LI Murder Suspect Arrested In Woman’s Maryland Stabbing Death: PD

GLEN COVE, NY — A Long Island man is being held in the Nassau County jail while he awaits extradition back to Maryland to face first-degree murder charges related to the stabbing death of a 37-year-old woman whose lifeless body was found in a wooded area last year, Glen Cove police said.

An investigation into the July 2020 murder led detectives to Santos Margarito Turcios Benitez, 45, of Hempstead on Tuesday, Det. Lt. John Nagle said. Benitez was initially identified by police in Frederick, Maryland as a suspect in the murder, but had left Maryland, leading investigators to believe he had moved to the Glen Cove or Hempstead area, according to the lieutenant.

In their investigation, detectives discovered Benitez had lived in Glen Cove for some time, currently worked for a flooring company there, and then helped Frederick police locate his current home in Hempstead, Nagle said.

Altogether, six different law enforcement agencies, including police from Glen Cove and Hempstead, as well as New York State Police, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Violent Crimes Task Force and its gang task force, assisted Frederick police in the investigation.

Det. Lt. Nagle said he is happy that the detective division could assist Frederick police in locating and arresting Benitez, noting that Det. Brian Glennon and Officer Christopher Paolillo were “instrumental in helping to locate and arrest this suspect.”

The murder investigation is still ongoing, Nagle said. He asked that anyone with information about the murder to contact the Glen Cove police at 516-676-1002.