Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced on Dec.7 that Wayne Chambers, 51, was found guilty of Murder in the Second Degree after a jury trial for the fatal stabbing of his former girlfriend, Sandra McIntosh, in 2021.
“The domestic violence murder of Sandra McIntosh was a tragedy that should not have happened,” said District Attorney Tierney. “If you or anyone you know is a victim of domestic violence, I urge you to contact the Police Department or the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office to help us prevent tragedies like this one.” The evidence at trial established that on July 22, 2021, at approximately 7:43 p.m.
Chambers picked up McIntosh after her nurse’s shift at Stony Brook University Hospital was over. He had dropped her off earlier and had been driving McIntosh’s 2010 white Lexus RX350. Chambers had previously been in a relationship with McIntosh for approximately six years but had broken up months before the fatal stabbing. Chambers violently stabbed McIntosh, 46, of Medford, at least 25 times including in her neck and back, puncturing her heart and lung.
At about 8:03 p.m. a “911” caller reported seeing Chambers in the same vehicle driving erratically and then stopping the vehicle on Woodland Avenue in Holtsville. Witnesses saw Chambers outside the Lexus in a physical altercation with McIntosh. In addition, they heard McIntosh screaming and when they came out saw Chambers physically assaulting McIntosh and attempting to drag her out of the woods by her hair. Once Chambers saw the witnesses, he fled and jumped into McIntosh’s Lexus and sped away. McIntosh died within two hours of the fatal attack.
After the fatal incident, the Suffolk County Police Department was able to track Chambers to a location in the Bronx. It was there that McIntosh’s 2010 white Lexus RX350 was found as a result. Red staining that appeared to be blood was observed on both the exterior and interior of the vehicle. The evidence at trial established that that the red staining not only tested presumptively positive for blood, but many of those stains contained mixtures of DNA between the decedent and this defendant.
Surveillance video evidence was recovered across the street from McIntosh’s vehicle was found in the Bronx. This surveillance video captured the white SUV pulling up at approximately 10:39 p.m. on July 22, 2021. A man can be seen getting out of the driver’s side of the vehicle and walking away with what appeared to be a cellular phone in his hand.
Members of the Suffolk County Police Department testified that they spoke with a female acquaintance of the defendant, whose residence was located approximately one block away from where McIntosh’s vehicle was discovered. In sum and substance, she stated that Chambers went to her home in the Bronx on the evening of July 22, 2021. Upon arriving at her home, she observed that Chambers had a cut on one of his index fingers that was covered by a Band-Aid. She also observed a bloody spot on his green shirt. Additionally, cell site data placed Chamber’s cell phone near the murder scene, immediately after the murder.
Chamber’s cell phone also connected to a cell site within a mile of where McIntosh’s vehicle was discovered in the Bronx, coinciding with the surveillance video that captured the SUV being parked in the Bronx.
On July 30, 2021, members of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Squad, Newburg City Police Department, the U.S. Marshals Service Fugitive Task Force, and New York State Police located Chambers at a hotel in Newburgh and placed him under arrest.
On December 7, 2023, Chambers was convicted after a jury trial, heard before Supreme Court Justice, the Honorable Richard Ambro of Murder in the Second Degree. Chambers is due back in court on January 9, 2023, for sentencing and faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
He is being represented by Ian Fitzgerald, Esq. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Eric S. Aboulafia of the Homicide Bureau and Michelle Chiuchiolo of the Child Abuse and Domestic Violence Bureau, with investigative assistance from Detectives Guido Cirenza and Brendan O’Hara of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Homicide Squad.
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