A Mastic man pleaded guilty to stabbing his housemate to death.
On June 30, 2023, at approximately 5:00 p.m., Philip Walker fatally stabbed the victim, 63-year-old Jimmy Vaughn, three times with a knife inside a room at the Shirley Motel on Montauk Highway. When paramedics arrived, Vaughn was found outside the room, bleeding from the left side of his chest and abdomen. Vaughn was taken to Long Island Community Hospital, where doctors tried but failed to repair the hole in his heart. He was pronounced dead at approximately 6:20 p.m.
Walker fled from the motel after the incident, but Suffolk County Police officers arrested him on July 2, 2023, at a family member’s home in North Amityville.
On February 14, 2025, Walker, 58, pleaded guilty to Manslaughter in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony, before Acting Supreme Court Justice Karen M. Wilutis. Walker is expected to be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“This conviction ensures accountability for a senseless act of violence that claimed a life,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney. “While no sentence can bring the victim back to his friends and family, I hope that they can find some solace knowing that his killer was held criminally responsible for his actions.”
Walker is due back in court on March 25, 2025.