Police: Woman's death a homicide

The woman found dead in her Mastic Beach home this week was strangled or smothered, police officials said Friday.

The county medical examiner on Thursday night informed Suffolk police detectives that Shanell Malave, 26, died of asphyxia. Her death was ruled a homicide, according to Det. Lt. Gerard Pelkofsky of the Homicide Squad.

On Tuesday, Suffolk police went to Malave's home on Magnolia Drive after two people called 911. A man and woman who were acquainted with Malave had arrived there to pick up some things, Pelkofsky said. They told police that when there was no answer at the door, they entered and found Malave unresponsive in a bed.

She grew up in Nesconset and moved to the Mastic Beach area as a teenager, family members said.

Malave worked as a phone operator in recent years at Stony Brook University Medical Center. "Everyone at Stony Brook University Medical Center was deeply saddened to learn of the death of one of our own employees, who was a valuable member of our organization," said spokeswoman Lauren Sheprow. She "will be mourned and missed as part of Stony Brook's own extended family." Sheprow said Malave was known at the hospital as Channel Malice.

Family said she was the older of two sisters and was unmarried.

There was no obvious sign of trauma to the body, and Malave was pronounced dead by a representative of the county medical examiner's office, police said.

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Pelkofsky declined to describe the state of the apartment or say whether any items were missing. Malave shares the home with a man who was not home at the time of her discovery, police said.

"We're at an early stage of the investigation," Pelkofsky said, adding that detectives are seeking help from people who know Malave. Her death was the sixth homicide in Suffolk County this year.