According to Suffolk County Police, one of the four suspects arrested in connection with a series of grisly body part discoveries in Babylon and Bethpage State Park who were allowed to walk free with supervised releases instead of being forced to post bail has been arrested again, this time in connection with shoplifting charges at at Lindenhurst pharmacy.
Amanda Wallace, 40, was taken into custody on Friday, March 15, after police responded to a 10:50 p.m. 911 call placed by an East Montauk Highway CVS Pharmacy employee who claimed that the suspect was shoplifting beauty products.
Wallace was tracked down by officers and arrested for petit larceny a short time later; she was arraigned in Suffolk County Court on Monday morning and is currently being held on $5,000 bond.
The arrest comes on the heels of the controversial release of Wallace and three other suspects - Steven Brown, 44, Jeffrey Mackey, 38, and Alexis Nieves, 33 - in connection with the grisly dispersal of the body parts of two murder victims - Donna Conneely, 59, and a yet-to-be-publicly-named male - in Babylon and Bethpage State Park earlier in late February and early March.
On Thursday, February 29, when a student was walking to school and discovered a severed left arm on the west side of Seagal Boulevard at the eastern end of Southards Pond Park, between Park Avenue and Mason Avenue, at approximately 8:40 a.m. The student called her father who then responded to the scene and called 911. A subsequent Suffolk County Police Department search of the area revealed multiple mutilated body parts, including arms, legs, and a severed head.
Police later served a search warrant at an Amityville residence on Tuesday, March 5, where as many as four arrests were made in connection with the incident. In addition, a SCPD search of Bethpage State Park later that same day with the assistance of New York State Police officers revealed additional body parts, reports say.
However, due to a loophole in the controversial bail reform law passed in Albany in 2019 involving the disposal of corpses, the suspects have been granted supervised release as opposed to having to post cash or bond. This development lead to a fiery response from outraged Suffolk County officials, among them Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney.
"It is our understanding that the Suffolk County Police Department is still investigating these murders," Tierney said in a statement. "Unfortunately, due to 'Bail Reform' passed by the New York State Legislature in 2019, charges relating to the mutilation and disposal of murdered corpses are no longer bail-eligible, meaning my prosecutors cannot ask for bail. This is yet another absurd result thanks to 'Bail Reform' and a system where the Legislature in Albany substitutes their judgment for the judgment of our judges and the litigants in court. We will work with the Suffolk County Police Department to resolve this investigation as soon as possible and implore our Legislature to make common sense fixes to this law."