Rex Heuermann was arrested last week on murder charges related to the deaths of three women, whose bodies were found in the marsh of Giglo Beach, New York

One week after Rex Heuermann, the murder suspect from Gilgo Beach, was detained in his Manhattan office on murder charges, his wife filed for divorce.

According to ABC News, Asa Ellerup filed the divorce papers in Suffolk County Supreme Court on Wednesday and it will be “uncontested”. Both Fox News and CNN received confirmation from Ellerup’s attorney, Bob Macedonio, that a divorce complaint and summons had been submitted.

After being detained last Thursday and being charged with the deaths of Amber Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Megan Waterman, 22, Heuermann is currently being held at the Suffolk County Jail in Yaphank. He entered a not guilty plea to first- and second-degree murder charges on Friday.

He is also viewed as a leading suspect in the death of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, a 25-year-old woman. Between 2007 and 2010, all four of the women—who were employed as online escorts—were reported missing.

Authorities visited Heuermann’s home in Massapequa Park more than an hour after his arrest, according to Macedonio, to seize his potentially evidence-containing electronic devices and to inform his wife and children of the allegations.

The police entered their home while they were there and completely caught them off guard, according to the lawyer.

The tragedy “is all still a whirlwind” for the family, he continued. According to Fox News, Macedonio stated, “Her and her children’s lives have been completely turned upside-down.”

When Costello, Barthelemy, Waterman, and Brainard-Barnes’ bodies were discovered in the marsh at Gilgo Beach in December 2010, police started looking into the “Long Island Serial Killer” case. However, it wasn’t until recently that 59-year-old Heuermann was named as a suspect.

In 2022, according to court documents obtained by PEOPLE, “a witness to the disappearance of Amber Costello identified a first-generation Chevy Avalanche as the vehicle believed to have been driven by her killer.” This was a significant development in the investigation.

At that moment, a task force detective located Heuermann and the Chevy Avalanche using motor vehicle data.

“They found his car, they found his address, they found out his physical description, and then they found out where he worked,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney Tierney told PEOPLE. And as they delved deeper, you discovered additional associations, which undoubtedly delighted people.

Police assert that Heuermann is connected to the crimes after comparing DNA from a male hair found at the bottom of the burlap used to wrap Waterman’s naked body with DNA they found in 11 bottles and a pizza crust that Heuermann is accused of throwing away in a Manhattan trash can.

According to the court documents, a lab concluded on June 12 that the mitochondrial DNA profiles from the male hair found on Waterman and a DNA sample from the pizza crust were “the same.”

Additionally, they matched other hairs discovered at the location to Heuermann’s wife, Ellerup, who had been absent from the area when each of the ladies vanished. This led investigators to conclude that Ellerup’s proximity to her husband and not her involvement in the deaths is why the hairs ended up at the scene.

Suffolk County police commissioner Rodney Harrison previously said in a press conference that the family had appeared “shocked,” “disgusted” and “embarrassed” after they initially learned the news about Heuermann, per ABC Eyewitness News.

“I don’t believe that they knew about this double life that Mr. Heuermann was living,” he said, though he also told CNN that they are still collecting information “to see if the family might have known exactly what Mr. Heuermann was up to.”

Investigators also allegedly found hundreds of internet searches about raping and torturing women, child porn and rape porn, as well as searches for his victims and their families. He also allegedly used fictitious accounts and burner phones to contact sex workers, according to investigators.

“I think he lived this double life, and he used the anonymity of phones and computers to shield himself from the rest of society,” said Tierney. “Unfortunately for him — and fortunately for the rest of us — he wasn’t successful.”