Babylon body parts case: Jeffrey Mackey, Alexis Nieves face murder charges, sources say

A Suffolk grand jury has indicted two suspects on murder charges in connection with the killings of a Yonkers couple whose remains were found scattered in areas around Babylon and Bethpage 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 both defendants will face second-degree murder charges.

Malcolm Brown, 53, and Donna R. Conneely, 59, have previously been 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, 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 is homeless but had been living with the trio. All four defendants pleaded not guilty in March to felony counts of first-degree hindering prosecution, concealment of a human corpse and tampering with physical evidence by concealing or destroying. They were released without bail, since they were not charged with any bail eligible offenses at the time. Wallace has remained incarcerated since being arrested for shoplifting days after they were released.

Suffolk prosecutors have alleged that between Feb. 27 at 10:53 a.m. and March 4 at 4:08 a.m., the four defendants removed from their shared Railroad Avenue home “sharp instruments, multiple body parts and other related items and dispose[d] of them to conceal the crime of murder in the second degree.”

The documents said the defendants “did conceal, alter and destroy human body parts” and the “dismembered body parts were removed” from the home and were “concealed at multiple known locations.”

Suffolk prosecutor Frank Schroeder said at the defendants’ initial arraignments that authorities had significant evidence against the four defendants, including human remains, meat cleavers, 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, finding Malcolm Brown's heavily tattooed forearm in a tangle of branches on the edge of a popular park.

One student called her father, who then called Suffolk County police, setting in motion a massive search, using police K-9 unit dogs, that culminated with police finding the body parts of both victims.