A Ridge man has pleaded guilty to murdering his former girlfriend outside her Moriches apartment last summer, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced Thursday.
James Quininchetta, 41, admitted to shooting and killing 33-year-old Rebecca Roth during a late-night confrontation fueled by what prosecutors described as a perceived financial dispute. The shooting occurred on June 6, 2025, at approximately 12:30 a.m., outside Roth’s apartment complex in Moriches.
According to court documents and Quininchetta’s admissions during his guilty plea, he went to the apartment complex to collect money he believed Roth owed him. While Roth was seated inside her parked vehicle, Quininchetta fired a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun seven times, striking her multiple times in the torso and causing her death. He then fled the scene.
Responding Suffolk County Police officers recovered the handgun in a nearby parking lot, along with ammunition packaging and spent shell casings. A K-9 search later located a fanny pack containing ammunition in a wooded area. Quininchetta was arrested the following day, June 7, 2025.
On January 29, 2026, Quininchetta pleaded guilty to one count of Murder in the Second Degree and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree before Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei.
He is scheduled to return to court for sentencing on March 11, 2026, where he is expected to receive a sentence of 23 years to life in prison.
“This defendant chose to respond to a perceived financial dispute with irreversible brutality, and now he will be held accountable for his crime,” District Attorney Tierney said. “Our thoughts remain with Rebecca Roth’s loved ones who continue to live with the pain of her absence every day.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Eric S. Aboulafia of the Homicide Bureau and investigated by detectives from the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Squad.
