Babylon Weekend Briefing: BBCC’s First Golf Classic, the Wyandanch Soup Kitchen Fire and the Gilgo Plea — October 18-24, 2026

JUMP TO A STORY

1. BBCC’s first Golf Classic
2. Rex Heuermann pleads guilty
3. Wyandanch soup kitchen closed after fire
4. Sentence in the 121 mph Southern State crash
5. A separate Wyandanch pantry faces a lease dispute
6. Deer Park auto-shop drug-ring conviction
7. Police seek a Deer Park assault suspect
8. DA announces charges over alleged lewd acts
9. Guilty plea in West Babylon house-party stabbing
10. Missing West Babylon teen found safe
11. Babylon man seriously injured in crash
12. Lindenhurst dedicates two historic markers
13. Quick Hits
14. Nearby: $10 million NICU pledge
15. Coming Up Around Babylon
16. Remembering Our Neighbors
17. What Residents Should Watch Next

Community Support · Monday, October 26

Babylon’s breast cancer coalition tees off its first Golf Classic

The Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition holds its first annual Golf Classic on Monday at Bellport Golf Club, and every dollar raised goes directly to breast and gynecological cancer patients in the local area. The coalition is an all-volunteer nonprofit founded in 1993, and it is the same group behind Chefs for a Cause, Turkeys Against Cancer, Photos with Santa and the Hope in Motion walk. Its stated mission is to supply free services to people diagnosed in the Township of Babylon — which is the part worth holding onto here. This is neighbors paying for neighbors’ care.

The program runs rain or shine. Registration opens at 9 a.m., breakfast runs 9:30 to 11, tee off is 11 a.m., cocktail hour is 4:30 to 5:30 and dinner is 5:30 to 8:30, catered by the Irish Coffee Pub of East Islip. Registration covers breakfast, the round, lunch and the dinner reception. The field is capped at 120 golfers, which the coalition says is deliberate — a smaller field to keep the day running well rather than to maximize the gate.

On the course there is a $10,000 hole-in-one challenge, a longest-drive contest and a putting green challenge, with prizes for the best and second-best foursome. There is also an award for the “Most Honest Golfer,” which tells you something about the spirit of the thing.

Two honest notes. First, the event is in Bellport, which is in the Town of Brookhaven, not the Town of Babylon — the coalition is ours and the patients helped are ours, but the golf course is not. Second, the campaign page is marked closed and is no longer accepting donations online, so we are not suggesting that golf spots remain. If you want to help, the coalition is the place to ask: dinner-only tickets, corporate sponsorship with signage on the course, a raffle basket, or a direct donation.

Sources: BBCC Golf Classic campaign page · Babylon Breast Cancer Coalition

Courts · Gilgo Beach

Rex Heuermann pleads guilty and admits killing eight women

Rex Heuermann pleaded guilty in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead to murdering seven women, and admitted causing the death of an eighth, Karen Vergata. The killings span from 1993 to 2011 — a seventeen-year stretch during which the case went cold, was reopened, and eventually reshaped how Long Island understood a mystery it had lived alongside for more than a decade.

The practical effect is that there will be no trial. Years of accusation, pretrial motions and speculation are replaced by admissions made on the record in a courtroom in Riverhead. Reports indicate the plea agreement also includes cooperation with federal investigators studying the case.

None of that undoes the losses, and it does not finish the work of remembering eight women as people rather than as a case file. But for the families who have waited through every adjournment, an admission in open court is not nothing.

Source: ABC7 New York

Neighborhood Lifelines · Wyandanch

Fire closes the Mercy Soup Kitchen — and its volunteers keep serving anyway

A fire broke out on Sunday, October 18 at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Wyandanch, the home of the Mercy Soup Kitchen for more than forty years. The kitchen operates out of the church basement at 17 South 20th Street. According to the kitchen’s own account, the fire started near an exterior door and spread inside, damaging the kitchen and the church offices. Firefighters from Deer Park, Wyandanch, North Babylon and West Babylon put it out. Nobody was hurt.

The kitchen is closed while professionals assess the damage. The power is off and there is no reopening date yet. But about 150 neighbors rely on a meal there every day, and that has not paused: volunteers are handing out sandwiches so nobody goes without while the stoves are cold.

“There’s just such a tremendous job ahead of us,” said Vito Colletti, the kitchen’s president, in a message thanking volunteers, donors and Pastor David Anglada of Trinity Lutheran, who has housed the ministry for four decades. As the kitchen put it, some of the volunteers serving today first came through the door for a meal themselves.

