Hempstead man charged in suspected MS-13 killing, Nassau authorities say

Nassau police arrested and charged an alleged MS-13 gang member in the 2016 machete killing of a Uniondale man in Massapequa Preserve, officials said Tuesday.

Stanley Gerson Juarez, 22, of Hempstead, is facing a second-degree murder charge in the killing of Bryan Steven Cho Lemus, 18, of Uniondale — a suspected MS-13 victim found May 24 by police in a shallow grave.

The discovery of Lemus’ remains closed a chapter for investigators and his family. Lemus was the last MS-13 victim, among those killed at the height of the gang’s violent spree on Long Island in 2016 and 2017, to be found by police.

Lemus, who police said associated with the gang, went missing on Aug. 24, 2016 — the day authorities believe he was lured into the woods and attacked with machetes by MS-13 gang members. Police said they expect to charge other alleged gang members in Lemus' killing.

Lemus’ remains were discovered by Nassau police after extensive efforts to locate his body, including multiple digs at the 432-acre site by homicide detectives using a backhoe and rakes.

"We will make sure these barbarians are behind bars," said Nassau District Attorney Madeline Singas, speaking at a news conference held at police headquarters in Mineola to announce the arrest.

Lemus' mother, Amanda Lemus, in an interview Tuesday, said she "has been left in shock" by confirmation that her son died such a horrible death, but she is also determined to see that law enforcement authorities make those responsible pay for the suffering they inflicted.

"I ask, first of all, that God delivers justice with this person" arrested and any others involved in killing her son, Lemus said in Spanish during a telephone interview Tuesday. "And I also want our earthly justice to seek the maximum penalty under the law."

Amanda Lemus said she has been in a kind of penance herself since her son went missing.

"Almost three years of very difficult days," she said, "of illness, of being unable to sleep, of being unable to eat, of losing my memory, of suffering headaches, all of that I have gone through."

She said her son went through "a time of terror, of much suffering, a lot of pain" when he was attacked. "I have no explanation for something like that," Lemus said.

Her son, she said, loved to be with family and worked construction jobs to support them and his girlfriend, who was five months pregnant when he went missing. 

"He had a life and he was not hanging around in the streets like a crazy person," she said.

Juarez has a long criminal history and was already in custody at the Nassau County jail on an attempted murder charge for a 2016 machete slashing attack in Hempstead Lake Park, authorities said. Judge Maxine Broderick ordered Juarez held without bail at his Tuesday arraignment in Bryan Steven Cho Lemus' killing. Juarez is due back in court Thursday. 

Lemus' remains were found near where police in March 2017 found the remains of Julio Cesar Espantzay, 18, of Hempstead. That discovery, police said, led to intelligence that Lemus had also been killed and buried in the preserve. Five alleged MS-13 gang members have been charged with murder in Espantzay’s death. 

Lemus' slaying was one of a dozen MS-13 homicides committed in Nassau County in 2016 and 2017. Of the twelve killings, seven of the victims were found in shallow graves, said Nassau Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder. Twenty five alleged gang members have been arrested and charged in the killings, Ryder said. 

"Mr. Lemus was the final piece we were looking for," Ryder said. "We went back over and over and over to that preserve. … Our homicide guys and our ESU guys went down and cut down woods, acres of property, raked up leaves. They went back again, and again and again, finally finding that depression that’s caused by the decomposing of the body.”

Det. Lt. Stephen Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of Nassau’s Homicide Squad, said Lemus succumbed from "multiple stabbings and hackings with machetes." Fitzpatrick said police believe other gang members were involved in the killings and police plan to make more arrests. Some of the suspects are already in custody for other crimes, he said. 

The motive in Lemus' killing, Fitzpatrick said, was typical of MS-13 — a petty beef. 

“We believe he knew his killers,” said Fitzpatrick. “They lured him into the woods and there they planned their attack of him and killing of him. He associated with gang members. For some reason they felt that he was an enemy of their particular clique. And then, he was marked for death at that point.”

Amanda Lemus, who is from Guatemala but whose son was born in the United States, said she treasures fond memories of him, “because he was a boy who was never disrespectful with me.”

She said she was thankful for the work of police, who didn’t give up the search. All that’s left, Lemus said, is for their work to be finished.

“I need to see it with my own eyes that justice is done,” she said. “I need to see it.”

With Victor Manuel Ramos 

By Nicole Fuller

nicole.fuller@newsday.com@NicoleFuller

Nicole Fuller is Newsday's senior criminal justice reporter. She began working at Newsday in 2012 and previously covered local government.