It started in broad daylight on one of Farmingdale’s busiest roads.
Cars moved along Broadhollow Road. A man walked alone. And within moments, surveillance cameras captured a violent encounter that would end in a killing.
According to the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, three men have now been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2024 abduction and death of 48-year-old Juan Carlos Diaz Jeronimo.
On the evening of June 21, 2024, the victim was walking along Broadhollow Road in Farmingdale when he was spotted by the defendants inside a blue Isuzu Rodeo.
What happened next unfolded quickly and violently.
Surveillance video showed the men jumping out of the SUV, attacking the victim, and trying to force him inside. A passing motorist briefly interrupted the attempt, giving the victim a chance to escape to a nearby gas station.
But it didn’t end there.
The men followed.
In a sequence captured on camera, they covered their faces, chased the victim, then beat and choked him before forcing him into the trunk of the vehicle in broad daylight.
From there, investigators said the SUV traveled to Belmont Lake State Park before returning to Farmingdale.
That’s where the final, chilling moment was recorded.
Surveillance footage showed the men dumping the victim’s body on a residential street.
The medical examiner later determined the victim suffered extensive injuries, including neck compression that led to asphyxia, severe blunt force trauma, and a stab wound to the chest.
The case unraveled largely because of the surveillance footage, which documented nearly every step of the crime, from the initial attack to the abduction and disposal of the body.
That evidence became the turning point.
Gustavo Hernandez, 40, along with his nephews Walter Ramirez Jeronimo, 21, and Wilson Ramirez Jeronimo, 19, all pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. Each was sentenced to 25 years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision.
District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney described the crime as a brutal and calculated act carried out in public view.
The victim and the defendants were not related, despite sharing a similar last name.
What remains is a case that unfolded in plain sight on a busy Long Island roadway and was pieced together through the very cameras that captured it.
Photos: SCDA
