Duo charged with murder in killings of couple whose remains were found scattered on Long Island

RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (AP) — Two people were charged with murder on Monday in the killings of a couple whose remains were found scattered around Long Island earlier this year.

Jeffrey Mackey, 39, and Alexis Nieves, 33, pleaded not guilty to killing Malcolm Brown and Donna Conneely, of Yonkers, at their arraignment in state court in Riverhead.

Mackey, Nieves and two other people were previously charged with concealing a human corpse and tampering with evidence in connection with the discovery of body parts in Long Island parks in late February and early March.

Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Frank Schroeder said in court that Mackey stabbed Brown and Conneely to death and Nieves beat one of them with a meat tenderizer following a dispute over an earlier armed robbery.

“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,” Schroeder said, according to Newsday.

Mackey and Nieves were arrested along with Steven Brown and Amanda Wallace after police executed a search warrant at the Amityville home that Wallace, Mackey and Brown share.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Conneely and Malcolm Brown, a cousin of Steven Brown, participated in the planning of the Feb. 20 knifepoint robbery of a gas station that apparently sparked the fatal dispute.

Tierney said at a news conference that Conneely and Malcolm Brown were killed on Feb. 27.

Steven Brown and Wallace have not been charged in the killings, but they still face other charges, including hindering prosecution and concealment of a human corpse. They are scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

Christopher Gioe, an attorney for Nieves, said she maintains her innocence. Mackey's attorney, John Halverson, said via email that he would fight the charges.

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.

A messages seeking comment was sent to an attorney for Steven Brown.

Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney addressed the arraignment of Jeffrey Mackey and Alexis Nieves for the murder and dismemberment of two people during a press conference in the law library at Suffolk County Court, in Riverhead, N.Y., on Monday, April 29, 2024. Tierney also announced the indictment of two people in connection to the fatal fentanyl overdose of a 22-year-old woman, and near fatal overdose of a young child. (James Carbone/Newsday via AP)

DENVER (AP) — A man was convicted Thursday of killing four people at his ex-girlfriend's home in suburban Denver in 2022 a week after she was granted a court order to keep him away from her.

Joseph Mario Castorena, 22, was convicted of four counts of first-degree murder after deliberation for killing three of Jessica Serrano's relatives as well as a man who rented an RV on the family's property in Aurora on Oct. 30, 2022, prosecutors said. He was also convicted of one count of attempted murder.

Castorena and Serrano, who was not injured, have two children together. Their children were out-of-state with family at the time of the shooting, police have said.

Castorena was arrested over a month after the shooting in Mexico and extradited back to Colorado.

Prosecutors alleged that Castorena broke into the home and waited inside with a gun until family members returned home. When Serrano arrived at about 2 a.m., she noticed Castorena's keys in her bedroom and called police to report that she thought her ex-boyfriend was in the house and that he was not supposed to be there. Shots were fired as she spoke to dispatchers, prosecutors said.

A week before the shooting, Serrano sought a court protective order, saying that Castorena had held a gun at her and threatened to kill her. She also claimed he held her in his car and would not let her go home.

Castorena faces a mandatory life sentence for each of his four first-degree murder convictions when he is sentenced on Sept. 3.

This booking photo provided by the Aurora, Colo., Police Department shows Joseph Mario Castorena, who was convicted Thursday, May 16, 2024, of killing four people at his ex-girlfriend's home in suburban Denver in 2022 a week after she was granted a court order to keep him away from her. (Aurora Police Department via AP