Forty years of daily meals is an institution, not a program — and this is happening in the same week a second Wyandanch food program is fighting to keep its own doors open.

Sources: Mercy Soup Kitchen of Wyandanch · Newsday · ABC7 New York

Courts · Lindenhurst

Lindenhurst man sentenced to 4 to 12 years in the 121 mph Southern State crash

Felix Pantaleon, 24, of Lindenhurst was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for the crash that killed Reynaldo Collado, 49, of West Babylon. Pantaleon pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, second-degree assault, three counts of third-degree assault and reckless driving. The court also ordered his driver’s license revoked.

The crash happened on September 22, 2024, westbound on the Southern State Parkway in North Babylon. Prosecutors said Pantaleon was driving a 2014 Honda Civic at about 121 mph when he struck the 2009 Honda CR-V that Collado was driving. According to the district attorney, Pantaleon had been using his cellphone to record himself driving recklessly shortly before the collision.

This is the sentencing in the case we reported in September, and it closes the court chapter for a crash that happened two years ago on a road thousands of Babylon residents drive every day.

Source: Patch

Neighborhood Lifelines · Wyandanch

A separate Wyandanch food pantry faces an uncertain future

Bread of Life World Outreach Center, which has served the community since 2009, says its food pantry may have to relocate or close amid a dispute over the lease on the church property. Pantry leaders told News 12 the program now reaches thousands of residents each month.

This is not the Trinity church fire above. Different church, different food program, different threat — one is a building damaged by fire, the other is a landlord dispute. We are running them separately on purpose, because blending them into a single “Wyandanch food crisis” paragraph would be tidy and wrong.

Taken together, though, the arithmetic is hard to ignore: in one week, the two programs feeding the most people in Wyandanch are both at risk, for entirely unrelated reasons.

Source: News 12 Long Island

Courts · Deer Park

Auto-shop owner convicted of running a cocaine operation from a Deer Park garage

Uriel Rose, 43, of Bay Shore has been convicted of running a cocaine operation out of his Deer Park auto shop, Beema Boyz. A judge found he sold cocaine to an undercover detective. The convictions include first-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, seven counts of third-degree criminal sale and eight counts of third-degree criminal possession.

Investigators recovered cocaine from a toilet at the shop and more than eight ounces from the desk in Rose’s office, along with cash, a money counter, drug ledgers, scales and packaging materials. Prosecutors said the packaging was consistent with moving kilogram quantities.

The case was prosecuted by the office of Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney. Rose is scheduled to be sentenced on December 1 and faces 12 to 24 years in state prison.

Source: Greater Long Island

Police Appeal · Deer Park

Police seek the man who attacked a 76-year-old at a Deer Park White Castle

Suffolk police have released surveillance images of a man wanted for assaulting a 76-year-old man in the parking lot of the White Castle at 1690 Deer Park Avenue. The attack happened on August 26 at about 11:47 a.m. The victim was treated for minor injuries at South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore.

Note the gap between the dates: the assault was in August, and the public appeal went out this week. That usually means investigators have exhausted the quieter routes and are now asking the neighborhood directly.

The man police want to identify is described as having short dark hair and wearing sunglasses, a black T-shirt with a red graphic on the front, dark shorts with a white logo and sandals. He was carrying a white bag and was seen beside a silver vehicle. Anyone who recognizes him can call Suffolk County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS; tips are anonymous.

Source: Greater Long Island

Charges · Deer Park

Ronkonkoma man charged after a Deer Park arrest in a four-incident case

Nicholas Critelli, 20, of Ronkonkoma faces public lewdness charges, class B misdemeanors, in connection with four separate incidents involving four women between June and October. Prosecutors cite dates of June 4, June 6, October 1 and October 14, in Centereach, Commack, Sayville and Deer Park.

The Babylon connection is the arrest itself. Suffolk County police detectives took Critelli into custody on October 16 at about 12:20 p.m. in a parking lot at 1230 Deer Park Avenue, and investigators subsequently linked him to the earlier incidents. The case is being handled by the office of District Attorney Ray Tierney, and he is due back in court on November 4.

These are charges, not convictions, and he is entitled to the presumption of innocence. We are including it because the arrest happened on a stretch of Deer Park Avenue that a great many residents use every day.

