Imagine finally stepping into a part of your own house that suddenly feels like a crime scene.
That’s what Asa Ellerup, the estranged wife of suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann, faced when she entered the infamous basement vault in her Massapequa Park home—a space now linked to unthinkable horrors.
This moment is captured in the new Peacock docuseries The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, which pulls back the curtain on what many are now calling a “kill room.”
Tucked behind a gun vault, this secret space housed nearly 280 firearms, and it’s now become a central piece of the investigation into a string of murders that haunted Long Island for decades.
Asa Ellerup Walks into the Vault for the First Time
In the series, we see Asa step into the wood-paneled room for the very first time.
The space—once just part of her family’s home—is now eerie and empty.
A safe is bolted into the wall, adorned with a chilling sticker: “Explosives Inside.
Do Not Attempt to Drill or Torch this Site.”
But Asa insists her husband wasn’t trying to hide anything sinister.
“He didn’t want anyone to have access to it, not because he was hiding something, but because he wanted to secure the safe,” she says.
The Daughter Speaks: “That’s the Secret Room Everyone Talks About”
Their daughter, 29-year-old Victoria Heuermann, confirms that this room—tucked behind the gun vault—is the one everyone keeps whispering about.
“It’s kind of a walk-in closet in the gun room, and it’s actually underneath the stairs,” she explains.
Victoria admits she never really saw the inside of the room until after her father’s arrest. “I wouldn’t go in there myself,” she says.
Her memories of the vault are innocent: her father showing off his gun collection and teaching her how to use one when she was old enough.
A Gun Collection Like No Other
The vault was no ordinary safe—it was a fortress. With a thick steel door and a combination lock, it kept Heuermann’s massive arsenal under tight security.
His longtime friend, David Jiminez, recalls being one of only four people to ever be allowed inside.
“He told me, ‘In 30 years, you’re the fourth person to ever be in this room,’” Jiminez says.
Heuermann, who began collecting guns at just 18, had rifles and weapons from wall to wall.
During the investigation, all of it was seized by authorities.
In May, even the vault’s steel door, engraved with his initials “RAH” for Rex Andrew Heuermann, was removed from the property.
Secrets Still Hidden as Trial Looms
While the docuseries shows the physical space, the real question remains: what, if anything, was actually found inside that secret room? Investigators are keeping that detail under wraps until the trial.
But prosecutors have already revealed a disturbing list of evidence—including cellphone data, hair belonging to Heuermann and his family on some victims, and even a suspected “kill plan.”
Family Bonds and a Divorce Meant to Survive the Fallout
Victoria opens up about the emotional impact of her father’s arrest and the divorce between her parents.
Finalized in April, Asa’s name is now on the deed to the home. “They did this divorce to protect the assets.
It’s now legally her house. If we lost the house, we’d be homeless,” Victoria shares. “It doesn’t mean we’re not a family anymore.”
The docuseries also touches on Asa’s earlier life—working at 7-Eleven, raising her son Christopher from a previous marriage, and falling for Rex, who was in college at the time.
“I love tall, dark, and handsome,” she admits. “I was madly in love with him.”
A Life Once Normal, Now Under a Microscope
Asa walks viewers through photo albums filled with memories—a thinner, younger Rex, their wedding day, snapshots from the early years of marriage and fatherhood.
It’s a striking contrast to the image of the man now charged with seven murders.
She remains adamant that the man she married couldn’t possibly be responsible. “Rex was not seeing prostitutes.
He was a family man,” she says. “I would need to hear it from Rex, face to face, that he killed those girls for me to believe it.”
Loyalty in the Courtroom
Asa, alongside her lawyer Robert Macedonio, has been a steady presence at Heuermann’s court hearings.
Sometimes, Victoria attends too. In one moment caught on camera, Asa applies makeup before heading to court.
“My husband never kept me out of anything.
That’s why I go—I want to see it for myself,” she says.
In another clip, she confides to her attorney that seeing Rex again in court was oddly comforting.
“I just don’t see him that way. No. That’s not the Rex I know,” she says.
The Long Island Nightmare That Shocked the Country
Heuermann is now charged with the murders of seven women, all sex workers, between 1993 and 2011.
Their bodies were found near Gilgo Beach and surrounding remote areas, sparking fears that a serial killer was prowling the region.
The mystery began in May 2010, when 24-year-old Shannan Gilbert disappeared.
Police searching for her in December that year stumbled upon the remains of Melissa Barthelemy.
Within days, three more bodies were found—Amber Costello, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, and Megan Waterman—wrapped in burlap and placed within a quarter-mile of each other. They became known as the “Gilgo Four.”
What Comes Next in the Gilgo Beach Case?
As the trial nears, the public is left wondering: what exactly was inside that vault? What role, if any, did that room play in the murders? And how much more is left to uncover?
Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges, but the evidence against him continues to pile up.
The docuseries doesn’t claim to have all the answers—but it gives the public a rare, intimate look at the family behind one of the most disturbing criminal cases in recent U.S. history.