Two charged in 1986 Woodmere killing

Roger Williams and Lewis Slaughter hadn't seen each other in more than 20 years when they found themselves together in a Nassau police interview room, supposedly to answer questions about a crime they had witnessed.

The two began talking about old times, including a string of crimes they committed together in the 1980s, prosecutors said Wednesday.

"It was quite a reunion," said prosecutor Meg Reiss.

It was also being recorded. By the end of that conversation, prosecutors had enough evidence against Williams and Slaughter to indict them for murder in the 23-year-old killing of plumbing supply store owner Samuel Quentzel.

Wednesday, Williams, 48, and Slaughter, 60, both of Brooklyn, were charged with shooting Quentzel in his Woodmere driveway in a botched robbery attempt. A third man, Clifton Waters, who prosecutors believe pulled the trigger, was accidentally shot to death only four months after Quentzel was killed, prosecutors said.

Williams and Slaughter refused to enter pleas, and Nassau County Court Judge James McCormack entered not guilty pleas on their behalf.

Samuel Quentzel's son, Andrew, who was 12 when his father was killed, said at a news conference he's waited a long time for resolution.

"This was a good man who something tragically bad happened to," he said, standing with his mother and sister. "We didn't give up hope."

Oscar Holt, the lawyer assigned to Williams, said his client has declared his innocence.

"He intends to hotly defend this cold case," Holt said.

A lawyer for Slaughter did not comment, but Slaughter himself denied a role in the crime as officers escorted him out of court.

Prosecutors said Williams and Slaughter had teamed up in a string of crimes around the time of Quentzel's murder, including another 1986 murder. Williams was never charged in that crime, but Slaughter is serving 25 years to life for it, prosecutors said.

On the day of Quentzel's murder on Sept. 4, 1986, prosecutors say Quentzel's wife, Ann, was at home waiting for her husband when she heard a loud noise.

She ran outside to find two men fleeing toward a van, and Quentzel slumped over his steering wheel, prosecutors said. Police found the van several days later, burned out with Quentzel's checkbook and several cigarette butts left inside.

It was not until 2006 that state laws and DNA technology combined to allow police and prosecutors to match DNA found on the cigarettes with DNA that had been taken from Williams while he was on parole for a different offense.

From there, police and prosecutors used "old-fashioned gumshoe detective work" to discover who his accomplices were, Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice said at a news conference with police Commissioner Lawrence Mulvey.