Rex Heuermann's ex-wife, daughter seek to dismiss wrongful death lawsuit by Gilgo Beach victim's son

The ex-wife and daughter of Rex A. Heuermann are seeking to dismiss a wrongful-death lawsuit brought against the Massapequa Park family by the son of Valerie Mack, one of eight known female victims of the now admitted Gilgo Beach serial killer.

In motions filed this month in State Supreme Court in Suffolk County, attorneys for Asa Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann argued that the suit, brought in April by Benjamin Torres, failed to state any legal claims and was barred by the statute of limitations.

"The lawsuit is a bizarre compendium of time-barred, defective claims that allege both legal and factual impossibilities, such as my client's involvement in matters which occurred when she was a small child and dovetails into matters that she has been expressly excluded from by the District Attorney, time and time again," said Vesselin Mitev, Victoria Heuermann's attorney. "It is frivolous on its face. It has no business being filed in a New York court and we await a ruling on our motion to dismiss it."

Michael J. Brown, Rex Heuermann's defense attorney, did not respond to a request for comment. Rex Heuermann, who also is named in the suit, pleaded guilty in April to the killings, which terrorized Long Island for more than a decade. He is scheduled to be sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday.

First Gilgo killing lawsuit

Attorneys for Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann are asking State Supreme Court Justice Valerie M. Cartright to dismiss the suit, filed by Miller Place attorney John Ray, and to award them attorney's fees and $10,000 in damages for each disputed claim.

Robert Macedonio, Ellerup's Islip Terrace-based attorney, said his client "has been thoroughly investigated and has cooperated with the task force since Mr. Heuermann's arrest. I am confident she had no knowledge or involvement in any of his criminal activity. We are not looking to make light of any of the suffering the victims and their families have endured, but Mrs. Ellerup and her daughter and son are also victims of Rex Heuermann's actions."

Ellerup will not be in the courtroom when her ex-husband is sentenced to life in prison Wednesday, Macedonio said.

In New York, wrongful-death lawsuits must be filed within two years of the date of an individual's death.

But the lawsuit argues the deadline should be waived because Torres was 6 years old when his mother went missing in 2000, records show.

The lawsuit — the first known litigation brought by any of the Gilgo victims' family members against Rex Heuermann or his family — cites claims of wrongful death, assault, battery, false imprisonment, aiding and abetting, civil conspiracy, intentional infliction of extreme emotional distress, fraud and unjust enrichment.

The suit seeks unspecified money Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann earned through their participation in a documentary on the Gilgo Beach killings released in July on Peacock. Rex Heuermann’s relatives were reportedly paid more than $1 million to allow the crew for "The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets," a three-part series, access to their home and lives.

"They're engaging in paid speech," Ray said of Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann. "They're speaking in order to make money and it's not protected speech. We are not suing them to stop them from talking. We're suing them because what they're saying and doing is damaging."

Calls for suit to be dismissed

Ellerup has not been accused of any involvement in her ex-husband's crimes, and law enforcement officials said the killings occurred when his family, including his wife and daughter, was traveling out of town.

But the lawsuit nonetheless alleges they were complicit in Rex Heuermann's crimes, arguing they "concealed, deliberately ignored, or consciously avoided learning of material facts concerning the assault, murder, dismemberment, concealment, and disposal of Valerie Mack."

In court filings, Macedonio said Torres lacks standing to bring the complaint as an estate for Mack has not been established.

Ray said the estate paperwork is nearly complete, and he plans to file an amended complaint in the coming days.

Mack gave birth to Torres when she was a senior in high school, and shortly thereafter got addicted to drugs, police said. She was working as an escort in Philadelphia under the name Melissa Taylor when she vanished at age 24.

Mack's dismembered remains were found near a Manorville sump discharge basin on Nov. 19, 2000, police said.

But it wasn't until police found other parts of Mack's body, including her skull, off Ocean Parkway, on April 4, 2011, that the killing of the woman once known as "Jane Doe No. 6" was linked to the other Gilgo Beach victims.

Ray, who also represents the estate of Shannan Gilbert, the New Jersey woman whose disappearance set off a law enforcement search that led to the discovery of the bodies of several of the victims, said Torres plans to speak in court during Rex Heuermann's sentencing.