Lilia Aucapina's Death Ruled A Suicide By Medical Examiner

The Suffolk County medical examiner has officially ruled Lilia “Esperanza” Aucapina’s death a suicide by hanging.

Last week, Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schneiderman sat down with officers from the Southampton Town Police Department to go over the department’s final report and gain an understanding of the investigation into the death of Ms. Aucapina, who was found hanging from a tree close to her Sagaponack home in November.

“If she didn’t commit suicide, the theory is that someone took her life and then staged it as a hanging,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “And that just doesn’t check out.”

Mr. Schneiderman will meet with the Aucapina family this week, as well as with LatinoJustice, a civil rights organization that has been investigating her death. He said he will discuss the medical examiner’s report with them and answer any questions the family might have.

Ms. Aucapina was missing for more than six weeks before hunters found her body on November 21. The discovery came after a thorough police search near her home had yielded nothing. Her family has repeatedly said that once her body was found, her death was quickly ruled a suicide by investigators, and they did not consider other possibilities.

About a month before Ms. Aucapina disappeared, she had filed a petition in Family Court for an order of protection against her husband, Carlos Aucapina, which documented specific times of emotional and sexual abuse. She was granted that stay-away order just a few days before she went missing on October 10.

On that morning, Mr. Aucapina actually violated the order of protection when he confronted his wife and a male friend in the parking lot of the Meeting House Lane Medical Practice in Wainscott. He left without incident when her friend called the police.

“I am convinced that the police did an excellent job,” Mr. Schneiderman said. “Within four hours of them getting a call about a missing person, they were already pursuing a call about a possible homicide. They very aggressively pursued every avenue.”

Mr. Schneiderman added that detectives from the Southampton Town Police Department were in contact with Suffolk County Police Homicide detectives during the investigation. However, he said, “It wasn’t a homicide, so the county did not step in.”

Although Ms. Aucapina’s case may be closed, Mr. Schneiderman said he wants to better connect with the Latino community so they do not feel alienated. Throughout Ms. Aucapina’s investigation, her family felt the case was not given as much attention or respect because she was Latina.

Ms. Aucapina’s niece, Maria Duchi, had said she believed law enforcement had “something against Hispanics.”

“If large sections of the community don’t have faith in local law enforcement, that is something I need to address,” Mr. Schneiderman said, adding that he needs to “find out where those perceptions are coming from.”

Perhaps forums or larger discussions could help to rectify the problem, he said. The bottom line is, he continued, is that better communication with the Latino community is needed.