Husband of slain woman tells defendant in Riverhead trial to confess her sins
Dale Brown, right, husband of victim Chinelle Latoya Thompson Browne, stands next to a homicide detective at Suffolk County Court in Riverhead on Monday, Nov. 9, 2015. Leah Cuevas is charged with murdering her. Credit: James Carbone
As Dale Browne stepped off the witness stand Tuesday, he told Leah Cuevas -- the woman on trial for killing and dismembering his wife -- to confess her sins and God will forgive her.
"You need to do the right thing, Leah," Browne said as he looked at Cuevas sitting just feet away in the small Riverhead courtroom.
Then, he walked out.
Cuevas, 44, of Brooklyn, is accused of killing Chinelle Latoya Thompson Browne, 28, a neighbor, over a dispute about rent and utility payments, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Robert Biancavilla said. She then hacked her body into pieces, packing the parts into a suitcase, and dumping them across Long Island, he said.
Cuevas' attorney, Mary-Elizabeth Abbate, said Cuevas argued and fought with Chinelle Latoya Thompson Browne on the day she disappeared, but that Cuevas did not kill her.
Browne, who flew to New York from his native Guyana to testify in the murder trial, confronted Cuevas after finishing his testimony. He told jurors about the long-distance relationship he had with his wife and their four young children while waiting for immigration officials to approve their application to join her in Brooklyn.
He and the children, ages 8, 6, and 4-year-old twins, live with his mother in Guyana. But, he said, the couple communicated daily through WhatsApp and Skype, mobile platforms that allowed the Brownes and their children to text and talk.
On July 5, 2014, the day Chinelle Latoya Thompson Browne disappeared and is believed to have been killed, Browne testified that they sent texts to each other throughout the day.
"Good morning baby," his wife texted him, said Browne, reading from records of their conversation provided by WhatsApp.
"Hey baby," Browne greeted his wife. "I love you."
"Love you," she replied.
"Hope you are feeling well," he said.
Chinelle Latoya Thompson Browne asked what her husband and the children were doing.
"Now getting something to eat," he said.
Browne asked his wife if she was going to work.
"No baby," she said. "I'm going to wash."END
After texting her through the morning, he called his wife about noon New York time and they chatted.
Later that afternoon and evening, Browne texted his wife again, but didn't get a response from her until 7:15 p.m. New York time.
"Hey baby," she replied. "Home."
Authorities believed it was the last text Chinelle Latoya Thompson Browne sent her husband.
Her head, torso, arms and legs were found in different locations in Bay Shore and Hempstead on July 8, 9, 10, and 17, a contractor and several officers testified.
"It smelled like death," Hempstead Village Police Officer Sean O'Brien testified Tuesday, describing the odor of the victim's severed head that a resident found in the bushes near Boylston Street and Dartmouth Avenue in Hempstead.
The trial before Suffolk County Court Judge John J. Toomey Jr. resumes Thursday.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
Out East with Doug Geed: Wine harvests, a fish market, baked treats and poinsettias NewsdayTV's Doug Geed visits two wineries and a fish market, and then it's time for holiday cheer, with a visit to a bakery and poinsettia greenhouses.
