Man Sentenced To 18 Years For Role In Riverhead Murder, Robbery: DA

RIVERHEAD, NY — A 23-year-year old was sentenced Tuesday to 18 years in prison for his role in the murder and robbery of a 34-year-old East Hampton man in 2020, Suffolk County District Ray Tierney said.

Dennis Jonathan Hernandez Abanao's sentence included five years of post-release supervision, Tierney said.

On September 21, 2022, Hernandez Abanao pleaded guilty before Supreme Court Justice Anthony S. Senft, Jr. to second-degree attempted murder, a felony, Tierney said.

According to evidence presented during the December, 2022 trial of co-defendant Alicides Lopez Cambara, on November 11, 2020, Hernandez Abanao took part in helping Lopez Cambara, Tyara Lemus, then 18 and the girlfriend of Lopez Cambara, and an unapprehended co-conspirator, to kill Marco Grisales, Tierney said.

Lopez Cambara was with Lemus when she received a call from Grisales; Grisales told Lemus it was his birthday and he asked if he could see her that night, Tierney said. Lopez Cambara overheard their conversation and became jealous — and then he devised a plan to rob Grisales with the help of Lemus, Tierney said.

Lopez Cambara and Lemus then planned for Lemus to lure Grisales out, under the guise of celebrating his birthday, Tierney said. Hernandez Abanao and a second unidentified male were recruited by Lopez Cambara to help him rob Grisales, prosecutors said.

Lemus set up a meeting with Grisales at a McDonald’s in Riverhead, the DA said. After meeting Grisales, Lemus got into his pickup truck and drove with him to a nearby buffalo farm to “party,” Tierney said. Lopez Cambara, Hernandez Abanao, and the unapprehended male were already at the farm waiting to rob Grisales, the DA said.

After Lemus and Grisales parked, Lopez Cambara and the unapprehended male dragged Grisales out of the car and bludgeoned him to death with the barrel of a shotgun, Tierney said.

On December 13, 2022, Lopez Cambara was convicted after a jury trial heard before Senft of second-degree murder and first-degree robbery, Tierney said. On January 23, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison with five years of post-release supervision, the DA said.

Judge Senft presided over the cases for all three defendants; he also sentenced Lemus to eight years in prison plus three years post release supervision after she pleaded guilty to first-degree robbery, Tierney said.

During his plea, Hernandez Abanao admitted he and Lemus had stolen jewelry and other valuables from Grisales’s car, the DA said. Lopez Cambara tore a gold chain from Grisales’s neck, then the three men put his lifeless body in the bed of his own pickup truck, Tierney said.

Lopez Cambara then drove Grisales’ pickup truck from the scene with Grisales’ body in the back and parked it a short distance away, on Roanoke Avenue, partially blocking the roadway, the DA said.

A passerby saw the pickup blocking the road and called 911 to report a disabled vehicle, prosecutors said. Responding officers from the Riverhead Police Department discovered Grisales’ body in the bed of the truck, Tierney said.

On December 9, 2020, Lemus and Lopez Cambara were arrested and charged with the robbery
and murder of Grisales; Abanao was arrested on May 22, 2021, Tierney said.

Lemus testified at Lopez Cambara’s trial and gave a detailed description of both his and Hernandez Abanao’s involvement in the robbery and murder, the DA said. Her testimony was corroborated by surveillance videos from both a McDonald’s and nearby hospital that captured Grisales’s pickup and Lopez Cambara’s vehicle, as they traveled to the location of the murder, as well as cell site records from both Lemus and Lopez Cambara’s cell phones, Tierney said.

The evidence also included items recovered during the execution of a search warrant at the home shared by Lopez Cambara and Lemus, including Grisales’s jewelry and the shotgun used to bludgeon him, which was adorned with a distinctive bejeweled skull, the DA added. Finally, a download of Lemus’s phone led to the recovery of WhatsApp conversations wherein Lemus and the defendant discussed their plan to lure Grisales to the location of the murder, Tierney said.

“This defendant played a role in facilitating the violent and premeditated murder and robbery of the victim who, at the time, was under the impression he was meeting with a woman to celebrate his own birthday,” said Tierney. “This sentence sends a message to anyone who would consider taking part in carrying out such acts that it will not be tolerated, and we will hold all co-conspirators responsible for their murderous actions.”

Hernandez Abanao was represented by Ian Fitzgerald.