A US architect charged with murdering three girls and suspected of killing a fourth has appeared in courtroom - as his estranged spouse stated the pair's grownup kids "cry themselves to sleep".

Asa Ellerup, who has filed for divorce from 59-year-old suspect Rex Heuermann, stated she has "no answers" for his or her son and daughter after they ask about his arrest.

Heuermann, who was detained on 13 July, confronted courtroom in Riverhead, New York, on Tuesday.

The suspect wore a swimsuit jacket and khaki trousers for the listening to, and reportedly rocked backwards and forwards on his heels as his lawyer and a Suffolk County prosecutor spoke.

The defendant, from Long Island, is charged with killing Melissa Barthelemy, who went lacking in 2009, and Megan Waterman and Amber Lynn Costello, who disappeared in 2010.

Heuermann can also be suspected of killing a fourth girl, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in 2007.

Her stays have been discovered buried alongside the identical stretch of freeway close to Long Island's Gilgo Beach as the opposite girls in December 2010.

The spot is throughout the bay from Massapequa Park the place Heuermann grew up and lived for many years in his childhood house.

The group of girls, all intercourse staff, have been often known as the Gilgo Four, and the invention of their our bodies raised fears a couple of serial killer within the space.

The story of a mom searching for her lacking daughter, who might also be a sufferer of the identical assassin, was the idea for a Netflix crime sequence known as Lost Girls.

A complete of 11 our bodies have been discovered by investigators dumped alongside Gilgo Beach over the house of about two years.

'Treated like animals'

Speaking concerning the trauma of the ordeal since Heuermann's arrest, Ms Ellerup, 59, advised the New York Post: "My children cry themselves to sleep. I mean, they're not children. They're grown adults but they're my children, and my son has developmental disabilities and he cried himself to sleep."

She additionally stated she herself had been experiencing "anxiety", including: "I woke up in the middle of the night, shivering."

Both grownup kids stay within the household house. The Post stated her son is 33, whereas her daughter, Victoria Heuermann, 26, stated she felt "not human" within the aftermath of the arrest.

Ms Ellerup's lawyer Bob Macedonio added: "She meant what they've done to them and the family is not even human. They were just complete animals. They treated them like animals."

Investigators spent 12 days looking out the property for proof, and Asa Ellerup advised the Post that when the household was allowed to return, the residence was nearly unliveable.

The police search included digging up the yard, dismantling a porch and a greenhouse and eradicating lots of the home's contents for testing.

She stated belongings have been piled up in heaps, a part of her tub was reduce away and furnishings was damaged up.

"My couch was completely shredded. I don't even know if there's any parts to the couch," stated Ms Ellerup.

Prosecutors share 'eight terabytes of fabric'

A lawyer for Heuermann's grownup kids, Vess Mitev, stated they have been mulling taking authorized motion in opposition to police for the "deplorable and roughshod handling of the investigation that turned upside down their lives, their home, their very status in the social hierarchy".

"In the haste and zeal to arrest Mr Heuermann, we believe certain things were done that shouldn't have been done," he added.

Meanwhile, prosecutors stated on the courtroom listening to they've given Heuermann's lawyer eight terabytes of fabric - that's the equal of about 2,500 pages of data, together with about 100 hours of surveillance video recorded exterior the suspect's house and workplace.

District Attorney Ray Tierney stated it was a fraction of the proof gathered for the reason that our bodies of the 4 girls have been found.

Heuermann pleaded not responsible at his first courtroom look final month and was ordered to be detained with out the opportunity of bail.

His lawyer stated the defendant denied committing the crimes.