Prosecutors detail fatal stabbing, assault as Brentwood man pleads not guilty
Wilson Felipe Andrade-Molina is escorted from court after his arraignment Friday in Central Islip. Credit: Tom Lambui
A man saw his mother get violently attacked by a man with a knife in Brentwood Thursday morning, less than an hour after the attacker fatally stabbed the woman’s boyfriend inside his Hauppauge workplace, prosecutors said at an arraignment in Central Islip Friday.
Wilson Felipe Andrade-Molina, 37, of Brentwood, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the stabbing death of his cousin, Luis Miguel Andrade-Cando, 38, of Brentwood, and in the near-fatal attack of Santa Pena, 46, who lived with Andrade-Cando.
Police were made aware of the attack on Pena, at a house on Charter Oaks Avenue in Brentwood, when a woman called 911 shortly after 8 a.m. Thursday.
Pena's 21-year-old son, who was sleeping at the time of that attack, "was awakened to the screams of his mother,” Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Elena Tomaro told acting County Court Judge James Saladino. “When the young man tried to go to her aid, [Andrade-Molina] advanced toward him with the knife.”
Andrade-Molina, who lives on nearby Fairfield Circle, continued to stab Pena before fleeing the scene, Tomaro said.
More than 90 minutes after the 911 call, police learned of the killing on Oser Avenue in Hauppauge, when the owner of a machine shop where both Andrade-Molina and Andrade-Cando worked called to report the discovery of Andrade-Cando’s body, prosecutors said.
“The owner of the business discovered the victim’s lifeless body in a pool of blood,” Tomaro told the court.
Prosecutors, during the brief court appearance, did not disclose a motive for the killing.
They said a review of surveillance footage showed Andrade-Molina entering the machine shop around 7:30 a.m., shortly after Andrade-Cando arrived for work. Andrade-Molina then left the business and headed to Brentwood, where he stabbed Pena, who was also his cousin and a sister of his girlfriend, about nine times, according to police and prosecutors.
“[She] suffered life-threatening injuries, including a lacerated liver, punctures of her diaphragm and both lungs, and lacerations to her arm, her shoulder, her breasts and her torso,” Tomaro said of Pena.
Suffolk County police said in a news release that they found Andrade-Molina soon afterward on Gibson Street and Bay Avenue in Bay Shore, where he was arrested and taken into custody.
"This is a horrible incident," Suffolk Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison told reporters Thursday evening. "This is something that affects the whole county."
Andrade-Molina faces 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the top charge of second-degree murder.
Andrade-Molina’s court-appointed defense attorney Steve Fondulis, of Port Jefferson, asked the judge to grant his client bail, citing state law that requires judges to release defendants on the least restrictive bail conditions.
“It seems remand would be the most restrictive,” Fondulis told the court.
Saladino instead remanded Andrade-Molina to the county jail without bail.
“In my mind it’s not a question of violating anyone’s constitutional rights,” the judge told Fondulis.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
