Heuermann is charged with killing six women dating at least to 1993. He has pleaded not guilty and has been held without bail at the Suffolk County jail in Riverhead since his arrest in July 2023.

Ellerup and their children have remained in the house, even as investigators rifled through it and removed evidence by the truckload.

Prosecutors do not consider Ellerup a suspect, nor the couple’s children, Victoria Heuermann, 28, and Christopher Sheridan, 35. They were away on trips when the killings happened, authorities have said.

Robert Macedonio, Ellerup’s lawyer, said the place had become a burden.

“People constantly stop in front of the house to gawk and point and take pictures,” he said. “She’s lost any emotional attachment she had to the premises because of everything that’s gone on, and the only way she can start recovering is to move.”

Also, he said, the house’s interior was left a shambles by searches this year and last. Investigators cut up floors, removed plumbing and found a cache of more than 200 guns. They dug up swaths of the backyard and removed furniture and bags of household possessions. The extensive damage to the interior was never properly repaired, Macedonio said. A bathtub was held together with duct tape.

“She has no money to repair it,” Macedonio said, adding that even Ellerup’s documentary payments were not enough.

Notorious properties present unusual challenges for sellers, buyers and brokers. In 2011, in nearby East Meadow, the four-bedroom ranch where serial killer Joel Rifkin grew up was sold by his family for $US322,000 ($495,000), a $US100,000 ($154,000) reduction from the initial asking price.

“I was able to negotiate because of the situation,” said Peter Hirschhorn, an agent with Coldwell Banker American Homes who represented the buyers, a young couple.

Rifkin, who admitted to killing 17 women, stored a victim’s body in the garage and may have murdered some victims there, too. It helped that he had been arrested 18 years earlier and sentenced to life in prison, Hirschhorn said.

“Before I showed my clients the property, I emailed them and said, ‘I want you to Google and do your research on the property, because unfortunate circumstances took place there that I want you to be aware of,’” he said. “They were fine with it. They said, ‘Yeah, we’re good.’ They fell in love with it and made it their own.”

Regarding the Massapequa Park house, he said, “I’d love to sell this home. It could be a nice starter home.”

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But Louis Scrimenti, 39, an agent with Signature Premier Properties in Massapequa Park, said it would likely be bought by a builder, perhaps for around $US600,000, and replaced with something that could sell for at least $US1.5 million.

“I don’t think a regular consumer would buy that home,” he said. “I’d say 9 out of 10 consumers would be turned off by it.”

The sellers may be motivated. Vess Mitev, a lawyer for the children, said moving would help them start “the next chapter of their lives,” somewhere “farther away from the spotlight and farther away from this dark cloud that hangs over their heads.”

Before her father’s arrest, Victoria Heuermann worked for his Manhattan firm, which has closed. She has had trouble getting a job, Mitev said. As for the son, he said: “Chris can’t even walk his dog down the block. He gets photographed, people stop and take pictures, he’s catcalled, the whole thing.

“They can’t even check the mail,” he said. “That kind of scrutiny is not for my clients. They never asked for it.”

The house became a daily encampment for news crews and a tourist attraction for true-crime fans. Authorities sealed off the block for nearly two weeks. Neighbours weary of being interviewed still have “No Soliciting” signs on their front doors.

Days after Heuermann’s arrest, Ellerup filed for divorce after 27 years of marriage, but she continued to call and visit him in jail and attend his court hearings, often with cameras in tow from her documentary deal, reportedly worth $US1 million.

Macedonio said the house cannot be listed and sold until after the divorce. He said Ellerup, despite relocating, plans to attend the trial, which will most likely be next year, and “still has the same opinion: She doesn’t believe he’s capable of what he’s been accused of.”

Heuermann’s family had made themselves scarce during the searches but surprised onlookers by moving back into the house despite its interior being a shambles. The family was left to sleep on mats, Macedonio said. They cooked on a grill in the front yard, defying news crews and curious visitors.

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Some neighbours had hoped the village might buy the property to prevent anyone else from living there.

Cella, the neighbour, got used to saying hello to Heuermann’s son when he saw him walking his therapy dog, Stewie. Still, he added, it is probably time for the family and the neighbourhood to turn the page “so that years from now, people won’t still be gawking and staring.”

“All neighbourhoods heal,” he said. “Eventually.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.