Andrew Avila, of Elmont, pleads guilty in strangulation death of Rebecca Carlson, a sex worker

An Elmont man accused of fatally strangling a sex worker and leaving her body beside an auto parts store dumpster last year pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter Tuesday in Mineola, Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said.

Andrew Avila, charged in the Feb. 14, 2023, slaying of Rebecca Carlson, is expected to be sentenced to 25 years in prison when he returns to Supreme Court Justice Caryn Fink's court for sentencing on June 3.

Avila, 26, contacted Carlson, 39, though a website that links sex workers with clients, Nassau police said after Avila was arrested in March 2023. Investigators believe the defendant and Carlson, of Hempstead, had gotten together previously.

The pair met in Mineola early that Valentine’s Day, according to Donnelly. Avila and Carlson got into an argument in the defendant’s car after Avila asked for their tryst to proceed beyond what he had paid for. When Carlson insisted on more money, the argument became physical and Avila strangled Carlson to death.

Officials said Carlson struggled with addiction. “Carlson was a mother who had tragically fallen on difficult times and met a cruel end because of this defendant’s violent outburst,” Donnelly said. “Her family remains in our thoughts.”

Avila’s attorney, Christopher Devane of Mineola, did not immediately return a request for comment.

Officials said Avila sat with Carlson’s lifeless body in his car until a worker showed up at the Mineola location where the altercation occurred. Avila left that location and eventually drove to Grand Avenue in South Hempstead, where he dumped Carlson’s body near a dumpster at Advanced Auto Parts. Her body was discovered later that morning.

Avila was arrested in Hewlett about two weeks after the slaying, on March 2, 2023, by the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad.