(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced that 42-year-old Alcides Lopez Cambara was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison with 5 years of post-release supervision, for the deadly robbery and murder of 34-year-old Marco Grisales of East Hampton.
“This sentence cannot change history and the fact that the loss of the victim’s life was both brutal and senseless,” said District Attorney Tierney. “This was a violent and premeditated murder and robbery. We are gratified that the judge imposed the requested maximum sentence and hope the victim’s loved ones find some solace in the sentence.”
The evidence at trial established that on November 11, 2020, Lopez Cambara, was with his girlfriend, Tyara Lemus, then aged 18, when she received a call from the victim, Marco Grisales. Grisales, 34, told Lemus it was his birthday and he asked if he could see her that night. The defendant heard the conversation and became jealous. As a result, he devised a plan to rob the victim with the help of Lemus. Lopez Cambara and Lemus planned for Lemus to lure Grisales out under the premise of celebrating his birthday. Lopez Cambara recruited two other individuals to help him rob Grisales.
Lemus set up a meeting with Grisales at a McDonald’s in Riverhead. After meeting Grisales, Lemus got into his pickup truck and drove with him to a nearby buffalo farm to party.
Lopez Cambara and the two others he had recruited, Dennis Jonathan Hernandez Abanao and an unidentified male, were already at the farm, lying in wait to rob Grisales. After Lemus and Grisales parked, Lopez Cambara and the unidentified male dragged Grisales out of the car and bludgeoned him to death with the barrel of a shotgun. Hernandez Abanao and Lemus stole jewelry and other valuables from the victim’s car. Lopez Cambara tore a gold chain from the victim’s neck, then the three men put his lifeless body in the bed of his own pickup truck.
The defendant drove Grisales’ pickup truck from the scene with Grisales’ body in the back. He parked it a short distance away, on Roanoke Avenue, partially blocking the roadway. A passerby saw the pickup blocking the road and called 911 to report a disabled vehicle. Responding officers from the Riverhead Police Department discovered Grisales’s body in the bed of the truck.
In the days following the murder, Lemus, using an alias, called police, and provided information about the other individuals involved in the crime. On December 9, 2020, Lemus and Lopez Cambara were arrested and charged with the murder and robbery of Grisales. Lemus pleaded guilty to Robbery in the First Degree for her role in this crime. Hernandez Abanao pleaded guilty to Attempted Murder in the Second Degree for his participation in this crime. Both are pending sentence.
Lemus testified at the trial and gave a detailed description of the defendant’s involvement in the murder. Her testimony was corroborated by surveillance videos from both a McDonald’s and nearby hospital that captured Grisales’s pickup and the defendant’s vehicle as they travelled to the location of the murder, as well as cell site records from both Lemus and Lopez Cambara’s cell phones. The evidence also included items recovered during the execution of a search warrant at the home shared by Lopez Cambara and Lemus, including the victim’s jewelry and the shotgun used to bludgeon the victim, which was adorned with a distinctive bejeweled skull. Finally, a download of Lemus’s phone led to the recovery of WhatsApp conversations wherein Lemus and the defendant discussed their plan to lure the victim to the location of the murder.
On December 13, 2022, Lopez Cambara was convicted of Murder in the Second Degree and Robbery in the First Degree after a jury trial heard before Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Anthony S. Senft, Jr.
Lopez Cambara was represented by John Halverson, Esq. and Christopher Gioe, Esq.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Dena Rizopoulos and James O’Rourke of the Major Crimes Bureau.