Suffolk County prosecutors said Linver Ortiz Ponce was killed after refusing to move a car from outside Kayla Alvarenga’s home.
BAY SHORE, N.Y. — A confrontation over a car parked on a public street ended with a life-without-parole sentence for Kayla Alvarenga, who prosecutors said ordered a group to abduct and kill Linver Ortiz Ponce.
The case drew attention because of the gap between the act that started the dispute and the violence that followed. Ortiz Ponce, 29, had parked a red Chevrolet Camaro outside Alvarenga’s Fifth Avenue home shortly before midnight on Sept. 17, 2022. Prosecutors said he refused her demand to move it. Less than one night later, he had been beaten, abducted at gunpoint, taken to a church parking lot and shot as he tried to crawl away.
Alvarenga, 23, was convicted in March of first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and conspiracy. Acting Supreme Court Justice Anthony S. Senft Jr. sentenced her Tuesday to life in prison without the possibility of parole. District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said parking in front of someone’s home should never be a death sentence. Prosecutors said Alvarenga treated the parked car as a reason to summon others and turn a neighborhood argument into a fatal attack.
The Fifth Avenue block was the first scene. Prosecutors said Alvarenga called Christopher Perdomo and several teenagers after Ortiz Ponce refused to move. The group arrived in a BMW that authorities said had been stolen hours earlier in Bay Shore. They dragged Ortiz Ponce from his car while he slept, beat him and stole the Camaro. The attack on the street did not end the confrontation. Ortiz Ponce escaped, and prosecutors said Alvarenga ordered the others to find him.
The second scene was a nearby gas station. Ortiz Ponce tried to hide between vehicles after fleeing on foot. Alvarenga and others searched for him using both the stolen BMW and the stolen Camaro, prosecutors said. When she saw him at the gas station, she directed the group toward him. Surveillance video showed Ortiz Ponce being taken at gunpoint and dragged into the BMW, according to prosecutors. The gas station became the point where a beating and robbery became an abduction.
The third scene was the House of Prayer Church of God. Prosecutors said Alvarenga led the group there, with the BMW following her. During the ride, Perdomo beat Ortiz Ponce with a gun. In the church lot, the group beat him again. Prosecutors said Alvarenga ordered Perdomo to shoot him, and Perdomo fired repeatedly while Ortiz Ponce tried to crawl away. The group then left in the stolen vehicles, and the Camaro was later found abandoned in a wooded area of Smithtown.
The case also centered on the ages and roles of the people involved. Perdomo was 28 when later identified in public accounts. The other co-defendants included teenagers who were 16 and 17 at the time of the killing. Prosecutors said Alvarenga used minors to help carry out the crime. The teen defendants pleaded guilty and were sentenced. Perdomo was arrested in Georgia in May 2024, pleaded guilty in September 2025 and received 20 years to life in prison.
Alvarenga’s trial focused on whether she merely joined the violence or directed it. Prosecutors told the jury she was the one who made the calls, ordered Ortiz Ponce removed, told others to hunt him down after he escaped and directed the final trip to the church lot. The jury convicted her of the top murder charge. Tierney said the jury saw exactly what she did. The life-without-parole sentence followed from that verdict and left no parole date for future release.
The killing remains stark because public accounts do not show that Ortiz Ponce and Alvarenga had any long history before the confrontation. Prosecutors said the known trigger was the Camaro’s location outside her home. The streets, vehicles and timing were ordinary until the response became violent. The record described a public parking dispute that moved through Bay Shore in stages, from a house to a gas station to a church parking lot.
The immediate legal work is now complete for the main defendants identified in public reports. Alvarenga has been sentenced to life without parole, Perdomo to 20 years to life, and the teenagers have been sentenced after guilty pleas. The case could still produce appellate filings, but the trial court outcome now records Alvarenga as the person convicted of orchestrating the murder of Ortiz Ponce.
Author note: Last updated May 21, 2026.