.It’s the kind of nightmare you’d think only exists in crime shows—until it happens in your own family.
Victoria Heuermann, the daughter of accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann, is finally speaking out.
And what she’s saying is sending shockwaves through a case already shrouded in horror, mystery, and heartbreak.
In a brand-new Peacock docuseries The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, airing this week, Victoria takes viewers inside the emotional chaos of being the child of a man suspected of one of New York’s most infamous killing sprees.
“I’m On the Fence”—Victoria Reveals Her Growing Doubts
For a long time, Victoria stayed quiet as the headlines exploded with her father’s name and face.
But now, she’s admitting what many feared—she’s no longer sure of his innocence.
“I’m on the fence,” she says on camera.
“There’s part of me that thinks he didn’t do it… but at the same time, I don’t know. He could have totally had a double life.”
And just before the series’ release, she made a gut-wrenching confession to producers: based on everything she’s seen and learned, she believes her dad most likely is the Gilgo Beach killer.
Family Vacations and Chilling Coincidences
One of the most haunting parts of the docuseries shows Victoria grappling with a timeline that’s hard to ignore.
In June 2010, when Victoria was off on a trip to Six Flags in Maryland with her mom and brother, her dad stayed home on Long Island.
Around that same time, 22-year-old Megan Waterman disappeared.
Her body was found later that year, wrapped in burlap near Gilgo Beach.
Victoria remembers that vacation fondly—laughing, enjoying her childhood. But now? She’s haunted by the timing.
“Is that a coincidence?” she wonders. “I don’t know.”
Childhood Memories Clashing With Horrific Allegations
From ages 10 to 13, Victoria remembers her father as being present—there in the mornings, there at night.
She even worked with him later at his Manhattan architecture firm.
“I really looked up to him,” she says. “I thought, ‘Wow, big shoes to fill.’”
But there were cracks. She recalls how stress from his demanding job would boil over at home.
No violence, she insists—just occasional outbursts, like throwing a plate into the sink.
Still, she acknowledges there were times he wasn’t around.
And it’s in that 10 percent of time—those empty gaps—where doubt creeps in.
A Family Divided Over the Truth
While Victoria’s feelings have shifted, her mother Asa Ellerup is standing firm.
She flat-out refuses to believe her husband is a killer.
In fact, Asa says she would need to hear it from Rex himself—face to face—before she’d ever believe it.
In the docuseries, she describes visiting him in prison as feeling like “a first date.”
Despite her loyalty, Asa did file for divorce shortly after the arrest.
But the family says the decision was made to protect their assets, and the divorce was finalized in March.
Yet Asa still shows up to court to support her ex-husband, creating a visible divide within the family.
The Horrors of the Gilgo Beach Case
Rex Heuermann, a 61-year-old architect, is accused of being behind the brutal murders of seven women—possibly more—spanning almost two decades.
All the victims were sex workers, and their bodies were found dumped across remote stretches of Long Island, many bound, some dismembered.
The case first made national headlines in 2010 when 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert vanished.
Her 911 call, where she begged for help and claimed someone was trying to kill her, led police to a gruesome discovery—one body, then another, and eventually what came to be known as The Gilgo Four: Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, and Megan Waterman.
Evidence Mounts Against Heuermann
Heuermann was arrested in July 2023 outside his Midtown Manhattan office, after years of the case going cold.
Authorities say he was identified in part thanks to a tip about a green Chevy Avalanche.
That lead unraveled into a mountain of disturbing evidence.
Investigators say they found hairs from Heuermann and his family on some of the victims, as well as cellphone data that links him to several of the women.
In his basement, authorities discovered a hard drive containing what they called a “planning document” with chilling notes—like a preference for “small” women.
He’s now facing charges for seven murders and has pleaded not guilty to all of them.
The Victims Keep Adding Up
Initially, Heuermann was charged with three murders.
But by 2024, he was also charged with the killings of Brainard-Barnes, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor, and Valerie Mack.
Costilla wasn’t even considered a Gilgo Beach victim until that point, stretching the suspected timeline all the way back to 1993.
Some victims, including Karen Vergata, Tanya Jackson, her two-year-old daughter Tatiana Dykes, and an unidentified woman called “Asian Doe,” remain uncharged in connection to Heuermann—but the investigations are ongoing.
A Corrupt Past Casts a Shadow Over Justice
The case went unsolved for over a decade, in part because of a major scandal within the Suffolk County Police Department.
Former police chief James Burke, who blocked FBI involvement early on, was later jailed for beating a man who stole porn from his cruiser.
It wasn’t until a new task force was created that real progress was made. And it all led to Heuermann.
A Trial on the Horizon
As the legal process grinds forward, Heuermann’s defense team is working hard to have the DNA evidence thrown out and to split the case into five separate trials.
But the court of public opinion is already buzzing—and Victoria’s heartbreaking confession may have just tipped the scales further.
What Comes Next for the Heuermann Family?
With Victoria questioning her father’s innocence and Asa standing firmly by his side, the family remains in a fragile, uncertain place.
The docuseries doesn’t just explore the murders—it dives deep into the emotional wreckage left behind in the wake of this ongoing nightmare.
One thing is clear: the answers are still unfolding, and the truth—whatever it is—will change this family forever.