Two of the four people arrested in connection with body parts belonging to a man and a woman found on Long Island were back in court Friday, but were still not being held behind bars — a move that has led to intensified calls for bail law changes.
Neither Jeffrey Mackey nor Alexis Nieves would speak to reporters today after their brief court appearance. Both remain free without bail, each wearing GPS monitors and ordered to remain in Suffolk County for now, after being charged with hindering prosecution, tampering with physical evidence and concealment of a human corpse.
Mackey, 38, and Nieves, 33, were two of the four facing charges after the body parts were found on March 1. Also facing the same charges are 44-year-old Steven Brown and 40-year-old Amanda Wallace. All four shared the same Amityville home on Railroad Avenue, but the lawyer for Mackey on Friday shared that his client and Nieves were more than just housemates.
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"My client is in a relationship with Nieves. I’m not sure about the other defendants," said attorney John Halverson.
Sources have told NBC New York that a love triangle could be the motive for the killing, but so far no one has been charged with murder. Mackey’s lawyer said the case is set to go before a county grand jury, which could add more serious charges.
A defense lawyer for Brown previously said his client "did not kill anyone and did not take part in any of this."
None face murder charges, though court documents stated that the four suspects removed "sharp instruments, multiple body parts and other related items from the house" in an effort to conceal a murder. An assistant district attorney alleged the quartet went to barbaric lengths to cover up the killing, with police removing meat cleavers and butcher knives from the home.
Until any more serious charges are filed, all four will stay free without bail — a fact that has led to public condemnation of New York's bail reform laws. Republican state lawmakers proposed a bill that would make concealing a human corpse a bail eligible offense.
Currently, it is not an offense in which a judge can impose bail, which is why the four defendants had to be released after their arrests.
"How do four individuals who brutally cut up two human beings under any circumstances, walk free?" State Sen. Alexis Weik said.
On Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul blamed the Suffolk County District Attorney for the defendants release, saying he should have charged the four with bail-eligible crimes.
"Maybe the DA should have done a more thorough investigation and brought murder charges, conspiracy to commit murder or even assault charges because all of them are bail eligible," Hochul said.
For his part, DA Ray Tierney called that assertion baffling, and demanded bail reform be rewritten.
"This is yet another absurd result thanks to 'Bail Reform' and a system where the Legislature in Albany substitutes their judgment for the judgment of our judges and the litigants in court," Tierney said Thursday.
It wasn't immediately clear if investigators believed any of the four suspects to be responsible for the deaths of the two individuals.
The victims' names have not been released, though both have been identified by law enforcement, police say. One was a 59-year-old woman, the other a 53-year-old man. It is believed that the two victims lived together, with their last known address in Yonkers, according to Suffolk police. It was unclear when they last lived there, however.
The two victims may have been involved in a love triangle with their killer, authorities said.
Information on possible attorneys for Wallace and Nieves wasn't immediately available.
State police previously they helped process a crime scene at Bethpage State Park, where additional remains were found. The remains found at the park are believed to be from the same individuals whose limbs turned up in Southards Pond Park in Babylon Village, where kids walking to school made the first grisly discovery.
Human remains were also found in a wooded area in West Babylon. None were found at the Railroad Avenue home.
Investigators had said they believed the body parts found in Southards Pond Park had been dumped recently, likely by someone using a car.
