Incident location, Long Island
What Happened
A 22-year-old Massapequa woman has been indicted on a murder charge for the fatal stabbing of a man as he slept in his own home, Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly announced Wednesday. According to News 12 Long Island, Kristin Sculley was indicted Wednesday, June 24, 2026, in connection with the killing of Robert Carragher III, who was stabbed in the neck as he slept in his basement bedroom at his family’s home on Beaumont Avenue in Massapequa. The attack took place in the overnight hours of May 31 into June 1, 2026.
Prosecutors allege that Sculley had been watching television with Carragher in his basement bedroom when he fell asleep. Rather than leaving, Sculley is accused of departing the room, retrieving a switchblade knife from her purse in an adjacent area of the basement, and then returning to carry out what Nassau County prosecutors described as a “brutal attack” — plunging the blade into Carragher’s neck as he slept. The knife believed to be the murder weapon was later recovered at the scene by investigators.
Despite being gravely wounded, Carragher regained consciousness and managed to make his way upstairs to his parents’ room, screaming that he had been stabbed. His parents rushed to his side in a desperate attempt to stop the bleeding. As News 12 Long Island reported, Nassau County Det. Lt. George Darienzo stated plainly at a subsequent press conference: “He died in his father’s arms.” Darienzo added, “No family should ever have to bear witness to their son being killed in that manner.”
Nassau County police responded to the Beaumont Avenue address at approximately 1:30 a.m. and found Carragher lying on the kitchen floor, where he was pronounced deceased at the scene. A search of the residence then led officers to discover Sculley in the basement laundry room, where she was found with blood on her clothing. She had been staying overnight at the home from May 31 through June 1, authorities said. The switchblade believed to have been used in the attack was recovered during the police response.
Det. Lt. Darienzo said at the original press conference following the stabbing that Sculley and Carragher shared a longstanding friendship and had known each other for years. However, investigators previously noted that Sculley had reportedly been angry with Carragher in the period leading up to the attack — a detail that authorities say speaks to the premeditated nature of the crime. Prosecutors allege that her decision to leave the room, retrieve the weapon from her personal belongings, and return to carry out the stabbing while Carragher lay asleep underscores the deliberate character of the alleged murder.
The indictment, handed down Wednesday, formalizes the murder charge and moves the case into the next phase of the criminal justice process. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly’s office is prosecuting the case. According to News 12 Long Island, the grand jury returned the indictment on June 24, 2026 — more than three weeks after the killing took place in the early morning hours of June 1.
Location & Road Context
The incident occurred at a private residence on Beaumont Avenue in Massapequa, a hamlet in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County on Long Island’s South Shore. Massapequa is a predominantly residential community, and Beaumont Avenue is a local residential street. The community has seen a series of serious incidents in recent weeks; Long Island Traffic has previously covered a fatal head-on collision on the Bethpage State Parkway in North Massapequa on June 12, a fatal LIRR train strike in Massapequa on June 8, and a separate arrest in Massapequa on June 19. The residential nature of Beaumont Avenue meant that the only immediate road or traffic impact from this incident was the Nassau County police response to the scene in the overnight hours.
Investigation & Legal Proceedings
Kristin Sculley, 22, of Massapequa, was indicted by a Nassau County grand jury on Wednesday, June 24, 2026, on a charge of murder. The indictment was announced by Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly and follows the initial law enforcement response and investigation carried out by the Nassau County Police Department in the early hours of June 1. Nassau County Det. Lt. George Darienzo was the lead spokesperson for the department at the press conference held in the immediate aftermath of the stabbing.
According to News 12 Long Island, Sculley was discovered at the scene with blood on her clothing and the alleged murder weapon — a switchblade — was recovered by police. Those physical pieces of evidence, combined with the account of events described by prosecutors, formed the foundation of the case presented to the grand jury. No bail information or arraignment date was immediately reported in conjunction with the indictment announcement. The case is expected to proceed through Nassau County’s court system.
Broader Impact
Murder charges in New York under Penal Law § 125.25 — second-degree murder, the most common charging instrument in intentional killings — carry a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years to life in state prison, with a maximum of 25 years to life. If prosecutors pursue a first-degree murder charge, which requires specific aggravating factors such as killing a witness or a premeditated killing by lying in wait, the sentencing exposure increases to a mandatory minimum of 20 to 25 years to life. The specific degree of the murder charge in Sculley’s indictment was not detailed in the announcement from DA Donnelly’s office, but the allegation that Sculley left the room, retrieved the weapon, and returned while the victim slept speaks directly to prosecutorial arguments about premeditation — a central element of any first-degree murder theory under New York law.