Joseph DeFelice said he agreed to help killer, cop testifies

A North Amityville man told police he loved his girlfriend, but when his childhood friend and drug-dealing partner insisted she had to die, he agreed to help, a Suffolk detective testified Wednesday.

Homicide Det. Thomas Walsh recounted the last of several versions Joseph DeFelice, 34, gave of how Mandy Jo Jenkins, 30, came to be shot to death on Aug. 23, 2010, in the Halloween products warehouse where they lived.

DeFelice is on trial before Suffolk County Court Judge John Toomey Jr., charged with second-degree murder.

His friend, David Newbeck, 36, of Massapequa, will be tried later.

"He said he didn't really want to stop Dave," Walsh said during questioning by Assistant District Attorney Robert Biancavilla. "He said he felt he owed Dave, and that he had known him forever."

Problems between Newbeck and Jenkins started the previous June when Jenkins filed identity theft charges against Newbeck's girlfriend, Jennifer Russini, Walsh said DeFelice told him.

Russini had taken $28,000 from Newbeck, too, and now she needed to scam other people so he could get repaid, DeFelice explained, according to Walsh.

But that couldn't happen if Jenkins had Russini arrested, so Newbeck began insisting that Jenkins had to die, Walsh said DeFelice told him. According to Walsh, about two weeks before the shooting, DeFelice said Newbeck told him, "You better take care of her, or I will."

DeFelice said he later lied, telling Newbeck he'd strangled Jenkins and dumped her in a ditch, the detective said. But early on Aug. 23, after making some pill deliveries and buying crystal meth for themselves, Newbeck spotted Jenkins while picking up a go-kart he'd left at the warehouse, DeFelice said, according to Walsh.

DeFelice helped Newbeck bring the go-kart to his house, and watched Newbeck get his .45-caliber pistol and some tarps, he said, according to Walsh. At the warehouse, DeFelice got his Rottweiler out of the apartment, gave Newbeck the key, walked his dog down the street and heard a shot, he said, according to Walsh.

When he got back, Jenkins was barely breathing. "He said he hugged her, told her he loved her and walked out of the apartment" again, Walsh said.

Newbeck shot her again, DeFelice said, according to Walsh. An autopsy showed she was shot four times in the head and once in the chest.After he helped Newbeck clean up the mess in his apartment, Newbeck wrapped Jenkins' body in the tarps and took her away, DeFelice said, according to Walsh.