Two people were charged with murder of a man and woman whose dismembered remains were found in various parks and wooded areas on Long Island in March, as prosecutors shared new information about what may have led up to the killings.
Prosecutors alleged Jeffrey Mackey and girlfriend Alexis Nieves committed the murders of Malcolm Brown and Donna Conneely in late February inside a home in Amityville. Knives, meat cleavers and blood were all found at the home on Railroad Avenue, according to prosecutors.
The 39-year-old Mackey was accused of stabbing Brown and strangling Conneely. Nieves, 33, allegedly stabbed Conneely and then beat her with a meat tenderizer. The bodies were then chopped up in the home Mackey, Nieves and two other defendants shared with victims.
Both Mackey and Nieves pleaded not guilty at their arraignment in state court in Riverhead on Monday.
"They were basically living together and just engaging in all sorts of activities with one another," said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
Some of the activities Tierney alluded to were allegedly criminal, like the robbery of a Copiague gas station the week before the killings. A dispute about the robbery appears to have prompted the killings, prosecutors said.
The victims' remains, including Conneely's head and arm and the man's arms, were discovered on separate days, Feb. 29 and March 5, after students walking to school spotted an arm off the road by Southards Pond Park in Babylon. The investigation expanded to West Babylon and Bethpage State Park, where more remains linked to the same people were found.
Mackey, Nieves and two others were previously charged with concealing a human corpse and tampering with evidence in connection with the discovery of body parts in Suffolk County. When asked why the murder charges took two months to be filed, Tierney said investigations like this take time.
"Six individuals go into a house, four come out. Now it’s left to law enforcement to figure out what happened in that house," said Tierney.
"Prosecution’s witnesses at this point… likely have unclean hands,” said John Halverson, Mackey’s lawyer.
Christopher Gioe, an attorney for Nieves, said she maintains her innocence.
"From the very beginning, Alexis has maintained she’s not guilty. She has denied these charges," said Gioe, while also casting doubt on the other suspects in the case.
Keith O'Halloran, an attorney for Wallace, said he was pleased that his client has not been charged in the killings and that he looks forward to defending her against the charges she does face.
Brown and Wallace are expected to go before a judge on Tuesday and are likely to face upgraded charges as well — not murder, but rather conspiracy and tampering with evidence.
“While the case involves the cutting up of bodies of two human beings, the barbarity of those acts were only exceeded by the brutality of the murders themselves,” said Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Frank Schroeder.
