Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that an Elmont man was sentenced today to 25 years in prison for strangling a woman to death on Valentine’s Day in 2023 and leaving her body behind an Advanced Auto Parts in South Hempstead.
Andrew Avila, 26, pleaded guilty on April 2, 2024, before Judge Caryn Fink to Manslaughter in the First Degree (a B violent felony).
The defendant was sentenced today to 25 years in prison.
“Andrew Avila brutally strangled Rebecca Carlson to death in his car after a Valentine’s Day tryst that didn’t end the way he wanted,” said DA Donnelly. “Without a care for the life he extinguished, the defendant dumped Rebecca’s body behind a local storefront with the trash and drove off. Avila will now spend more than two decades of his young life behind bars for his callous violence. Our thoughts remain with Rebecca’s family as her killer is brought to justice.”
DA Donnelly said that, according to the indictment and investigation, in the early morning hours of February 14, 2023, defendant Andrew Avila met with 39-year-old Rebecca Carlson in his vehicle in Mineola.
Avila contacted the victim and they agreed to meet in person to engage in a sex act.
The defendant and the victim got into an argument that became physical and Avila strangled Carlson to death.
Avila then disposed of the victim’s body next to a dumpster behind the Advanced Auto Parts retail store at 1146 Grand Avenue in South Hempstead.
Carlson’s body was discovered later that morning by a store employee.
Avila was arrested by the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad on March 2, 2023, in Hewlett.
The case is being prosecuted by Deputy Bureau Chief Daryl Levy under the supervision of Bureau Chief Jared Rosenblatt of the Homicide Bureau and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Litigation Division Kevin Higgins. The defendant is represented by Christopher Devane, Esq.