Defendant’s Wife Helped Him Flee to Brooklyn after the Incident
An Islip Terrace man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for fatally stabbing his son-in-law during an argument. His wife pleaded guilty for aiding her husband after he committed the murder.
Eduardo Vega and his wife, Tanya Denis, lived together with Denis’ two daughters, their husbands, and children. During the early morning hours of September 27, 2022, Vega engaged in a verbal altercation
with Roshane McLaren, 34, one of Denis’ daughter’s husbands 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. The victim eventually deescalated the situation, and Vega then left the home on foot. While Vega was gone, McLaren learned that Vega had struck the victim’s 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. Vega 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. Vega fled to Brooklyn.
McLaren was transported to South Shore University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Vega eventually turned himself into the Suffolk County Police Department’s Third Precinct on October 2, 2022.
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. On October 16, 2024, Dunne sentenced Vega to 25 years in prison followed by five years of post-release supervision.
Denis, 48, previously pleaded guilty on September 4, 2024, to third-degree hindering prosecution, a Class A misdemeanor.
“There is absolutely no justification for this defendant’s violent actions,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “The brutal manner in which he chose to attack and kill Mr. McLaren deserves an equally serious prison sentence.”