Jose Martinez-Vazquez and Tiffany Diaz-Cabrera charged with murder of Benjamin Flores-Mendez, police say
Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad detectives investigate the scene in Port Jefferson Station where the body of Benjamin Flores-Mendez was found on June 17, 2021. Credit: James Carbone
Police arrested a Port Jefferson Station couple Sunday, charging them with murder in the stabbing death of a man whose body was found on June 17, 2021, on the Greenway Trail in Port Jefferson Station.
Suffolk County Police said Jose Martinez-Vazquez, 24, was arrested at the corner of Crystal Brook Hollow Road and Hallock Avenue in Port Jefferson Station at about 2 p.m., while Tiffany Diaz-Cabrera, 20, was arrested at the Crystal Brook Hollow Road residence where both suspects live at 9:18 p.m. Police said the two are boyfriend and girlfriend.
Each was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Benjamin Flores-Mendez, 39, of Port Jefferson Station, whose body was found in 2021 on the Greenway Trail, near Clifton Place, at about 1 a.m.
Police said the arrests followed a lengthy investigation by Homicide Squad detectives but have not detailed any potential motive for the murder.
Martinez-Vazquez was held overnight at the Sixth Precinct in Selden, while Diaz-Cabrera was held overnight at the Fourth Precinct in Smithtown. Martinez-Vazquez was scheduled for arraignment Monday but court records showed no update or lawyer listed.
Diaz-Cabrera was arraigned Monday and ordered jailed without bail, according to the court records. Her court-appointed lawyer, Daniel Russo, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The case is due back in court Friday.
Additional information was not immediately available.
John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”
