Central Islip man was stabbed to death, police say

The man found inside his Central Islip apartment died of multiple stab wounds, police said yesterday.

Kevin Pierson, 38, was found in his bedroom at about 2 p.m. Friday by a cousin, who had gone to the residence to check on him. Det. Sgt. Thomas Groneman, of the Suffolk Police homicide unit, said there were no signs of forced entry and no neighbors reported hearing anything unusual.

Suffolk Police yesterday had not identified a motive in the slaying. “We’re going over all aspects of his life,” Groneman said. “We look at everything.”

Police said Pierson is an employee of M. Slavin and Sons Inc., a Brooklyn fish wholesaler. In a federal complaint filed last December, Pierson accused his employer of sexual and racial harassment. Police said yesterday the slain Pierson was the same person named in the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint. He also pleaded guilty more than a decade ago to third-degree rape.

Yvonne Pierson, identified by an uncle as Pierson’s mother, said yesterday she would not comment. Other family members who lived nearby also would not comment.

Suffolk Police said Friday Pierson lived alone in the rented, one-bedroom apartment in the Park Row Condominium complex.

Theresa Regnante, 47, president and chief executive of United Way of Long Island, has lived for nine years in the neighborhood where the killing happened.

“Honestly, it’s a safe and supportive neighborhood,” she said.

“It’s unsettling because you lose a community member,” Regnante said of Pierson’s death. “It causes you to pause — it’s really gripping.”

In December, a complaint filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the Brooklyn-based M. Slavin and Sons Inc. named Pierson as the charging party.

The complaint alleged management officials created a hostile and abusive work environment for Pierson and others “based on their sex (male), race (Black/African American), and or national origin (African).” The complaint says Pierson and others at the wholesaler were regularly subjected to pinching and grabbing by superiors — as well as racial slurs.

A manager at M. Slavin and Sons said he and others in the company were unaware of Pierson’s death. He declined to give his name or comment about Pierson’s time with the company.

About 10 years ago, Pierson served 90 days in prison after pleading guilty to third-degree rape and spent 5 years on probation. A person is guilty of third-degree rape in New York when he or she has sex with a person the law deems incapable of consent — or if the person is 21 or older and has sex with someone aged under 17.

Police had no one in custody for the stabbing death and hadn’t brought in anyone for questioning yesterday afternoon.

Yesterday was the second Saturday in a row Suffolk County homicide detectives spent tracking clues in homicides in Central Islip. Last Friday, the body of Vanessa Argueta, 19, and her son, Diego Torres, 2, were found in woods behind an industrial complex a little more than a mile from Pierson’s residence. No arrest has been in made in that case and there’s no connection between the two, police said.

Marian Schnepf, 75, lives a few doors down from Pierson’s apartment. She has lived in the community of Park Row for three years and said it was quiet and friendly. But she said she will now be quicker to notify authorities if something seems out of the ordinary. “It’s scary,” Schnepf said. “Living here is almost like living in a story-book . . . that’s changing — and that’s frightening.”