Ryszard Murawski, of Lindenhurst, pleads guilty to fatally stabbing wife, Wioleta Murawski

A Lindenhurst man told a judge he had intended to kill his wife after chasing her outside of the home they shared with their two sons and stabbing her to death in the backyard on a frigid night in January.

Ryszard Murawski, 45, will be sentenced to 22 years to life in prison under an agreement in which he pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in the death of his wife Wioleta Murawski, 38.

He appeared entered the plea before acting State Supreme Court Justice Karen Wilutis in Riverhead Tuesday.

"Did you, after chasing her, repeatedly stab her in the chest and abdomen?" Suffolk County Assistant District Attorney Sheetal Shetty asked Murawski as he admitted his guilt in front of the couple's two children, and his wife's mother and brother, who came from Poland to watch the proceeding.

"Yes," he said through a Polish interpreter.

Murawski, who nodded to his boys as he entered the courtroom, sobbed as he walked away.

"He is very, very remorseful," defense attorney Lindsay Henry, of Babylon, said of his client. "He's been overwhelmed [with emotion] every time I've seen him."

Henry said Murawski accepted the plea offer, despite it carrying a possible life sentence, to spare his sons from having to sit through a trial.

The eldest son, a 15-year-old, engaged in a struggle with his father in the backyard that Jan. 3 evening in an effort to save his mother's life, prosecutors have said.

Murawski shook his head and sobbed as Shetty attempted to ask him about his son's intervention during the plea hearing.

After Henry noted his client had already admitted stabbing his wife multiple times, both sides agreed to proceed with Murawski acknowledging his intent was to cause his wife's death.

Suffolk police said they were notified of the stabbing at the South 14th Street home about 8:30 p.m. Jan. 3 through a 911 call placed by the 15-year-old, who begged for help to protect his mother.

Prosecutors have said Wioleta Murawski was able to escape the backyard and cross the street. Her son sat at her side as they waited for first responders to arrive. She was pronounced dead a short time later at Good Samaritan University Hospital in West Islip.

Wioleta Murawski had obtained an order of protection against her husband a week earlier, police and prosecutors said at the time.

The son told police he had been at a friend's house that evening before returning home to the sounds of his mother's screams. He ran to the backyard to find his father stabbing his mother with a serrated kitchen knife, according to police. He struggled with his father long enough for his mother to break free, prosecutors have said.

Ryszard Murawski, fleeing in a pickup truck, refused to pull over when police tried to stop him. A chase ensued, with multiple police units pursuing him for more than seven miles, police said at the time.

Finally, Murawski lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the side of a building.

The Murawskis' home surveillance system captured the attack, prosecutors have said. Police recovered a knife near the location of the fatal stabbing. A "substantial amount of blood" was also found, trailing from the area of the attack to across the street where the victim collapsed, prosecutors have said.

Murawski, who has been held at the Suffolk County jail since his arrest in January, will be sentenced Oct. 17, Wilutis said.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.