Elmont Man Convicted of Murdering Girlfriend at Mineola Luxury Apartment Building
Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly announced that an Elmont man was convicted yesterday of murder and criminal possession of a weapon in the July 2022 shooting death of his girlfriend in a luxury apartment building in Mineola.
Mark Small, 57, was convicted Thursday after a jury trial by Judge Helene Gugerty of Murder in the Second Degree (an A-I felony) and Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree (a C violent felony).
The trial started on September 5, 2024, and the jury deliberated for approximately five hours before delivering their verdict. The defendant is due back in court for sentencing October 25, 2024, and faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
“Mark Small murdered his girlfriend in cold blood in the middle of the night, shooting her twice and leaving her lifeless body on their bed as he locked up the apartment behind him and drove off in her car,” said DA Donnelly. “Marivel was violently killed in what should have been a sacred space – her own home – because the defendant could not accept that she wanted a fresh start outside of New York and away from him. We thank the jury for their verdict finding this defendant guilty of murdering Marivel and we hope that this conviction provides her family with a sense of justice.”
DA Donnelly said that the defendant’s girlfriend, Marivel Estevez, worked in management at the Allure Mineola apartment complex on Old Country Road and resided in a top-floor apartment.
Between the evening hours of July 28, 2022, and the early morning hours of July 29, 2022, Small shot Estevez with a handgun once in the arm and once in the head and then fled in Estevez’s car with her dog, Tuffy.
When Estevez failed to show up for work on July 30, 2022, an employee called police for a wellness check. Responding Nassau County Police Department officers found Estevez deceased on her bed.
Small – a failed restaurateur who once operated a business in Rockville Centre – was arrested on August 2, 2022, at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset by members of the Nassau County Police Department. Small was being treated at the hospital after being struck by a car chasing after Estevez’s dog, who had escaped from him on the Long Island Expressway.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Tracy Keeton of the Homicide Bureau under the supervision of Bureau Chief Jared Rosenblatt and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Litigation Division Kevin Higgins. The defendant is represented by Stephen Drummond, Esq. and Joanne Squillace, Esq.