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Heuermann’s adult children plan to file a notice of claim for damages against Suffolk County law enforcement, the first step in a potential lawsuit, their attorney Vess Mitev told Daily Voice.
“Their valuables were shattered. Their beds were destroyed. The places that they lay their heads down at night no longer exist,” he said. “Their house is in shambles. It’s ransacked.”
Heuermann’s 59-year-old wife, Asa Ellerup, and their two adult children returned to their Massapequa Park home on Thursday, July 27, where investigators spent 12 days looking for additional evidence in the case.
The search included digging up the backyard with a backhoe and using ground-penetrating radar. Police also cut open the family’s couch and bathtub, ripped up their flooring, and removed drain pipes from a bathroom, attorneys said.
Inside the “very cluttered” home, detectives recovered at least 279 weapons from a large basement vault along with boxes of evidence, said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney, who announced he would prosecute the case himself.
“Everything is destroyed,” Ellerup, who has filed for divorce from Heuermann, told ABC News. “(My children) have been crying themselves to sleep and I’ve been crying myself to sleep, too.”
Also on Friday, Ellerup’s attorney, Robert Macedonio, revealed that she has been suffering from skin and breast cancer for several years, and her health insurance, which was tied to her husband’s business, is set to expire in 60 days.
"Emotionally, she’s recovering each day not only dealing with the cancer, but this newfound life that she has to come to terms with protecting herself and children," he said.
Ellerup filed for divorce from Heuermann on July 19, days after he was arrested and charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello. He is also the primary suspect in the disappearance and killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Attorney John Ray, who represents some of the victims’ relatives, called the potential lawsuit against police an outrage.
“(Ellerup) should be considered a suspect and not just a bystander or someone who’s been victimized by her husband,” Ray told reporters.
Defense attorney Ken Belkin, who is not affiliated with Ellerup or her children, told CBS New York the lawsuit may not stand up in court.
“The police were doing their lawful obligation to pursue an investigation into a suspected serial killer,” Belkin told the outlet. “I understand it’s inconvenient when you might live with a suspected serial killer.”
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