In a revelation that has sent shockwaves through the Long Island community and true-crime followers worldwide, Asa Ellerup — the ex-wife of confessed Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann — has admitted she now sleeps in the very basement where her former husband claims he murdered and dismembered most of his victims.

The bombshell disclosure comes in the final episode of the Peacock documentary The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, which aired this week. In chilling footage, Ellerup stands inside the now-gutted “kill room” of their former family home in Massapequa Park, speaking directly to the camera with a mix of sorrow, defiance, and eerie calm.

“The brutal truth is that Rex Heuermann said he dismembered the bodies in this room,” she says, gesturing around the space. “That is the brutal truth. Now there’s me. I am in this room.”

Ellerup, who finalized her divorce from Heuermann in March 2025, revealed she completely renovated the basement after his April 8, 2026, courtroom confession. Yet instead of sealing off the horror, she chose to move her bed down there. “I am haunted by dreams every night,” she confesses. “It will never go away. It will follow me for the rest of my life.”

During a supervised jail visit last summer, Heuermann calmly told his then-wife that he had killed eight women — one more than the seven he was formally charged with — and that “all except one” were murdered and dismembered right there in the basement of the home they shared while raising their children.

“I asked him, ‘How many of these women did you kill?’” Ellerup recalls in the documentary. “He said eight.”

The former architect, now 62, has pleaded guilty to the murders of the “Gilgo Four” — Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Lynn Costello — plus Jessica Taylor, Valerie Mack, and Sandra Costilla. He also admitted to killing Karen Vergata, whose case had not previously been linked to him. Heuermann is scheduled for sentencing on June 17.

Ellerup says she is still processing the double life her husband led for decades. “I want to get to know the other side of Rex,” she explains. “I want to know why he killed these women, what his triggers were. I see evil in him now.”

The basement, once a family space, was allegedly turned into a chamber of horrors while Ellerup and their children lived upstairs, completely unaware. Investigators found disturbing items linking Heuermann to the victims, including jewelry, clothing, and notes. Heuermann reportedly used the space during times when his wife was away.

Despite the overwhelming horror, Ellerup says she sleeps there as a form of spiritual atonement. “I’m trying to say spiritually in my own way that I am really sorry for what these victims went through,” she told the filmmakers.

Her decision has sparked intense debate online and among victims’ families. Some see it as a brave act of confronting trauma; others view it as deeply disturbing and question her judgment. “How can anyone sleep there knowing what happened?” one relative of a victim asked anonymously.

The documentary, produced in partnership with the New York Post, provides new insight into the toll the case has taken on those closest to the killer. Ellerup describes nights filled with nightmares and a lingering sense that true justice may never come.

Meanwhile, the Long Island community continues to grapple with the legacy of the Gilgo Beach murders. The discovery of multiple sets of remains along Ocean Parkway in 2010 and 2011 sparked one of the largest serial killer investigations in American history. Heuermann’s arrest in 2023 finally brought a name to the monster who had haunted the area for decades.

As Ellerup attempts to reclaim the house that was once a family home and later a house of secrets, she remains steadfast in her desire for answers. “There will never be any justice for anyone,” she says, “and there will never be any way to forget about this.”

Her raw testimony in the documentary’s final episode leaves viewers with an unsettling portrait of a woman forever tied to one of America’s most notorious killers — now choosing to rest each night in the very place where his evil unfolded.

For the families of the victims, the pain remains raw. For Asa Ellerup, the nightmare lives downstairs, every single night.