Third Conspirator Sentenced in Murder of Sag Harbor Man

Dennis Jonathan Hernandez Abanao, 23, the third defendant convicted in the brutal murder and robbery of Sag Harbor resident Marco Grisales in 2020, was sentenced to 18 years in prison, with five years of post-release supervision, for his role in the crime.

“This defendant played a role in facilitating the violent and premeditated murder and robbery of the victim, who, at the time, was under the impression he was meeting with a woman to celebrate his own birthday,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney in a release on Tuesday, February 28. “This sentence sends a message to anyone who would consider taking part in carrying out such acts that it will not be tolerated, and we will hold all co-conspirators responsible for their murderous actions.”

Last September, Hernandez Abanao pleaded guilty to attempted murder in the second degree, a violent felony.

In November 2020, Alcides Lopez Cambara, then 40, and his girlfriend, Tyara Lemus, then 18, conceived a scheme to rob Grisales. Lemus lured Grisales to a secluded spot in Riverhead under the pretext of celebrating his birthday. Once they, along with Hernandez Abanao and another man police have not identified publicly, got their victim to a secluded spot, Lopez Cambara and the unidentified male dragged Grisales out of the car and bludgeoned him to death with the barrel of a shotgun. Hernandez Abanao and Lemus stole jewelry and other valuables from the victim’s car.

Before the three men put the victim’s body into the bed of the pickup truck, Lopez Cambara tore a gold chain from his neck.

Grisales was given the maximum sentence, 25 years to life in prison, in January. Lemus, who turned Hernandez Abanao and Lopez Cambara in, providing details of the crime, pleaded guilty to robbery in the first degree for her role in the crime. She was sentenced to eight years in prison, plus three years of post-release supervision.