RIVERHEAD, NY – A pair from Suffolk County will serve more than a decade in prison after admitting to brutally killing a couple they lived with, dismembering their bodies, and scattering the remains in parks and wooded areas across Long Island earlier this year.

Jeffrey Mackey, 40, and Alexis Nieves, 35, were sentenced Tuesday in Suffolk County Supreme Court after each pleaded guilty to felony charges stemming from the February slayings of Donna Conneely, 59, and her husband, Malcolm “Craig” Brown, 53. Mackey faced two counts of second-degree murder, while Nieves pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter. Each received an 11-year prison term, with Mackey’s dual murder sentences to run concurrently.

The violence erupted inside the shared home, authorities said, when Mackey launched the attack by stabbing both victims. Nieves joined in, assaulting Conneely with a meat cleaver and stabbing her multiple times. The victims suffered deep and fatal wounds; Brown was stabbed in the neck and torso, while Conneely received repeated blows to her neck and back.

In the aftermath, prosecutors said the pair cut up the bodies in a bathroom before embarking on a grisly effort to dispose of the remains. Over the next several weeks, body parts belonging to the couple were discovered scattered across several locations in Suffolk County, including Southards Pond Park in Babylon and Bethpage State Park. The discoveries began on February 29, when a park visitor found a severed arm in underbrush, prompting a sweeping investigation.

Further searches led police to a house on Railroad Avenue in Amityville, where investigators found multiple cutting tools believed to have been used in the killings and dismemberment.

The case took a complex turn when Mackey and Nieves asserted in court that they were victims themselves, claiming prolonged physical, emotional, and financial abuse by Brown and Conneely. Their pleas came under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, resulting in sentences shorter than what such charges typically carry. Precise details of the alleged abuse remain limited.

Presiding Supreme Court Justice John Collins expressed shock at the brutality and circumstances surrounding the killings, calling the crime “unique, bizarre and unfathomable” in his remarks to the courtroom.

The case implicated two additional individuals: Steven Brown, a cousin of Malcolm Brown, and Amanda Wallace, Steven Brown’s girlfriend. Authorities said the two played a role in helping Mackey and Nieves conceal and dispose of the body parts. Wallace pleaded guilty to several charges related to hindering prosecution and was sentenced to up to three years in prison. Steven Brown received a five-year sentence after admitting to similar charges as well as conspiracy.

Investigators also connected all four defendants—and both victims—to earlier robberies in which knives and a meat cleaver were brandished, including a holdup at a local gas station just days before the killings.

Relatives of the victims spoke in court during Tuesday’s proceedings, expressing anger and disbelief at the violence and at the leniency extended to the defendants. One family member wished Mackey a painful experience in prison; another expressed hope for ultimate justice for all those involved.

The sentencing marks the culmination of a months-long investigation into the double homicide that rattled Long Island communities, with authorities continuing to piece together motives behind the violence.