Jhon Lopez Campo, of Central Islip, pleads not guilty in killing of man in homeless encampment

A teen charged in the death of a man whose body was found at a Central Islip homeless encampment last month stole the victim’s money and cellphone after he and two other defendants killed the victim, a Suffolk County prosecutor said during an arraignment in Riverhead on Wednesday.

Jhon Lopez Campo, 18, of Central Islip, is charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 17 slaying of Condido Guadalupe Saravia Devenites.

Assistant District Attorney Michelle Chiuchiolo told state Supreme Court Justice John Collins that Lopez Campo beat Saravia Devenites while two other defendants strangled and stabbed him before fleeing the scene with the victim’s cash and other items.

Collins ordered Lopez Campo held without bail. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 23.

Defense attorney Christopher Gioe entered a plea of not guilty on behalf of Lopez Campo and told Collins he reserved the right to file an application for bail at a later date, after he receives discovery from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.

"He denies the allegations and intends on fighting the charges," Gioe said after Wednesday’s hearing. "I don’t think my client had anything to do with the death of this individual."

Chiuchiolo told Collins that Lopez Campo and two other defendants in the case were hanging out in a tent on the south side of Suffolk Avenue in Central Islip when they confronted Saravia Devenites last month. Lopez Campo, she said, instructed Brayan Heredia Escobar, 19, to restrain Saravia Devenites with a rope around his neck.

Lopez Campo and Julio Beltran, 39, beat Saravia Devenites with their hands and a machete, Chiuchiolo said. Heredia Escobar, who pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder at an arraignment in Riverhead on Tuesday, allegedly stabbed the victim in the back with a knife. Lopez Campo admitted to police that he struck Saravia Devenites with a machete, the prosecutor said.

Beltran is scheduled for arraignment on Thursday. Authorities said Beltran and Heredia Escobar are both homeless. All three face sentences of 25 years to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder.

At one point, the prosecutor said, Beltran said that Saravia Devenites was still alive, prompting Lopez Campo to beat him again. The cause of Saravia Devenites’ death, Chiuchiolo added, was from stab wounds, blunt trauma injuries and strangulation.

Saravia Devenites’ body was "covered in blood, with ligature marks around his neck" when Suffolk police discovered his body on Feb. 18, Chiuchiolo said. Surveillance video from a nearby laundromat showed the three defendants as they ran from the scene following Saravia Devenites’ slaying, she added.

Lopez Campo is a citizen of El Salvador who entered the United States and was detained by federal immigration officials in 2022, Chiuchiolo told Collins.