Family of Alleged Gilgo Beach Serial Killer Makes $1M Deal With Peacock For Docuseries

NewsNation’s Nicole Berlie explored a major moral quandary in a recent segment: how family members of alleged murderers make money by selling the rights to their stories.

On Friday, Berlie spoke with NewsNation senior story editor and contributor Paula Froelich about the $1 million deal signed by the family of alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heurmann to make a docuseries for Peacock. Heurmann’s wife, Asa Ellerup, filed for divorce days after her husband was arrested for the murders of three sex workers, and there has been no evidence that she had any involvement. But Ellerup and the two adult children she shares with Heurmann are now facing financial ruin, unable to find work because of the stigma attached to their name, and as a result have resorted to handing their lives over to the true crime entertainment industry.

Ellerup has not spoken to the media since Heurmann’s arrest, and it’s because she signed this exclusive deal with Peacock. She was seen entering court last week with a camera crew, which Froelich said could be perceived as “distasteful,” but she explained to Berlie what that side of the story really looks like:

[I]f we reach into our bag of empathy, we have to understand that Asa and her children had nothing to do with this. They claim, and I believe them, that they had no idea what Rex was doing. They were out of town when he was committing all these murderous acts, allegedly. And so then, all of a sudden, it comes out, he’s arrested. Her daughter, Victoria, worked with him at the architecture firm. That’s now kaput. And her son [Christopher] got fired, and she can’t work. And as long as they have the same last name, they will never work again. So they need to pay the bills.

Froelich also said in a separate article that lawyers for Ellerup and her two children also signed deals with Peacock and described the deal with Peacock as a “last resort” for the family.

There are state laws, known as “Son of Sam” laws, that prevent criminals (and alleged criminals) from profiting off of their notoriety. It originated in New York when serial killer David Berkowitz, aka the “Son of Sam,” was suspected of wanting to sell the rights to his own story and make money. In the case of Heurmann’s family, the money is not going to Heurmann, and his family is not suspected of having had any involvement in his crimes.

Rex Heurmann has pleaded not guilty to the murders of Amber Lynn Costello, Melissa Barthelemy, and Megan Waterman. He is the main suspect in the murder of Maureen Brainerd-Barnes.

Watch the video above via NewsNation.