The son of a Gilgo Seashore homicide sufferer filed a wrongful demise lawsuit towards suspected serial killer Rex Heuermann, his spouse, and daughter — simply days earlier than he’s anticipated to plead responsible to viciously murdering seven girls.
The wrongful demise swimsuit filed on Monday by legal professional John Ray on behalf of Benjamin Torres, the one baby of homicide sufferer Valerie Mack, marks the primary identified litigation introduced by a Gilgo sufferer’s member of the family towards the 62-year-old accused killer from Massapequa Park, Newsday reported.
The swimsuit alleged that Torres’s lack of his mom — whom Heuermann allegedly murdered a while between September 1, 2000, and November 19, 2000 — disadvantaged him of her care and safety, in accordance with the submitting within the State Supreme Courtroom in Suffolk County obtained by Patch.
Mack disappeared when Torres was simply 6 years previous. She was allegedly “tortured ferociously” and dismembered by Heuermann, the lawsuit mentioned.
The mother had been working as an escort in Philadelphia underneath the identify Melissa Taylor when she vanished at age 24. Her stays had been found close to a sump discharge basin on Nov. 19, 2000, in a closely wooded space in Manorville, Newsday reported.
Her case — in addition to these of a number of different intercourse staff whose our bodies had been discovered on Gilgo Seashore — went chilly for a number of many years till investigators lastly made a break and arrested Heuermann in July 2023.
Torres seeks “restoration for the wrongful torture and homicide of Valerie Mack, for the fear, restraint, ache, mutilation, and dismemberment inflicted upon her earlier than and after demise, for the concealment and mutilation of her stays, and for the profound and extended hurt thereby inflicted,” the doc added.
The lawsuit additionally seeks compensation for income that Heuermann’s ex-wife, Asa Ellerup, and daughter Victoria Heuermann might have constituted of the Peacock Documentary “Gilgo Seashore Killer: Home of Secrets and techniques,” launched in June.
Huermann’s household reportedly made out with greater than $1 million for letting the documentary crew get unique entry to their residence and lives, Newsday reported.
Ellerup has by no means been accused of involvement in Heuermann’s crimes, and authorities mentioned the murders occurred when his household was not residence — however Torres’s lawsuit made the bombshell declare that the spouse and daughter had been complicit in Mack’s demise.
“Asa Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann in some unspecified time in the future in time knew of, hid, intentionally ignored, or consciously prevented studying of fabric info regarding the assault, homicide, dismemberment, concealment, and disposal of Valerie Mack,” the lawsuit alleged, in accordance with Newsday.
Robert Macedonio, the legal professional for Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann, advised Patch that the lawsuit “is a reckless try by John Ray to maintain himself related in a case the place his solely shopper Shannan Gilbert, had no involvement with the Gilgo Seashore homicides.”
“I’m assured this matter shall be dismissed. And I reiterate: Asa Ellerup and Victoria Heuermann don’t have any involvement and or information of the crimes Rex Heuermann has been accused of,” Macedonia added.
The swimsuit additionally argued that the everyday two-year deadline for wrongful demise lawsuits to be filed in New York after an individual’s demise must be waived for Torres, given his age on the time of his mom’s demise and the delay in her identification because of her brutal dismemberment, which obscured a lot of her figuring out components.
Macedonia, Ray, and Heuermann’s lawyer, Michael J. Brown, didn’t instantly reply to The Publish’s requests for remark late Monday.
Sources beforehand advised The Publish that Brown and Suffolk County District Lawyer Ray Tierney are hashing out a plea deal for Heuermann to cop to the seven murders at his Wednesday look in Suffolk County Courtroom.
The precise expenses Heuermann would plead responsible to and different particulars of the deal should not instantly clear.
Tierney has tied Heuermann to the killings of Mack, Jessica Taylor, 20, Megan Waterman, 22, Melissa Barthelemy, 24, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25, Amber Lynn Costello, 27, and Sandra Costilla, 28.
