Three men have each pleaded guilty to Manslaughter in the First Degree for their roles in the brutal 2025 killing of a homeless man in Central Islip, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced.
Brayan Heredia Escobar, 20, of Guatemala, Jhon Lopez Campos, 18, of El Salvador, and Julio Beltran, 40, of El Salvador, admitted to causing the death of Candido Guadalupe Saravia Martinez, a 39-year-old Salvadorian national who had been living undomiciled in the area.
“These defendants brutally beat and stabbed a defenseless man, leaving him to die in a tent on the side of the road,” Tierney said. “While nothing can undo this senseless act of violence, these guilty pleas ensure that justice has been served, and these individuals will be held accountable with significant sentences totaling decades in prison.”
According to court records and the defendants’ admissions, Suffolk County Police discovered Saravia Martinez’s body on February 18, 2025, inside a tent along Suffolk Avenue just east of Carleton Avenue in Central Islip. He was found with a rope around his neck, visible ligature marks, blunt force trauma to his face and body, and a stab wound to the neck.
Investigators recovered a blood-covered machete and knife inside the tent, lying on the victim’s neck. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner determined Saravia Martinez died from a combination of blunt force trauma, strangulation, and a stab wound.
Video surveillance from nearby businesses on Suffolk Avenue showed the three defendants running from the tent after the attack and entering a laundromat across the street.
During their plea allocutions, Lopez Campos and Beltran admitted to holding the victim down while Lopez Campos struck him repeatedly with the handle of a machete. Lopez Campos then handed a knife to Heredia Escobar and directed him to stab Saravia Martinez. The defendants said the attack was carried out as revenge for an alleged prior altercation months earlier.
On January 7, 2026, Lopez Campos pleaded guilty before John B. Collins and faces 25 years in prison. Heredia Escobar pleaded guilty on January 8, 2026, and faces 20 years in prison. Beltran pleaded guilty on January 14, 2026, and faces 22 years in prison. All three are scheduled to return to court in late February for sentencing proceedings.
A criminal conviction follows a guilty plea. Sentencing will be determined by the court.
Photos: SCDA
