51°
Heuermann, of the village of Massapequa Park in Nassau County, is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello and burying their bodies in a grassy area of Gilgo Beach, located in the town of Babylon in Suffolk County.
He's also a suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainard-Barnes.
Investigators said, those hairs helped link Heuermann but did not implicate his wife, Asa Ellerup, who, like her husband is age 59, in the crimes.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Heuermann’s DNA was found on one of the bodies, and Ellerup's DNA was found on two of the bodies, according to a report by CNN.
Tierney told CNN that the DNA was either transferred where one person has been near another person, or it was in a car or house the family member occupied with the suspect.
Ellerup is not a suspect and was out of the state or country at the time of each murder, police said.
But those hairs linked Heuermann to the bodies that were all found in the same camouflage material and placed in the same way, officials added.
CNN described Ellerup as being a "glum person," said reported that the family was said to be disgusted, shocked, and embarrassed by his arrest and the murders.
The New York Times reported that Ellerup visited the local supermarket several times a week over the past 20 years and often used food stamps, which seemed odd because of his ownership of a successful Manhattan architectural firm located in an office building on Fifth Avenue.
The couple, who lived in a rundown home, was not well known in the neighborhood, which was unusual in the close-knit community full of firefighters and police who take pride in their neighborhood, The Times reported.
Ellerup grew up just a few miles from Heuermann after she emigrated from Iceland with her parents and sister. The Times said her father still lives in the family home.
She attended Farmingdale High School and was married and divorced in the early 1990s. It's not known when she married Heuermann. Their children are in their 20s. The newspaper reported it appears she did not work and often looked unkempt.
The whereabouts of the family is not known since Heuermann's arrest.
Heuermann pleaded not guilty to the killings of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello and is the prime suspect in the killing of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, according to court documents.
As neighbors continued to speculate, police are continuing their investigation by searching a storage unit, traveling to South Carolina to retrieve a truck that matches the truck seen near where the bodies were found, and searching a Las Vegas home.
This continues to be a developing story. Check back to Daily Voice for updates.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Rivertowns and receive free news updates.
