Growing up, Victoria Heuermann admired her father.

“I was honestly really inspired by my dad,” she said on Peacock’s The Gilgo Beach Killer: House of Secrets, now streaming.

The two collaborated at her father Rex Heuermann’s New York City architecture firm until the day he was apprehended and charged with being the elusive Gilgo Beach serial killer.

Officials suspect that Heuermann murdered seven women, possibly in the basement of his family’s residence in Massapequa Park on Long Island, allegedly by meticulously planning the attacks during times when his wife and children were away.

The startling claims have left Heuermann’s family in shock as they attempt to reconcile the unsettling accusations with the family man they thought they knew and loved.

Victoria Heuermann “never would have imagined” the charges against her dad

Victoria can still vividly recall the last normal day she spent with her dad on July 13, 2023. The two spent the day working in her dad’s Manhattan office, just like they usually did.

“He was a very well-known architect in Manhattan,” Victoria said in the documentary, which gives viewers unprecedented access to the family and the Heuermann home in Massapequa Park. “The last thing I said to my father before I left work was, ‘I’ll see you at home.'”

But her dad would never return home. Instead, he was apprehended by officers outside, near their office, and arrested in connection with the slayings of three escorts whose remains were found in 2010 along a stretch of Gilgo Beach on Long Island.  

Her family got the shocking news later that night when FBI agents came “banging” on their door. 

“They said we have evidence your dad murdered all these women and your home is now a crime scene,” Victoria remembered. “Never would have imagined I’d be hearing that in my life.”

Victoria Heuermann explains conflicted feelings

In the months that would follow, Heuermann was charged with four more murders and disturbing details about the allegations were released. Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to all charges. 

While Victoria’s mom, Asa Ellerup, said in the documentary that her husband of nearly three decades “didn’t do this,” Victoria, even during filming, was more conflicted about the father she once believed was an “open book.” 

According to the authorities, Rex allegedly killed his victims while his wife and kids — Victoria and her half-brother Christopher Sheridan — were away on vacation, using the time alone to troll for victims he met on sites that advertised their escort work.

When asked by a producer of The Gilgo Beach Killer whether she believed it could be a coincidence that the women disappeared at the same time that the family was on vacation, Victoria offered a noncommittal response at the time.

“I don’t know whether it did or didn’t happen,” she said. “At the time, I was 13 years old.”

Rex Heuermann’s daughter felt “humiliated” by “media frenzy”

Despite being conflicted at the time, Victoria went to court to support her father, saying that it made her feel a bit like she was doing “the walk of shame.” 

“When I was in the middle of the media frenzy, I’ll admit I probably felt, like, humiliated,” she later told producers. “I know I don’t have anything to be shameful about but that’s what it felt like, just the bombarding, people’s disappointed faces. I didn’t really feel like a person.” 

Rex Heuermann “must have been like Superman for us not to have noticed”

At the time the killings took place, Victoria was just an adolescent spending most of her time at school, at after-school activities, or on summer vacations. 

“That’s exactly how I wouldn’t know anything,” she said, before adding, “And now that I actually look back at my childhood, I do find it very hard to believe my dad actually did this.” 

Victoria continued to juggle mixed emotions throughout the three-part documentary, even during an eerie walk through her family home’s basement, where investigators allege the killings may have taken place. Ellerup’s attorney Robert Macedonio pointed out chilling details from the criminal affidavit to the family, including details of where victims could have been strung up from the ceiling.

“See, if they really did happen down here, he really must have been like Superman for us not to have noticed anything ever,” Victoria said, before later conceding it was “not impossible.” 

Given her conflicted emotions, Victoria initially told producers she was “not picking a side” until she saw the evidence in court. 

“It keeps my head on straight with everything everybody is saying,” she explained. “One person’s saying this, one person’s saying that, the prosecutor is saying this, but my memory says this. So yeah, the fact that… I’m standing my ground and I need to see the evidence is keeping my head on straight from all this.”

Victoria also admitted during filming to still feeling “some loyalty” to her dad.

Although she has years of happy memories with her father, she told producers if he is guilty, it will change their relationship.

“If he was guilty, it’s gonna start to become a love/hate relationship,” Victoria said. “This is my dad and I love him as my dad. The hate is this other side of him that came out, and going forward, I’m not going to interact with him the same way I would have if this never happened. Both the feelings, love and hate, can co-exist.”