Rex Heuermann’s ex-wife sleeps in basement where he dismembered his victims: 'I am haunted by dreams' 38%

By Chris Bradford73%

4/23/2026, 11:48:20 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Availability Heuristic, and Primacy Effect, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 37.8% saturation with 209 hits. Analysis detected 1,199 faulty-reasoning hits from 553 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 43.8% and a BS Rank of 38% (13,739 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 62.80% of the article peer group.

Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann’s ex-wife sleeps in the basement where he killed and dismembered his victims  leaving her “haunted by dreams” every night, she revealed in a documentary episode airing Thursday. 
Asa Ellerup moved into the now-gutted kill room in their Long Island home after her psycho husband confessed to her that he’d slaughtered seven of his eight victims there, she told the fourth installment of the Peacock doc “The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets,” produced in partnership with The Post. 
“The brutal truth is that Rex Heuermann said he dismembered the bodies in this room,” she said in an interview in the creepy space. 
“That is the brutal truth. 
Now there’s me. 
I am in this room. 
And I am here because I do feel spiritual. 
“I’m trying to say spiritually in my own way that I am really sorry for what these victims went through.” 
Ellerup, who finalized her divorce from Heuermann in March 2025, said she “completely gutted” his kill room  but cannot erase his sadistic crime spree. 
“Every night when I go to sleep, I am haunted by dreams. 
Every night,” she said. 
“It will never go away. 
It will follow me for the rest of my life. 
There will never be any justice for anyone and there will never be any way to forget about this.” 
In the episode, “Confession,” Ellerup said she still wants to know how Heuermann was able to hide his double life from her as she thought she knew the man she was with from 1993 and 2010. 
“I want to get to know the other side of Rex. 
I want to know why Rex killed these women, what his triggers were,” she said. 
“I am processing the information in a very different way because now I see evil in him.” 
Heuermann admitted to killing eight women despite the fact he was only charged with seven murders. 
Ellerup recalled visiting her ex in jail last summer, where he made that chilling confession. 
“I understand that you are confessing to me on these murders  can you please tell me how many of these women did you kill?” 
Ellerup recalled asking. 
He told her it was eight, one more than he’d been charged for, and that “all except one” were killed in his room in the basement of the Massapequa Park home where they raised their family. 
Prosecutors have long claimed Ellerup didn’t know anything about Heuermann’s killing spree. 
Long Island serial killer fears only arose in 2010 when the first of 11 sets of human remains were found along Ocean Parkway  near Gilgo Beach. 
Sets of human remains were discovered between 2010 and 2011. 
Heuermann pleaded guilty to killing Amber Lynn Costello, 27, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, who were famously known as the “Gilgo Four.” 
He also copped to the murders of Valerie Mack, 24, Jessica Taylor, 20, and Sandra Costilla, 28, in the case that has gripped Long Island for three decades. 
Heuermann also confessed to the murder of Karen Vergata, whose case hadn’t been linked to him. 
He will not face charges in relation to Vergata’s murder, and will be sentenced on June 17. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 5.1%Chris Bradford: 4.1%California Post: 4.1%Confirmation Bias5.1%This article: 6.5%Chris Bradford: 2.0%California Post: 1.4%Anchoring Bias6.5%This article: 16.1%Chris Bradford: 3.5%California Post: 4.2%Availability Heuristic16.1%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 1.0%California Post: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 4.9%Chris Bradford: 1.5%California Post: 0.8%Hindsight Bias4.9%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 3.5%California Post: 2.2%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 9.0%Chris Bradford: 10.7%California Post: 10.3%Framing Effect9.0%This article: 4.5%Chris Bradford: 0.4%California Post: 0.9%Loss Aversion4.5%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.4%California Post: 0.6%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.0%California Post: 0.2%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 1.7%California Post: 2.5%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 6.1%Chris Bradford: 1.7%California Post: 1.5%Pessimism Bias6.1%This article: 37.8%Chris Bradford: 16.2%California Post: 16.0%Negativity Bias37.8%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 2.2%California Post: 2.4%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 9.2%Chris Bradford: 0.9%California Post: 1.5%Fundamental Attribution Error9.2%This article: 3.1%Chris Bradford: 0.5%California Post: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias3.1%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 1.3%California Post: 1.6%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 1.7%California Post: 1.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 4.9%Chris Bradford: 1.3%California Post: 3.1%Halo Effect4.9%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.3%California Post: 0.6%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 1.0%California Post: 1.6%Recency Bias0.0%This article: 11.4%Chris Bradford: 0.8%California Post: 0.5%Primacy Effect11.4%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 3.3%California Post: 2.6%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.0%California Post: 0.5%Straw Man0.0%This article: 2.2%Chris Bradford: 4.4%California Post: 4.2%Appeal to Authority2.2%This article: 3.4%Chris Bradford: 0.6%California Post: 1.5%False Dilemma3.4%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.4%California Post: 0.9%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.1%California Post: 0.2%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 9.4%Chris Bradford: 4.9%California Post: 5.5%Hasty Generalization9.4%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.1%California Post: 0.7%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.3%California Post: 1.4%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 11.5%California Post: 8.9%Appeal to Emotion0.0%This article: 1.6%Chris Bradford: 0.8%California Post: 1.1%Begging the Question1.6%This article: 7.6%Chris Bradford: 3.3%California Post: 2.7%Post Hoc (False Cause)7.6%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.0%California Post: 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 4.5%Chris Bradford: 0.9%California Post: 0.8%Burden of Proof4.5%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.0%California Post: 0.2%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.3%California Post: 0.2%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 9.2%Chris Bradford: 3.8%California Post: 3.6%Anecdotal9.2%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 4.0%Chris Bradford: 1.6%California Post: 2.0%Ambiguity (Equivocation)4.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.0%California Post: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.1%California Post: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.2%California Post: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.0%California Post: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.1%California Post: 0.4%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 9.2%Chris Bradford: 4.8%California Post: 3.2%Unattributed Quote9.2%This article: 2.9%Chris Bradford: 3.4%California Post: 2.1%Quote-first Misdirection2.9%This article: 34.9%Chris Bradford: 11.6%California Post: 13.1%Biased Writer Voice34.9%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 1.3%California Post: 1.4%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 0.5%California Post: 0.4%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Chris Bradford: 3.5%California Post: 3.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 9.2%Chris Bradford: 0.8%California Post: 6.0%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…9.2%

553 words analyzed.

Speakers

1speaker33%attributed speech369writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 34 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 51 words • 100.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 24 words • 100.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 5 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 3 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 5 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 9 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 100.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 12 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 4 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 5 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 10 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 11 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 15 words • 0.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 100.0% coverageAsa Ellerup • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 3 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 36 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 12 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 10 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 27 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 28 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

Asa Ellerup

67%flagged-word coverage
184 attributed words100% of attributed speech92% writer coverage
0%25.0%50.0%Biased Writer Voice-32.8 ptsWriter: 45.8%Asa Ellerup: 13.0%13.0%Unattributed Quote-13.8 ptsWriter: 13.8%Asa Ellerup: 0.0%0.0%Attempt to Sell a Product -13.8 ptsWriter: 13.8%Asa Ellerup: 0.0%0.0%Quote-first Misdirection-4.3 ptsWriter: 4.3%Asa Ellerup: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.