Heuermann and Duggars: Denial, Conditioning, and Complicity
Hidden Killers With Tony Brueski | True Crime News & Commentary
True Crime Today
3.3 • 906 Ratings
🗓️ 9 April 2026
⏱️ 61 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Two cases. Three women. And the same question running underneath all of it — what does the mind do when the truth is something it cannot afford to see?
Rex Heuermann is charged with murdering seven women along the Gilgo Beach corridor and is reportedly expected to enter a guilty plea. His ex-wife Asa Ellerup shared a life with him for nearly three decades and has maintained she saw nothing. Prosecutors allege he timed the crimes for when his family was away, kept violent content and detailed checklists on his devices, and allegedly operated a double life so meticulous that the case went cold for over a decade. Their daughter Victoria has publicly said she believes her father most likely did it.
Joseph Duggar, 31, is charged in Florida with lewd and lascivious molestation of a child under twelve. He allegedly admitted to the abuse twice. Kendra Duggar, 27, faces eight misdemeanor charges in Arkansas, reportedly tied to exterior locks on their children's bedroom doors. Their four children have been removed. Michelle Duggar reportedly knew about Josh's abuse of her own daughters over twenty years ago, sent him to manual labor instead of treatment, and wrote a parenting magazine article about her family's success weeks after he came home. According to former Arkansas state senator Jim Holt — whose daughter was being courted by Josh — Michelle allegedly planned not to disclose Josh's history until after the marriage.
Psychotherapist Shavaun Scott connects the psychological threads across both cases — examining how a serial killer's spouse and a woman shaped by authoritarian religious conditioning can both arrive at the same place: unable or unwilling to see what's happening in their own home. The mechanisms are different. The denial is the same. And the people who pay the highest price are the ones who never had a choice.
Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8-vxmbhTxxG10sO1izODJg?sub_confirmation=1
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/TrueCrimePod
This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
#RexHeuermann #GilgoBeach #DuggarFamily #KendraDuggar #MichelleDuggar #AsaEllerup #IBLP #CriminalPsychology #HiddenKillers #TrueCrime
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Tiller's Live with Tony Bruske and Robin Green. |
| 0:08.2 | Well, as of our recording here this morning in our live broadcast, Rex Ehrman has pled guilty to eight murders. |
| 0:18.3 | Eight, yes, they added on another one, and he said he did it. Today, we're going to dive into not necessarily the details of the murders, but more so what it's like to be around someone like a Rex Sherman for a good chunk of your life, maybe be married to him, maybe have him |
| 0:38.3 | as a father and still not know anything. I mean, imagine finding out the person that you've shared |
| 0:46.6 | a bed with for nearly three decades, the father of your child, the man who rescued you from a |
| 0:53.1 | bad marriage, is accused of being a serial killer. |
| 0:57.3 | And your hair is found on his alleged victims. |
| 1:01.3 | That's Asa Elrub's reality. |
| 1:03.4 | But here's what most people get stuck on. |
| 1:06.5 | And we heard the questions asked this morning. |
| 1:09.2 | And in a few moments, we'll take a look at a clip that Asa made a statement outside of the courthouse after Rex made his confessions to the court. |
| 1:18.9 | Somebody shouting out, how do you not know? |
| 1:22.7 | How does someone allegedly commit acts of extreme violence inside your own home over the course of nearly two |
| 1:29.2 | decades while you're raising children and going about your life just rooms away. We're not here |
| 1:35.2 | to accuse her. We're not doing that at all. We're more so diving into the psychology of how this is |
| 1:41.0 | even possible because it is. This is not something that is impossible to have happen. |
| 1:47.2 | And it may not be exactly how one may picture it on the outside either to help us do that. |
| 1:53.5 | As always, Robin Drake, my co-host, Chief of the Counterintelligence Behavioral Analysis Program, |
| 1:57.9 | the FBI is here. |
| 1:59.7 | And Chavon Scott, psychotherapist and author |
| 2:02.7 | and her latest book, Nightbird. It's right here. No better person for today than Chavon. And this book |
| 2:10.6 | is the greatest to home on how to deal with truly unhealthy people and the lessons learned. So I think |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from True Crime Today, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of True Crime Today and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.