Man sentenced to 22 years in prison for mother's killing

A Brentwood man who pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the 2019 stabbing death of his mother was sentenced to 22 years in prison Tuesday in Central Islip, according to the Suffolk District Attorney’s Office.

Akcel Arriaza, 22, lured his mother, Dora Villatoro Arriaza, outside their home on Adams Avenue in Brentwood on Dec. 8, 2019, and then repeatedly stabbed her in the head and body, Suffolk prosecutors said.

"This defendant callously took the life of the very person who gave him life and destroyed his own family in the process," Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said. "With this sentence, this defendant has been brought to justice and hopefully the family and surrounding community can feel some closure over this senseless crime."

Villatoro Arriaza, 46, was in the process of a divorce and the family continued to live in the same house, with escalating tension.

Arriaza pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on Nov. 23 and agreed to a sentence of 22 years in prison plus five years of post-release supervision. He was sentenced yesterday before Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Richard I. Horowitz.