3 homeless men plead guilty in stabbing, strangling of man at Central Islip encampment

Three homeless men admitted this month to stabbing and strangling a man whose body was discovered at a Central Islip encampment in February.

Brayan Heredia Escobar, 20, pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of first-degree manslaughter last Thursday, admitting before State Supreme Court Justice John Collins to stabbing Candido Guadalupe Saravia Martinez on the evening of Feb. 17.

Upon questioning from Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Michelle Chiuchiolo, Heredia Escobar said he stabbed Saravia Martinez with a knife handed to him by codefendant Jhon Lopez Campo, 18, while a third defendant, Julio Beltran, 40, held him down with a rope tied around his neck as the men beat him.

Lopez Campo and Beltran also admitted their guilt in plea agreements that saw their second-degree murder charges reduced to manslaughter, prosecutors said. The attack was "revenge" for an earlier altercation with the victim, prosecutors said in a news release.

"These defendants brutally beat and stabbed a defenseless man, leaving him to die in a tent on the side of the road," Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said. "While nothing can undo this senseless act of violence, these guilty pleas ensure that justice has been served, and these individuals will be held accountable with significant sentences totaling decades in prison."

Lopez Campo, who tracked down Heredia Escobar at a laundromat on Suffolk Avenue and walked him to the tent where Saravia Martinez was already being held down, faces a 25-year state prison sentence under the agreement, prosecutors said. Heredia Escobar would serve 20 years and Beltran 22 years.

The three defendants all faced 25 years to life under the murder charge.

Collins told the men, who are not legal residents of the United States, that they could face deportation from federal authorities as a consequence of their guilty pleas, as is required under state law.

"If anyone has told you that you will not be deported they are wrong," the judge advised Heredia Escobar on Jan. 8. Beltran became the final defendant to plead guilty Wednesday after Lopez Campo admitted his guilt Jan. 7.

Heredia Escobar is a Guatemalan national and the other two defendants are from El Salvador, officials said.

Surveillance videos from nearby businesses showed the three men running across the street and returning to the laundromat following the killing, which occurred about 10:30 p.m., prosecutors said.

Saravia Martinez was found in the tent the following day with the rope still tied around his neck and a machete and knife covered in blood resting on top of him, prosecutors said. A stab wound to his neck, strangulation and blunt force trauma to the head all contributed to his death, according to the district attorney's office.

The defendants are scheduled for sentencing next month.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.