Children of Suspected Gilgo Beach Killer Are 'Caught Up in a Hellscape,' Lawyer Says

An attorney representing the adult children of the alleged Gilgo Beach serial killer says the children were caught up living in a “hellscape” and have been struggling since their father was taken into custody last month.

Vess Mitev, the lawyer representing Rex Heuermann’s two children, told CNN this week that his clients are “absolutely innocent bystanders that were caught up in a hellscape.”

Heuermann, 59, was arrested last month in connection with the Gilgo Beach serial killer case in Long Island, N.Y., which has been investigated for more than a decade with few developments until last month’s breakthrough.

Heuermann is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Amber Costello, 27, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, and Megan Waterman, 22. He has pleaded not guilty, but police say DNA evidence connects him to the killings.

Heuermann also remains the primary suspect in the killing of 25-year-old Maureen Brainard-Barnes. All four women were sex workers who went missing and whose remains were later discovered on Gilgo Beach more than a decade ago.

Police have told PEOPLE that Heuermann’s arrest last month in Manhattan “shocked, embarrassed, and disgusted” his family, including wife Asa Ellerup and his two adult children Christopher Sheridan and Victoria Heuermann.

Ellerup, 59, filed for a divorce soon after her husband’s arrest.

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Christopher, 34, and Victoria, 26, spent roughly two weeks with their mother in a nearby hotel as detectives searched the family’s home for evidence. Heuermann’s family returned to their home, turned over by detectives in an invasive investigation, late last month.

“A lot of tears have been shed,” Mitev, the children’s attorney, told CNN on Tuesday.

“They’re emotionally, physically and mentally constantly having to reassess their position in life in real time,” Mitev said. “It has taken an incredible toll on them and they’re doing the best they can as a family unit.”

Heuermann appeared in court for the first time recently and was ordered to turn over a DNA sample to test against a sample detectives took from him during their investigation, according to ABC News. 

Prosecutors also said they’ve turned over other evidence — including hard drives, thousands of pages of documents, photographs, autopsy reports, and surveillance video — to Heuermann’s defense team in the runup to a trial, the outlet reported.