Defendant’s Wife Enters Guilty Plea for Hindering Prosecution
An Islip Terrace man pleaded guilty to manslaughter and his wife also entered a guilty plea for hindering prosecution.
On September 27, 2022, Eduardo Vega and his wife, Tanya Denis, lived together with Denis’ two daughters, their husbands and children. During the early morning hours of that day, Vega engaged in a verbal altercation with one of Denis’ daughter’s husbands, Roshane McLaren, 34, in the backyard. The altercation escalated when Vega threw a lawn chair at McLaren and threatened to hit him with a baseball bat. When the daughters tried to intervene, Vega punched one of them in the face. McLaren eventually de-escalated the situation, and Vega then left the home on foot. While Vega was gone, McLaren learned that Vega had struck his wife during the altercation.
A short time later, Vega returned to the home with Denis. In the driveway, McLaren confronted Vega for hitting his wife. Vega then stabbed McLaren in the chest twice, piercing his left lung, heart, diaphragm, and stomach, then immediately fled the scene. Minutes later, Denis left the home in her vehicle and located Vega. She then provided Vega with money and drove him to the Brentwood train station at which point he fled to Brooklyn. He turned himself in at the Suffolk County Police Department’s Third Precinct on October 2, 2022.
McLaren was transported to South Shore University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
On September 13, 2024, Vega, 58, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, a Class B violent felony, before Acting County Court Judge Richard T. Dunne. Vega is expected to be sentenced to 25 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision.
Vega is due back in court for sentencing on October 16, 2024. Denis previously pleaded guilty on September 4, 2024, to hindering prosecution in the third degree, a Class A misdemeanor.
“This defendant killed Roshane McLaren, his own son-in-law, leaving his infant grandchild without a father,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “I thank the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Squad for their thorough investigation which led to this plea. Notwithstanding this result, our thoughts and prayers remain with the family and friends of Roshane McLaren.”