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Jeremy Allen, age 43, of East Quogue, was indicted in Suffolk County Court on Thursday, Oct. 10, in the death of 43-year-old Christopher Hahn.
According to prosecutors, Allen and Hahn returned to Allen’s Oakville Avenue residence on the evening of Friday, Sept. 27, after spending hours at a bar. The two had been friends since high school.
Shortly after midnight, surveillance video captured the sounds of Allen brutally beating Hahn for approximately 18 minutes, investigators said. The footage reportedly then showed Allen dragging a badly bruised and semi-conscious Hahn onto his rear deck, where he left the man for some time.
Allen later returned and repeatedly struck the man about the head and body with a baseball bat, prosecutors said. The video allegedly then showed him place a bag over the victim’s head and secure it with a loose knot.
For the next eight minutes, Allen sat in a lawn chair and watched as a dying Hahn struggled to breathe, according to investigators. He allegedly then got a large knife and slowly stabbed the man in his neck 10 times.
Hahn took his last breaths as Allen stood over his body and watched, nearly six hours after the torture began, prosecutors said.
The following morning, Allen reportedly called a handyman to clean his house. When the worker arrived, he allegedly saw blood throughout the house before finding Hahn’s body covered with a blanket, feet exposed, on the back deck.
Allen then informed the handyman that he couldn’t let him leave, given what he had witnessed, prosecutors said. The worker eventually persuaded Allen to let him go and called police.
Suffolk County Police homicide detectives arrested Allen on Riverhead Road in Hampton Bays at around 10:40 p.m. the night after Hahn’s murder.
"Hahn was a friend of Allen’s and was a guest at his house at the time of the murder," Suffolk County Police said at the time. Investigators did not elaborate on a motive for the killing.
“The alleged actions of this defendant were vicious, brutal, and senseless,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney. “We will do everything in our power to seek justice for Christopher Hahn.”
In addition to first-degree murder, Allen is charged with second-degree murder and tampering with physical evidence, both felonies. He was jailed without bail.
Additional details about Hahn's life were not immediately available. His family is invited to contact Daily Voice with funeral details, a statement, and/or photos by emailing mmashburn@dailyvoice.com.
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