Ronald Schroeder, charged in the killing of woman whose body was found in a suitcase in Huntington, rejects plea offer

A Huntington man accused of killing a woman by giving her a date rape drug, sexually abusing her and falling asleep on top of her unconscious body rejected a plea offer Thursday to serve 22 years in state prison on criminal sex act and manslaughter charges.

Ronald Schroeder, 43, declined the offer from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office at the start of a pretrial hearing before state Supreme Court Justice Steven Pilewski in Riverhead. Schroeder's attorney said his client had been open to negotiating a plea deal related to the death of 31-year-old Seikeya Jones but that admitting to criminal sex act charges was "a nonstarter."

"The unfortunate death is something we had tried to negotiate," defense attorney Vincent Bianco, of Westbury, told the judge. "Unfortunately, the people will not abandon their position of the criminal sex act."

Assistant District Attorney Jonathan Cappiello said prosecutors were revoking the plea offer at the start of Thursday’s hearing regarding the admissibility of statements Schroeder made to police when he was arrested three days after Jones’ discarded body was discovered in a suitcase abandoned near the defendant’s Huntington apartment building in September 2024. Jones, who was homeless, according to Suffolk police at the time, grew up in Huntington and graduated from Harborfields High School, Newsday previously reported.

Schroeder faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the criminal sex act charges at trial. Manslaughter carries a penalty of up to 15 years.

Prosecutors have said Schroeder applied a large quantity of the date rape drug GHB to Jones’ body before sexually assaulting her while she was unconscious. He caused her death when he fell asleep on top of her while she lay face down on a pillow. Schroeder filmed the attack on a cellphone seized by investigators, prosecutors have said.

Suffolk Police Det. James Hughes testified at Thursday’s hearing that Schroeder told police he and Jones both took GHB before having sex. Schroeder told police he woke up to find Jones "drowned in her own vomit," the detective testified.

When asked during a two-hour car ride back to Suffolk police headquarters in Yaphank why he didn’t call 911 after finding Jones dead, Schroder said he "froze," according to Hughes.

"He said he didn’t want to get in trouble because he had paraphernalia in his apartment," Hughes testified.

Hughes said a Ring doorbell camera showed Jones with Schroeder in the apartment building on Aug. 29, 2024, five days before her body was discovered. Hughes described a "very strong odor of the decomposition of a body" at both the scene where her body was found and inside the apartment.

Schroeder was arrested by Suffolk homicide detectives on Sept. 6, 2024, after he arrived at Penn Station to recover a backpack he had reported losing on a Long Island Rail Road train four months earlier, Hughes and a Metropolitan Transportation Authority detective testified. The backpack contained GHB and methamphetamines, MTA Special Investigations Det. Christopher Guastamacchia testified.

A grand jury charged Schroeder in May 2025 with two counts of first-degree criminal sex act, manslaughter, concealment of a human corpse and multiple counts of criminal possession of a controlled substance, court records show.

Pilewski said he will rule on the remaining pretrial issues Nov. 10. A trial is planned for January, the judge said.

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.