Suspected killers indicted for chilling Long Island murders. Here's why they killed their friends, allegedly.
RIVERHEAD, N.Y. -- Two of four people charged after body parts were found scattered across part of Long Island were indicted for murder on Monday.
According to Suffolk County prosecutors, Alexis Nieves and her boyfriend Jeffrey Mackey killed Malcolm Brown and his partner Donna Conneely and dismembered their bodies.
The barbaric crime happened inside a rental home in Amityville on Feb. 27 when friends turned on each other, prosecutors said.
"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 Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.
Victim beaten with meat tenderizer
The gruesome allegations say Nieves smashed Conneely's head and neck with a meat tenderizer, before Mackey strangled her and used a knife to stab Brown to death and chop up their bodies.
The victims' dismembered body parts were found among branches and leaves in Babylon and Bethpage. Students on their way to school made the first discovery and alerted police.
Defense attorneys for Nieves and Mackey said the wrong suspects were charged.
"I believe that the prosecution's witnesses at this point, as I stated in the arraignment, likely have unclean hands," said John Halverson, Mackey's attorney.
"My client from the very beginning of this case has maintained her innocence. She claimed that she did not do it. I do find it interesting that four people were arrested originally, and only two have been indicted on murder at this time," said Christopher Gioe, Nieves' attorney.
Argument stemmed from gas station robbery
At Monday's arraignment, a prosecutor suggested the murders stemmed from a dispute over a robbery at a Valero gas station in Copiague. Allegedly, Brown and Conneely planned the robbery and Nieves and Mackey carried it out.
"There was a lot of illegal conduct occurring between the victims and the defendants, which in part was the impetus for the murders, presumably," said Tierney.
There may have been arguments over drugs and money.
Mackey was remanded without bail. Nieves was held on $10 million bond, $1 million cash bail. Both pleaded not guilty.
The two other suspects charged in the case, Steven Brown and Amanda Wallace, were called to court to face grand jury charges Tuesday morning.