Streaming service Peacock is paying the family of a Manhattan architect accused of killing three women whose remains were found along Gilgo Beach on Long Island to participate in a documentary series about his trial, the New York Times reported Tuesday, drawing ire from victims’ families as the decades-long mystery is thrust back into the spotlight.
Accused Gilgo Beach killer Rex Heuermann appears in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead, New York on ... [+]
Asa Ellerup, who filed for divorce from longtime husband Rex Heuermann days after he was arrested in July, was recently seen in court with a Peacock film crew, the Times reported, though the NBC streamer has yet to comment on the planned production.
The couple’s two adult children have also reportedly sold their life rights, according to Deadline, and will receive payments for their participation alongside Heuermann’s attorneys.
No one close to the case has publicly commented on the production or the money they will receive, though NewsNation reported the family was in for a $1 million payday and the attorneys will each make between $200,000 and $400,000.
Ellerup's lawyer, Robert Macedonio, told the New York Times the production will be partially developed by G-Unit, 50 Cent's production company.
Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney, whose office is prosecuting Heuermann's case, told the Times the documentary is "going to affect (Ellerup's) credibility," and Rodney Harrison, Suffolk County’s outgoing police commissioner, called it "a smack at the family members who lost a loved one.”
Representatives for NBC and G-Unit did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment Tuesday.
“Disappointed, disgusted, flabbergasted, frustrated are a few words that come to mind right now,” Sherre Gilbert, sister of murder victim Shannan Gilbert, wrote in a post on X about the upcoming documentary. “The way that the media will buy stories to further re-victimize, re-traumatize, and exploit the families & victims of serial killers is evil!”
Heuermann was arrested on July 13 and has pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder in the deaths of Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Megan Waterman, 22, whose remains were all found on Gilgo Beach between 2010 and 2011. Police say he'd hired the women as escorts before killing them, wrapping them in burlap and burying them at Gilgo Beach, the half-way point between the suburb he lived in and where his office was located in New York City. A police K-9 found Barthelemy's body first in December 2010 while searching for another missing woman, Shannan Gilbert. Two days later, the remains of three other women were discovered. Seven other bodies, including a man and a toddler, were found in the months that followed. John Ray, a representative for Gilbert’s family has said he feels “very strongly” that there is “undoubtedly” another suspect in the 11 murders. Heuermann lived in the Long Island suburban town of Massapequa with Ellerup and their two children. The couple had been married for 27 years. Ellerup has not been charged in the murders and police say they happened while she was traveling. Macedonio has said his client knew nothing about the killings.
Heuermann's trial. The defendant appeared in court on Nov. 15 for a pre-trial hearing and is expected to go before a jury next year.