Couple charged with murder in Babylon body parts case

A grand jury in Suffolk has indicted two murder suspects in connection with the killing of a Yonkers couple whose remains were found scattered in areas around Babylon last month and in February, sources told Newsday.

Jeffrey Mackey, 38, of Amityville, and Alexis Nieves, 33, will be arraigned Monday in Suffolk County Criminal Court in Riverhead, authorities said Sunday.

Sources told Newsday that both defendants will be charged with second-degree murder.

Malcolm Brown, 53, and Donna R. Conneely, 59, were previously identified by authorities as the victims whose remains were found Feb. 29 and March 5 in a park in Babylon, Bethpage State Park and a wooded area in West Babylon.

Steven Brown, 44, also of Amityville, who family members said is a cousin of Malcolm Brown, was arrested March 4, along with Mackey, Amanda Wallace, 40, of Amityville, and Nieves, who police said was was homeless but lived with the trio. All four defendants pleaded not guilty in March to felonies of first-degree obstruction of prosecution, concealing a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence by concealment or destruction. They were released without bail because they were not charged with any offenses eligible for bail at the time. Wallace remains in custody since he was arrested for shoplifting just days after their release.

Suffolk prosecutors have alleged that between February 27 at 10:53 a.m. and March 4 at 4:08 a.m., the four defendants “removed and disposed of sharp instruments, multiple body parts and other related items from their shared home on Railroad Avenue in Amityville) belonging to them in order to commit the crime to conceal murder in the second degree.”

The documents stated that the defendants “hid, altered and destroyed human body parts” and that the “dismembered body parts were removed from the home and” hidden in multiple known locations.

Suffolk District Attorney Frank Schroeder said at the defendants’ initial arraignment that authorities had significant evidence against the four defendants, including human remains, carving knives, butcher knives, significant amounts of blood and video surveillance.

A group of high school students on their way to school in Babylon in February made the first gruesome discovery in the case: They found Malcolm Brown’s heavily tattooed forearm in a tangle of branches at the edge of a popular park.

A student called her father, who then called the Suffolk County Police Department, initiating a massive search involving police K-9 unit dogs, which culminated in the body parts of both victims being found by the Police.