Woman Found Guilty of Dismembering Neighbor, Dumping Body Parts on Long Island

A Brooklyn woman will face 25 years to life for the death, dismemberment and dumping the remains of her neighbor.

Leah Cuevas was found guilty of second-degree murder Tuesday in a Suffolk County courtroom.

Cuevas stabbed 27-year-old Chinelle Latoya Thompson-Brown more than 40 times during a confrontation in the Sumpter Street, Brooklyn apartment building where both lived, according to an indictment by Robert Clifford, spokesman for Suffolk County District Attorney’s office.

The victim was last seen alive July 5, 2014 and her dismembered torso and legs were found in Bay Shore on July 8, Clifford said, adding that when police searched Cuevas’ home July 10, they identified the victim’s blood in blood splatters found inside, and in the hallway outside, Cuevas’ apartment.

During the course of the investigation, police recovered the victim’s arms and head from where they were dumped on the lawns of private homes in Hempstead.

According to Clifford, a witness in the case said a day before the stabbing that Cuevas “’angrily confronted the victim in her second-floor apartment over what she claimed to be the nonpayment of rent and utilities.’”

Cuevas will serve her sentence in an upstate correctional facility, Clifford said.