Babylon body parts case: Alexis Nieves, Jeffrey Mackey, of Amityville, plead guilty in double homicide

An Amityville couple admitted Tuesday to killing and dismembering two housemates in a case that shocked the community after teenagers discovered a body part near a Babylon park and officials found more remains scattered across Long Island last year.

Jeffrey Mackey, 40, will be sentenced to 22 years in state prison for second-degree murder under a plea agreement that considered his eligibility for a sentence reduction as a victim of domestic violence at the hands of the victims, officials said.

Mackey’s girlfriend, Alexis Nieves, 35, will serve 11 years behind bars for manslaughter under a separate agreement detailed before Suffolk Supreme Court Justice John Collins in Riverhead.

Mackey admitted stabbing Malcom Craig Brown, 53, in the neck inside the Railroad Avenue home they shared shortly after noon on Feb. 27, 2024. He then turned to Brown's wife, Donna Conneely, 59, and stabbed her, he admitted. Nieves then smashed Conneely in the head with a meat tenderizer as Mackey choked her, causing her death, the couple admitted.

The couple had been facing the possibility of serving life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder at trial.

"The history and background of this case is far more detailed and complicated than what was initially reported at the time of Mr. Mackey's arrest," defense attorney Anthony La Pinta, of Hauppauge, said in a statement following the plea hearing. "Unfortunately, Mr. Brown and Ms. Conneely engaged in extensive and profound abuse of Mr. Mackey that had a direct bearing on the facts leading to their deaths. He was a classic victim of household abuse."

The Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act is a 2019 sentencing mitigation statute that gives judges the discretion to issue lower sentences to survivors of domestic violence who can establish that their abuse was a significant contributing factor to their offense, according to the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services.

La Pinta and co-counsel Mark Cohen submitted a forensic psychiatric exam that outlined abuse Mackey had suffered, prosecutors and the judge said at Tuesday’s proceeding. That 28-page report has been sealed, said Collins, who along with La Pinta made a brief statement for the record regarding the findings.

"My understanding of that report and these negotiations is that it is corroborated that [Mackey was] a victim of Mr. Brown’s domestic violence and abuse while living under the same roof ... and Ms. Conneely contributed to that," Collins stated.

Mackey will serve a reduced sentence of 11 years in prison for each killing as a result of those circumstances, Assistant District Attorney Timothy Gough said in court.

Nieves waived her right to make a DVSJA claim while entering her guilty plea. Her attorney, Christopher Gioe, of Hauppauge, said they are "satisfied with the resolution of the case."

"The events surrounding this case are unfortunate and indeed tragic," Gioe said in a statement. "Ms. Nieves has admitted her complicity and accepted responsibility for her actions. After a thorough and comprehensive investigation by all parties involved, the plea agreement we negotiated accurately reflects the facts and possible defenses that my client had raised."

La Pinta credited the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office with "investigating and considering" the defense arguments.

"The plea today was reasonable and fair in light of the compelling facts and circumstances," the attorney said. He added that Mackey, who could be released from prison in 17 years, has been given a "chance at redemption."

The remains of Brown and Conneely were discovered over the course of a week in late February and early March scattered in Southards Pond Park in Babylon, wooded areas in West Babylon and at Bethpage State Park, police have said. The first discovery was made by a group of high school students walking to class when they happened upon what turned out to be the severed arms of Brown.

A third couple who lived in the Amityville home, Steven Brown, 46, and Amanda Wallace, 42, both pleaded guilty last September to felony charges related to the disposal of the remains and a robbery that occurred a week earlier. The Browns are cousins, family members previously told Newsday.

The four housemates admitted the dismemberment and scattering of body parts was an effort to prevent law enforcement from investigating the deaths, which occurred one week after Steven Brown and Wallace assisted Mackey in a knifepoint robbery of an attendant at a Valero gas station in Copiague. Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Dena Rizopoulos previously said the robbery was "very much intertwined" with the killings.

As part of his own plea agreement last year, Brown said he was a "lookout" for Mackey at Valero and will serve an agreed-upon 5 years behind bars for first-degree robbery when he is sentenced. Wallace is expected to serve 2 years in jail, her attorney previously said.

As the body parts were found, there was some fear in the community the deaths were tied to a reoccurrence of MS-13 gang violence. Instead, authorities said the victims and the four people charged in the case all knew each other and had been staying together in the Amityville home.

Prosecutors previously alleged Mackey used the same knife in the killings that he allegedly used during the gas station robbery. Prosecutors have said investigators found evidence linking the four defendants to the crimes, including video surveillance, meat cleavers, butcher knives as well as large amounts of blood and the victims' body parts.

All four defendants will be sentenced Jan. 13.

Newsday's Nicole Fuller contributed to this story.