Valley Stream Man Charged With Murder After Nassau County Stabbings, Prosecutors Say

MINEOLA, NY — A Valley Stream man was indicted on three counts of murder Tuesday in connection with the fatal May 1 stabbings of his uncle’s girlfriend and his coworker, prosecutors said.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said 22-year-old Rony Yahir Alvarenga-Rivera was arraigned Tuesday and faces one count of first-degree murder and two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of 42-year-old Ana Maria Del Aguila-Cordova and 32-year-old Eddy Raquel Hernandez Castillo.

Alvarenga-Rivera has pleaded not guilty to all three charges, and is due back in court July 8, court documents show. If found guilty, prosecutors say he could face up to a lifetime without parole prison sentence. His lawyer, Megan Rha, did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

According to prosecutors, Alvarenga-Rivera was sitting in his bedroom at 9 p.m. on the night of April 30 and “became agitated by the sound of” Castillo — his uncle’s girlfriend who had been living at the home for about six months — walking upstairs in high-heeled shoes. Upon becoming agitated by the sound, Alvarenga-Rivera confronted Castillo and stabbed her more than 50 times; she died from the stab wounds, prosecutors said.

After that confrontation, Alvarenga-Rivera boarded a LIRR train to Island Park, where he worked at a Wendy’s with Del Aguila-Cordova and had engaged in a series of arguments with her, prosecutors said. Upon arrival, Alvarenga-Rivera found that the doors to the Wendy’s were locked and waited near the dumpsters for Del Aguila-Cordova to take out the trash at the end of the night, prosecutors said.

At about midnight on May 1, three hours after the fatal stabbing of Castillo, Aguila-Cordova entered the dumpster area where she was attacked and killed, prosecutors said.

Donnelly said NCPD was called with reports of a woman stabbed at the Island Park Wendy’s at 12:27 a.m. on May 1 — almost a half-hour after the stabbing — and found Del Aguila-Cordova on the ground near the dumpsters, having sustained more than 30 stab wounds. She was pronounced dead at the scene, prosecutors said.

Just over two hours later, at 2:52 a.m., police received another 911 call from an employee at a 7-11 in Lynbrook, prosecutors said. Upon arrival at the 7-11, police found Alvarenga-Rivera with blood on his clothing and cuts on his hands, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that police gathered information at the 7-11 that tipped them off to the presence of a second stabbing victim at Alvaranga-Rivera’s Valley Stream home, prosecutors said. When police arrived at the home, they found Castillo, who was pronounced dead, prosecutors said.

“Police recovered the knives allegedly used in the attacks and two cell phones at the Wendy’s in Island Park,” Prosecutors said.

“Rony Yahir Alvarenga-Rivera’s anger over petty disagreements boiled over into the alleged murders of two innocent women,” Donnelly said. “The defendant allegedly stabbed Eddy Raquel Hernandez Castillo to death because he could not stand the sound of her footsteps above his apartment as she walked around in the comfort of her own home. Then, having allegedly committed one murder, he sought out a coworker, Ana Maria Del Aguila-Cordova, waiting at the Wendy’s where they worked together until she took out the trash and he could strike. The defendant allegedly stabbed and killed the mother of two all because they did not get along at work. The sheer brutality of these deranged and unprovoked attacks has shattered two families. Our thoughts are with them as we prosecute this case.”