Brayan Escobar, 20; Jhon Campos, 18; and Julio Beltran, 40, each pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Suffolk County Court this month for their roles in the slaying of 39-year-old Candido Guadalupe Saravia Martinez.
The victim’s body was discovered on Feb. 18, 2025, inside a tent along Suffolk Avenue, just east of Carleton Avenue, as Daily Voice reported. The scene was just steps from the MTA Police Department headquarters.
Martinez was found with a rope tied around his neck, under which ligature marks were visible, according to prosecutors. Investigators also noted blunt force trauma to the victim’s face and body, as well as a stab wound to the neck.
Detectives recovered a machete and a knife covered in blood inside the tent, with the weapons found near the victim’s neck, according to court records. The Suffolk County Medical Examiner determined Martinez died from a combination of blunt force trauma, strangulation, and a stab wound.
Surveillance video from nearby businesses showed the three defendants running from the tent after the attack and entering a laundromat across the street, prosecutors said.
According to admissions made during their guilty pleas, Campos and Beltran held Martinez down while Lopez Campos repeatedly struck him with the handle of a machete. Lopez Campos then handed a knife to Heredia Escobar and directed him to stab the victim, prosecutors said.
All four men had been living without permanent housing in Central Islip at the time. The attack was carried out as retaliation for a prior altercation that occurred months earlier, prosecutors said.
“These defendants brutally beat and stabbed a defenseless man, leaving him to die in a tent on the side of the road,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney.
“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.”
Campos, of El Salvador; Escobar, of Guatemala; and Beltran, of El Salvador each face a potential sentence of more than 20 years in prison when they return to court in February.
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