Source: Patch

Courts · West Babylon

Teen pleads guilty in the fatal West Babylon house-party stabbing

Aiden Zachary of Syosset, now 18 and 17 at the time, has pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the death of Liam Delemo, 15, at a West Babylon house party on November 4, 2025.

According to prosecutors, Zachary arrived uninvited, was told to leave, got into an altercation with Delemo and stabbed him in the abdomen and arm before fleeing. Delemo was 15 years old.

Sentencing is scheduled for November 4 — one year to the day after the party. A West Babylon family will mark the anniversary of losing their son in a courtroom.

Source: Greater Long Island

Good News · West Babylon

Missing West Babylon teenager has been found safe

Shivani McShane, 16, of West Babylon has been found safe. Suffolk County police had issued an appeal after she was last seen on October 20 at about 5:55 p.m. in front of 50 West White Street, and early reports noted she had no cellphone with her.

We ran the appeal while it was live. We are much happier to run this version. If you shared the original post this week, that is exactly how these appeals are supposed to work.

Sources: Suffolk County Police Department · LongIsland.com original report

Road Safety · West Babylon

Babylon man, 68, seriously injured in a West Babylon crash

A 68-year-old Babylon man was seriously injured in a crash in West Babylon at around 3:25 p.m., according to police information reported by Newsday. The investigation was still open when the report was published, and no further details had been released.

It is the second serious roadway story in this week’s briefing, alongside the Southern State sentencing. Two very different cases, two years apart, on the same point: the roads through this town do not forgive much.

Source: Newsday

Local History · Lindenhurst

New markers honor a Revolutionary War soldier and Breslau’s Jewish heritage

Two new Lindenhurst markers add public context to the village’s past: one honoring a Revolutionary War soldier, and another recognizing the Jewish heritage of Breslau Cemetery. Breslau is the original name of the settlement that became Lindenhurst, and the cemetery is one of the few places where that earlier identity is still legible on the ground.

Babylon Town Historian Mary Cascone described the markers as reminders of the people and communities who lived here before modern Lindenhurst took shape. Historical markers are easy to walk past, which is rather the point of putting up more of them.

Source: Newsday

Quick Hits · Around the Town

Quick Hits

• Rich Schaffer named 2027 St. Patrick’s Parade Grand Marshal. The “Lindenhurst Goes Green” announcement looks ahead to next year’s parade. Patch →
• Daniel Cameron of North Babylon wins the Suffolk Marathon. The 28-year-old hometown runner had a very good answer to “How was your weekend?” Newsday →
• Six Deer Park High School musicians earn All-County honors. Two students also received statewide recognition. Patch →
• Wyandanch performs at the Newsday Marching Band Festival. The high school’s 2026 performance is featured in Newsday’s festival coverage. Newsday →

Nearby · Outside the Town

West Islip hospital receives a record $10 million NICU pledge

Good Samaritan University Hospital says a record $10 million pledge will support an expansion of its neonatal intensive care unit. West Islip is outside the Town of Babylon, so this goes under Nearby — but Good Samaritan is where a great many Babylon families actually go, and a NICU expansion at that hospital is a Babylon story in everything but postal address.

Read the Patch report →

Coming Up · The Week Ahead

Coming Up Around Babylon

The BBCC Golf Classic is Monday, October 26 at Bellport Golf Club. For the rest of the weekend and the days ahead, check the live I Love Babylon calendar before you head out — organizers change times, registration and weather plans more often than anyone would like.

See this weekend’s events →

In Memoriam

Remembering Our Neighbors

We remember James J. Fitzpatrick of West Babylon, Michael George Ryan of Lindenhurst, Nelson Antonio Reyes of Amityville and Roseanne Mangano of Deer Park. Our condolences to their families, their friends, and everyone mourning a neighbor this week.

James J. Fitzpatrick’s family notice →
Michael George Ryan’s family notice →
Nelson Antonio Reyes’s family notice →
Roseanne Mangano’s family notice →

The Follow-Up File

What Residents Should Watch Next

• Whether the Mercy Soup Kitchen can reopen after the Trinity church fire, and whether its rebuild fundraiser gets there.
• Whether Bread of Life World Outreach Center secures a new home or resolves its lease dispute.
• Community support and results from the BBCC Golf Classic on Monday.
• The November 4 sentencing in the West Babylon house-party stabbing.
• The December 1 sentencing in the Deer Park auto-shop cocaine case.
• Any further police update in the Deer Park White Castle assault investigation.

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