UPDATE: Husband Of Missing Sagaponack Woman Asks Community For Help, Submits To Lie Detector Test

UPDATE: Tuesday, 2:50 p.m.

The husband of the missing Sagaponack woman said in a press conference with The Press that he submitted to a lie detector test on Monday evening at Suffolk County Police headquarters in an effort to move along the investigation into the whereabouts of his wife.

Carlos Aucapina volunteered to take the polygraph test to "completely support his innocence," according to Colin Astarita, his attorney. "As a defense attorney, that is something you generally shy away from," Mr. Astarita added.

While he was in jail for just about a week, Mr. Aucapina said he thought a lot about his wife and believes that she is okay. "My hopes, my prayer is that she will come out in some given time and date and say 'I'm here and I'm ready to take for my actions,'" Mr. Aucapina said. "That was my hope—I hope and believe that she is okay."

He explained that Ms. Aucapina is a "strong woman" who is very conservative, as she regularly attended church at the Ministerio Restauracion A Las Naciones, which is located on County Road 39 in Southampton. He does not believe that she committed suicide because she is a "strong person in her beliefs."

Mr. Astarita clarified that Mr. Aucapina was not the last person to have seen his wife because he left the Meeting House Medical Practice in Wainscott on October 10 as soon as she asked him to and when her male friend, Angel Tejada, decided to call the police.

Mr. Aucapina said that he wants to do everything he can to find his wife, but that he is limited in his actions because police have looked at him as a suspect.

"It is obvious for him to be a suspect as one of the last people to have seen her with the proximity of her making that request that he stay next door," Mr. Astarita said, explaining that the order of protection allowed Mr. Aucapina to live next door to Ms. Aucapina on Toppings Path. "He even understands that it is completely reasonable, but the lack of development in the case has been extremely troubling."

Mr. Aucapina said that he remains hopeful and wants to organize a big search for his wife—there are over 200 acres of land, as well as two ponds, by their home in Sagaponack.

Original Story

A text message was sent from Lilia Aucapina’s phone to both her children the day she was reported missing almost one month ago, according to Southampton Town Police.

It was something along the lines of, “Remember, Mommy loves you,” according to Colin Astarita, the lawyer for her estranged husband, Carlos Aucapina.

Southampton Town Police Lieutenant James Kiernan said he could not confirm exactly what the text message said, but like Mr. Astarita said that the message was sent in Spanish—Ms. Aucapina’s native language—after she was last seen but before she was officially reported missing by her son, Ronald Aucapina, on October 10.

Police have investigated where the phone was last used, but “they try to keep that out of the press so that the bad guys don’t hide their tracks,” Lt. Kiernan explained.

Ms. Aucapina, of Sagaponack, was reported missing 12 hours after she was seen at the Meeting House Medical Practice in Wainscott. Police said that her husband had confronted her and a male friend that morning, which violated an order of protection.

Mr. Aucapina accused Angel Tejada of having an affair with his soon-to-be ex-wife, according to arrest and incident reports filed at East Hampton Town Justice Court. The Aucapinas were in the process of getting a divorce.

According to Mr. Tejada’s statement, Mr. Aucapina called Ms. Aucapina’s brother, Carlos Parra, who also confronted her at the medical practice.

Mr. Astarita said that Mr. Aucapina may have violated the order of protection because he wanted proof that his wife was having an extramarital relationship. “That is why he called her brother to meet him there, as well,” Mr. Astarita said. “Her family was seeing that she was doing this, which may have created—potentially—that feeling of embarrassment or shame.”

Both the Southampton Town Police and the East Hampton Town Police departments arrested Mr. Aucapina on misdemeanor criminal contempt charges. He has been accused of driving past Ms. Aucapina’s house while he was en route to confronting her at the medical practice in Wainscott, which constituted a violation of an order of protection in both jurisdictions.

“They are involved in the churches and they have a big and well-known family,” Mr. Astarita said on Friday. “She was seen with this guy that morning and it is her brother and husband that see her—then, suddenly, we don’t see her again.”

Mr. Astarita said that his client has been completely cooperative in the ongoing police investigation into Ms. Aucapina’s disappearance, adding that he even agreed to take a polygraph test and has provided phone and bank records to police. This week, the attorney will petition Suffolk County Family Court to allow Mr. Aucapina to return to the Aucapinas’ Sagaponack home to be with his daughter, which he says is what both she and his client want.

Lt. Kiernan said that he was not aware that Mr. Aucapina had agreed to take a lie detector test, but that police do have phone and bank records.

“There is so much effort going into it and we are not getting any breaks,” Lt. Kiernan said. “I’d be so happy to see her.”