
Rex Heuermann was formally charged with the first-degree murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Amber Costello and Megan Waterman after a year-long investigation into the Massapequa Park-based architect.
New York prosecutors had previously confirmed they were also investigating the suspected serial killer for the murder of a fourth woman, Maureen Brainard-Barnes – whose remains were also found at Gilgo Beach.
Now lawyers for the families of two other women whose remains were found in similar circumstances as the three others claimed Heuermann had first-hand encounters with both before their deaths.
They alleged the architect was a “serial user” of sex workers and attended “swinger” parties where he allegedly met the two women.
READ MORE: Follow our social media accounts here on facebook.com/ExpressUSNews and @expressusnews
The new allegations came to light during a news briefing by Long Island lawyer John Ray and Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison. District Attorney Ray Tierney distanced himself from the claims.
Ray is the legal representative for the family of Shannan Gilbert, 24, who vanished on May 1, 2010 after calling 911 in a panic to report that “there’s somebody after me.”
Gilbert was a sex worker like most of the other Gilgo Beach killer victims. She was last seen alive as she banged on doors while fleeing down an Oak Beach street.
The search for the 24-year-old ultimately led to the discovery of human remains of at least 10 people on Gilgo Beach, including of the four women linked to Heuermann earlier this year.
Ray claimed new witnesses had come forward and directly linked the suspected killer to both Gilbert and Karen Vergata, whose hands and feet were recovered on the beach in 1996 but she wasn’t identified until this year.
The lawyer said one of the witnesses had contacted him after seeing a picture of Gilbert and the suspected killer on television following his arrest.
The anonymous witness claimed Gilbert had been “lured” into meeting Heuermann at a Sayville motel only a few months before her death.
Another witness allegedly attended a swinger party with her police officer boyfriend in 1996 where she met both Heuermann and Vergata.
She claimed the suspected killer was “a serial user of sex workers” and would call two at a time while his wife was at home with him.
But a lawyer for Heuermann’s wife rejected the allegations as “ludicrous.” Bob Macedonio told Fox News Digital: “It makes no relevant sense for Asa Ellerup to be upstairs in a house, which you’ve all seen [is] very small, while her husband is downstairs quote-unquote ‘having sex workers at the house.”
Ellerup filed for divorce from her husband shortly after his arrest and said through her legal team that she was unaware of Heuermann’s activities outside the home.
Follow our social media accounts here on facebook.com/ExpressUSNews and @expressusnews
