Four people have been arrested in connection with the body parts found at three locations across Long Island, New York, according to the Suffolk County Police Department.
The four suspects, Steven Brown, Jeffrey Mackey, Amanda Wallace and Alexis Nieves, all pleaded not guilty in court Wednesday to concealment of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and hindering prosecution.
They were released with GPS monitors on orders to remain in Suffolk County and report to probation officers weekly.
Prosecutors told NBC New York the "evidence is very strong" and includes cutting tools, meat cleavers and video surveillance.
The defense lawyer for Brown told NBC New York his client "did not kill anyone and did not take part in any of this." Mackey "maintains his innocence," according to his defense lawyer.
Information on attorneys for Wallace and Nieves was not immediately available.
Three of the suspects, Brown, Mackey and Wallace, lived at the home on Railroad Avenue in Amityville that investigators searched on Monday.
Nieves does not have a known address, according to police, but the court hearing indicated he lived with the other three suspects.
The arrest comes a day after the Suffolk County Police Department announced their investigation into three locations: the Amityville home, a wooded area across from Lakeway Drive in West Babylon and Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale.
Additional human remains were found Tuesday in Farmingdale and West Babylon, Suffolk County police said in a news release. None were found Monday during a search of the home in Amityville.
The first body parts were discovered Thursday morning after a student walking to school found a “severed left arm” at Southards Pond Park. A cadaver dog discovered a leg and another arm in the area. A head, parts of a leg and a third arm were recovered later.
Investigators believe the body parts found last week and the human remains discovered Tuesday are those of the same victims.
One of the victims, a 59-year-old woman, has been identified, police said. Her name is being withheld until relatives are notified. The other victim, a 53-year-old man, has been tentatively identified.
“Their last known address was the same location in Yonkers, however, it’s unclear when they last resided there,” police said in the news release.
Two sources familiar with the matter told NBC New York Tuesday that investigators were looking into whether a love triangle was the motive.
The suspect allegedly chopped up his girlfriend and the man he believed she cheated with, the two sources said. It was not immediately clear whether other people helped the killer dispose of the body parts.
Although the four suspects are out on supervised release, they are not bail-eligible due to the New York State legislature's "Bail Reform" passed in 2019, according to Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney.
"Charges relating to the mutilation and disposal of murdered corpses are no longer bail-eligible, meaning my prosecutors cannot ask for bail," Tierney said in a statement. "This is yet another absurd result thanks to ‘Bail Reform’ and a system where the Legislature in Albany substitutes their judgment for the judgment of our judges and the litigants in court."
"We will work with the Suffolk County Police Department to resolve this investigation as soon as possible and implore our Legislature to make common sense fixes to this law."
The investigation is ongoing. Police said the case "appears to be an isolated incident with no threat to the public."
