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This article contains graphic descriptions of murder. Please take care while reading.
At best, Victoria Heuermann, Rex Heuermann‘s daughter, was not an atypical teenager, making questionable choices online while exploring a dark aesthetic. At worst, according to one theory, Victoria was complicit, or at the very least, knew about the gruesome murders her father allegedly committed.
That’s according to John Ray, who disclosed the speculation at a Long Island press conference on June 13. Ray is the attorney for the family of Shannan Gilbert, just one Gilgo Beach victim connected to Rex. Beginning in 2010, the remains of 11 people were found near Gilgo Beach, on Long Island not far from where the Heuermann family lived. After a years-long investigation, Rex is now accused of six murders linked to five victims recovered in the area. Authorities now think Rex also killed Sandra Castilla, whose body was found in 1993 elsewhere on Long Island, meaning his alleged murder spree could have been longer than expected.
Heuermann’s family have denied knowledge
Rex, a married Manhattan architect with two children, was arrested in July 2023, and at that time, “[His family] were shocked, embarrassed, and disgusted,” by the allegations against him, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told CBS New York. “I don’t believe they knew about this double life Heuermann was living,” Harrison said. Ellerup, Victoria, and Rex’s son, Christopher Sheridan have said they were out of town when some of the murders were committed.
Since Rex’s arrest, his wife Asa Ellerup, has filed for divorce but has visited Rex in jail, and been in court at some of her estranged husband’s hearings. “I will listen to all of the evidence and withhold judgment until the end of trial. I have given Rex the benefit of the doubt, as we all deserve,” Ellerup said through her attorney referring to Rex’s charges. Rex pleaded not guilty.
The Victoria Heuermann circumstantial evidence
On June 13, John Ray, who said he represents not only Shannan Gilbert’s family, but also other women who say they encountered Heuermann but survived, laid out the case that Victoria Heuermann at the very least had knowledge of, or could have been complicit in, at least some of the crimes the prosecution says Rex is guilty of, and may have even engaged in cannibalism, based on one image of artwork of what seemed to be the partially-eaten remains of a woman.
Among other forms of circumstantial evidence, Ray used Victoria’s Tumblr and Instagram history from when she was a teenager, including pieces of original artwork, and one image Victoria “reblogged” from another account. Many show alarming similarities to how some of Heuermann’s victims were killed, how their bodies were mutilated, and how their remains were found. Victoria also allegedly viewed and read extreme “furry” and BDSM online pornography, Ray said, much like her father. Some examples referred to murder as “romantic,” Ray said.
Ray’s allegations came not long after a raid of the Heuermann Massapequa Park Long Island home when a digital “planning document” was discovered in which Rex seemed to make grim to-do lists for murder and give himself reminders for what to do next time, Newsweek reported. Ray and his legal team said Victoria and Asa Ellerup deleted their social media accounts after Rex was arrested. Victoria, however, missed certain images, discovered in the recent search.
“There are many pictures beside what I’m showing you that are equally bad or worse. We chose these pictures because of their significance in relation to Rex Heuermann as well as his daughter Victoria,” Ray added. “These people didn’t tell the truth. They’re misleading us,” Ray said.
Perhaps most tellingly, though, the Heuermann family’s alibi was that they were out of town when Jessica Taylor, a Gilgo Beach victim, was murdered. Evidence suggests that they did not check into a Virginia hotel until days after she died, based on phone and financial records, Ray said.
Ray stopped short of accusing the Heuermann family of murder
John Ray didn’t accuse Victoria Heuermann at the press conference of direct involvement in the crimes Rex Heuermann allegedly committed, and he urged viewers to make their own inferences. He also said he would not sue the Heuermann family. Ray did, however, strongly suggest that Victoria Heuermann, now 27, knew about her father’s crimes, witnessed him committing the act, or could have been involved, despite the Heuermann family insisting to the contrary. Victoria could have sought and created this content on her own, but the fact she was raised in a household with an accused serial killer was a coincidence too large to ignore, Ray suggested.
Dr. Gary Brucato, an expert on psychopathology, also testified at the press conference that David Parker Ray, or the Toy Box Killer, whose daughter helped him find victims, and John Wayne Gacy who murdered young boys, and who is now thought to have worked in a group, were examples of serial killers sometimes working in teams. “There was no double life,” Brucato said, referring to the Heuermann family.
Ray’s press conference was controversial
John Ray’s bombshell press conference and the implication that the Heuermann family was involved in Rex Heuermann’s alleged murders was greeted with controversy, given the circumstantial evidence and lack of hard proof. Kerri Rawson, among others, whose father is Dennis Rader, the BTK killer, supported the Heuermann family in an X post.
” … [The Heuermanns] are in shock. Still trying to grasp what is happening to them and their lives, and to their father, they knew. It is up to them to share their life when they are ready. They are absolutely victims of their father’s actions and choices,” Rawson wrote in part.