(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that Kayla Alvarenga, 23, of Bay Shore, was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, after a jury trial found her guilty of Murder in the First Degree and other related charges, for orchestrating the killing of Linver Ortiz Ponce, 29, of Central Islip, for simply parking in front of Alvarenga’s home.
“A man is dead because he parked in front of the wrong house. This defendant orchestrated his kidnapping and murder, directed co-defendants to hunt him down, and used minors to get it done,” said District Attorney Tierney. “The jury saw exactly what she did, and now she will spend the rest of her life in prison for it.”
The evidence at trial established that on September 17, 2022, just before midnight, the victim parked his red Chevrolet Camaro in front of Alvarenga’s home on Fifth Avenue in Bay Shore.
Angry that he had parked in front of her house, Alvarenga confronted the victim and ordered him to move his car. After the dispute, Alvarenga called Christopher Perdomo, 28, of Glen Cove, and three adolescents, who were between 16 and 17 years old, and instructed them to go to her house and remove the victim from the front of her home.
The co-defendants then drove to Alvarenga’s house in a BMW that they had stolen just hours earlier, after carjacking a young woman in Bay Shore. The four dragged the victim from his vehicle while he slept in the car, beat him, and then stole his vehicle. The victim then fled on foot to a nearby gas station where he attempted to hide behind vehicles. Alvarenga then instructed her co-defendants to find, abduct, and kill the victim.
Alvarenga and two adolescent co-defendants got into the victim’s vehicle, and Perdomo and the three other co-defendant adolescents got into the stolen BMW, all in search of the victim. When Alvarenga spotted the victim at the gas station, she alerted the co-defendants in the BMW.
Video surveillance from the gas station captured the victim being abducted at gunpoint while being dragged into the BMW. Alvarenga then instructed the co-defendants in the BMW to follow her to a church parking lot. On the way to the church, Perdomo beat the victim with a gun.
Once they arrived at the church, the seven defendants allegedly beat the victim, until Alvarenga ordered Perdomo to kill him. Perdomo then shot the victim multiple times as he attempted to crawl away, killing him. The defendants then allegedly fled the scene in both stolen vehicles before they abandoned the Camaro in a wooded area in Smithtown and abandoned the BMW in Brentwood. The defendants then allegedly took a rideshare to Alvarenga’s house, where proceeds from the victim’s wallet were distributed amongst them.
Perdomo was apprehended in Georgia in May 2024.
On September 12, 2025, Perdomo pleaded guilty to the following charges:
- Murder in the First Degree, a Class A felony;
- Kidnapping in the First Degree, a Class A felony;
- Robbery in the Second Degree, a Class C violent felony; and
- Criminal Possession of a Weapon, a Class C violent felony.
Perdomo is due back in court on May 12, 2026, for sentencing and faces up to 20 years in prison.
Perdomo was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison. He is being represented by Robert Gottlieb, Esq.
Five of the adolescent co-defendants have also pleaded guilty. All of the remaining participants in the crime have been sentenced.
On March 26, 2026, Alvarenga was convicted of the following charges after a jury trial heard before Acting Supreme Court Justice Anthony S. Senft, Jr.:
- One Count of Murder in the First Degree, a Class A felony;
- One count of Kidnapping in the First Degree, a Class A felony;
- One count of Robbery in the Second Degree, a Class C Violent felony; and
- One Count of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree, a Class E felony.
On April 28, 2026, Alvarenga was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She was represented by Jonathan Manley, Esq.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Sheetal Shetty and Bureau Chief Timothy Gough of the Homicide Bureau. The investigation was conducted by Detectives Luis Cabrera and Walter Sosnowski of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Squad.
