60°
Leniz Escobar, age 24, of Islip Terrace, was sentenced to 50 years in prison in Central Islip federal court on Thursday, Oct. 1.
It followed her April 2022 conviction for murder and related charges in the deaths of Justin Llivicura, Michael Lopez, Jorge Tigre and Jefferson Villalobos.
According to prosecutors, Escobar – known by fellow gang members as “Diablita,” or “Little Devil” – helped lure five young men, including the four victims, to Central Islip Community Park on April 11, 2017.
She and co-conspirator Keyli Gomez targeted the victims after discovering social media posts in which they wore certain items and flashed hand signs signifying membership in the MS-13 gang.
At trial, Gomez testified that she and Escobar drove with the victims to the park under the guise of smoking marijuana. Once there, the victims were surrounded by several MS-13 members, who attacked them with machetes, knives, an axe, and wooden clubs.
Four victims died at the scene. The fifth victim was able to escape without injury.
Following the attack, the group dragged the victims’ bodies to a more secluded area in the woods and piled their bodies up before fleeing. A passerby discovered the victims’ bodies the following evening.
Prosecutors described how Escobar bragged about the killings in the days following the attack. In recorded phone calls with her boyfriend, a high-ranking member of the Brentwood clique, she said the victims “took the train and who knows when they’ll be back, got me?”
In one call, she told her boyfriend she was “happy for this to happen” and said the four victims were “never coming back… somewhere else… seeing the light… not on the map.”
Escobar was also found to have destroyed evidence of her involvement in the murders by throwing away a sweatshirt with one of the victim’s blood on it, and tossing her cell phone from a moving car when she was being followed by police.
At one point, she lied to police saying she and Gomez had been victims of a random robbery in the park on the night of the murders.
In April 2022, following a four-week trial, Escobar was found guilty of racketeering, including murder, conspiracy to murder rival gang members, and obstruction of justice.
“Today’s significant sentence reflects not only the seriousness of her conduct but also the consequences of her actions including the terror and suffering experienced by the victims, and the life-altering grief that their families continue to suffer,” said US Attorney Breon Peace.
“It is my hope that the justice meted out today will provide some comfort to those who lost loved ones to this senseless gang violence.”
More than a dozen MS-13 members and associates have been charged in connection with the four murders. Of them, Escobar is the fifth to be sentenced.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Centereach-Selden and receive free news updates.
