Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann says his family needs his gun collection back, not Nassau

The defense for suspected Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex A. Heuermann filed court papers Thursday opposing a move from Suffolk County prosecutors to turn over more than 280 firearms seized from his Massapequa Park home to Nassau County authorities.

In Nassau, Heuermann could face gun charges. His defense team has urged the court to allow the weapons to be sold to benefit his financially struggling family.

Heuermann defense attorney Sabato Caponi argued that the court, which currently has possession of Heuermann’s weapons cache as well as “magazines, cases, attachments, ammunition, bullet fragments and shell casings” that were seized after Heuermann’s July arrest, can only transfer the weapons by law if Nassau County requests it or has a pending case involving the weapons. There have been no such claims, Caponi said.

“In as much as Rex Heuermann remains incarcerated and his pistol license has been temporarily suspended, this court should order the return of the seized property to a person designated by Rex Heuermann, individual or licensed gun dealer, who may legally possess the items,” said Caponi in court papers opposing the transfer, adding that the weapons have “significant financial value.”

“Although these items would most assuredly be returned to Rex Heuermann once he has been acquitted of the charges pending before this court, that eventuality may not come to fruition for many months.”

Spokespersons for the district attorney offices in both Nassau and Suffolk declined to comment on the defense filing.

Earlier this month, Suffolk County prosecutors sought to turn over to Nassau County more than 280 firearms seized from Heuermann’s home in the days following his July 13 arrest on first and second-degree murder charges in the killings of Megan Waterman, Melissa Barthelemy and Amber Lynn Costello, whose remains were found near Gilgo Beach 13 years ago. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty and remains held without bail at the Suffolk County Jail.

Prosecutors have said Heuermann, 60, who worked as a Manhattan architect before his arrest, is also the “prime suspect” in the slaying of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, whose remains were found with the other three victims. All four of the women — the first of 10 sets of remains found along Ocean Parkway that are believed to be the work of one or more serial killers — were sex workers.

Suffolk County Police Department detectives searched Heuermann’s Massapequa Park home, in Nassau County, for 12 days, ending on July 26.

Prosecutors have said they concluded that some of the weapons may have been possessed in violation of state gun laws and “proper jurisdiction” for potential charges would be in Nassau County.

Suffolk prosecutors have not said specifically which sections of New York’s firearms law Heuermann may have violated, but sought to transfer the guns to Nassau after conversations between law enforcement in Nassau, Suffolk, the New York State Police and the FBI. No guns are believed to have been used in the killings for which Heuermann is accused, prosecutors have said.

In the court papers. Caponi placed part of the blame for the Heuermann family's financial straits on the Suffolk police.

“The financial hardships currently being suffered by the Heuermann family, due in no small part to the wantonly destructive and reckless manner in which the Suffolk County Police Department executed the search warrant of the house and curtilage of the Heuermann home, have been well publicized,” Caponi wrote. “The Heuermann family is accused of no wrongdoing or criminal conduct in connection with the instant action. The release of the seized property, which will enable the Heuermann family to transfer ownership through the sale of the majority, if not all, of the seized items, will provide temporary but urgently needed response from the financial hardships afflicting the Heuermann family.”

Heuermann’s wife Asa Ellerup has filed for divorce. Ellerup’s divorce attorney, Bob Macedonio, said Heuermann’s firearms are “marital assets” and should be dealt with as part of the divorce proceeding, the same way a home or bank account would be.

“That is something I suggested to the defense,” said Macedonio. “There’s no legal basis for the Nassau County DA’s office to take possession of any legally possessed firearms that Rex had. They are marital property that have a substantial value to them. It was my suggestion that they be turned over to a federally licensed firearms dealer to avoid any possession by Ms. Ellerup because she does not have a pistol permit and avoid the optics of returning firearms to the home of an alleged serial killer. It would be our position to have all the firearms appraised, sold and or disposed of legally and any proceeds divided according to the matrimonial action.”

Macedonio estimated Heuermann’s weapons could garner some $300,000 in sales, acknowledging there is “speculation” that some might be interested in acquiring the firearms because of his client's status as an accused serial killer. Some of the guns date back to the Civil War and World War I and were passed down to Heuermann by family members. The weapons would potentially sell to collectors for several thousand dollars each, Macedonio said.

An inventory of weapons seized from Heuermann's home after his arrest showed that he had collected many guns from the early part of the last century, and his collection also included assault rifles, and a rifle with a defaced serial number, according to court documents. Authorities also seized boxes of ammunition, gunpowder and survivalist gear, according to court records.

Prosecutors have said Heuermann had permits for 92 guns and possessed many long guns not subject to permitting.

Investigators have said they linked Heuermann to the three victims through DNA obtained from a pizza crust he allegedly discarded outside his midtown Manhattan office, cellular phone site data and a dark green 2002 Chevrolet Avalanche that he once owned.

The vehicle helped crack the nearly 13-year mystery of who might have dumped the first bodies discovered in thick vegetation in the Gilgo Beach area. A state police investigator, working on a newly assembled "Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force" in 2022, identified Heuermann as a possible suspect after searching a law enforcement database for owners of dark-colored Chevrolet Avalanches, prosecutors said.

Heuermann, who stands at 6-4, also matched the physical description that a witness provided to authorities of a man who visited Costello's home the day before she was last seen alive.