Babylon body parts suspects charged with murder: report
Suffolk County prosecutors upgraded charges against Jeffrey Mackey and Alexis Nieves in connection to body parts scattered throughout Long Island in late February and early March.
Mackey, 38, and Nieves, 33, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder Monday morning in the deaths of Malcolm Brown and Donna Conneely, whose dismembered corpses were spread through Southards Pond Park, Bethpage State Park and a wooded area in West Babylon. That charge carries a minimum sentence of 25 years and a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Mackey is also charged with robbing a Valero gas station on Feb. 20 in coordination with the victims and two other suspects — all of whom resided in the same Amityville home.
According to investigators, the victims, “who were acquaintances of the defendants” were attacked upon entering that house a week later.
“Brown was stabbed once in the neck and once in the torso, while Conneely was stabbed multiple times in the neck and back,” prosecutors allege.
Mackey allegedly stabbed both victims repeatedly. Nieves is accused of bludgeoning Conneely with a meat tenderizer and stabbing her in the back.
The suspects dismembered their victims in the bathroom and decided to get rid of the body parts in sections, prosecutors claim.
“I don’t think there was a whole lot of thought before the dismembering,” DA Raymond Tierney said on the plan he called “not smart” during a Monday afternoon press conference.
The DA said all involved were “associated with one another” and “basically living together.”
The victims aren’t believed to have participated in the gas station robbery.
Amanda Wallace and Steven Brown — a cousin to one of the victims — will be in court Tuesday to face possible enhancement of the charges against them.
“A lot of illegal conduct occurring between the victims and the defendants,” Tierney said without speculating on a motive.
The Suffolk County district attorney’s office found itself at odds with the governor’s office last month after Mackey and Nieves, along with suspects Steven Brown and Amanda Wallace, were released from custody after being charged with hindering prosecution, evidence tampering and hiding a corpse.
Gov. Hochul told FOX 5 “the DA should have done a more thorough investigation and brought murder charges or conspiracy-to-commit murder” against the suspects so they could’ve been held after evidence connecting them to the alleged murders was discovered in their Amityville home.
The DA immediately fired back at the governor for being either deceitful or “completely clueless” about how the justice system works while the investigation was being conducted.
Tierney repeated his call for lawmakers to rethink bail reform laws during his Monday press conference.
“The system needs to change,” he said. “The system is broken.”
Wallace and Brown, who the Journal News says are a couple, appeared together in court last month on charges connected to the ongoing body parts case. Wallace, 40, was busted for shoplifting in March days after being set free in connection with that investigation.
