DA: Centereach man indicted in murder of fellow hospital patient, committed at 16

A 19-year-old man was indicted Monday in the murder of a 16-year-old whose skeletal remains were found in March 2020 in the backyard of a Centereach residence, Suffolk prosecutors said.

John Mann Jr., of Centereach, was arrested Friday and is charged with second-degree murder of Henry Hernandez of Riverhead, prosecutors said Monday in a news release.

The victim's keletal remains, which DNA tests confirmed belonged to Hernandez, were found wrapped in two separate plastic bags in a plastic tub on the Hernandez neighbor’s property on Jay Road in Centereach on March 15, 2020, prosecutors said. The remains were moved there “at some point,” prosecutors said.

Prosecutors, according to court documents, said the investigation began in March 2019, when Hernandez and Mann were hospitalized together in Brunswick Hospital Center in Amityville. Hernandez, after he was released from Brunswick, stole a truck belonging to Mann’s father from their Jay Road home, prosecutors said.

Mann, prosecutors said, then lured Hernandez sometime around June 2, 2019, to a location called the “Sand Pit,” duct-taped and struck him with a blunt object. He then put Hernandez’s body in a hole and covered it with debris, prosecutors said.

“This was a horrific and brutal crime committed for no rational reason but what is just as disturbing is that the defendant was 16 years old when he allegedly committed this callous act,” Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney said in a statement. “We will make sure that the victim gets justice and that this defendant gets to account for his alleged actions.”

Mann was arraigned on the indictment before state Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis. His attorney, Matthew Rosenblum of Commack, denied the charges against his client. 

If convicted, Mann faces 25 years to life in prison.