Eduardo Vega, of Islip Terrace, pleads guilty to fatally stabbing son-in-law

An Islip Terrace man pleaded guilty Friday to fatally stabbing his son-in-law during a 2022 confrontation in the driveway of their home, Suffolk County prosecutors said.

Eduardo Vega, 58, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the killing of Roshane McLaren, 34.

Acting County Court Judge Richard Dunne is expected to sentence Vega to 25 years in prison and five years' post-release supervision when he is due back in court on Oct. 16.

"This defendant killed Roshane McLaren, his own son-in-law, leaving his infant grandchild without a father," said Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney. 

Christopher Gioe, Vega's Hauppauge-based defense attorney, did not respond to a request for comment.

Tanya Denis, 48, Vega’s wife and co-defendant, pleaded guilty on Sept. 4 to third-degree hindering prosecution for helping her husband escape authorities after the stabbing.

Vega and Denis lived together in Islip Terrace with Denis’ two daughters, their husbands, and children, prosecutors said.

In the early morning hours of Sept. 27, 2022, Vega got into an argument with one of his sons-in-law in their backyard, threatening to hit him with a baseball bat and tossing a lawn chair at him, authorities said. When the daughters tried to intervene, Vega punched one of them in the face, prosecutors said.

Vega then left the home on foot. A short time later, he returned home with Denis and was confronted by McLaren for hitting his wife, authorities said.

Vega then stabbed McLaren twice in the chest, piercing his left lung, heart, diaphragm and stomach, prosecutors said. 

He was pronounced dead at South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore.

Vega fled the scene and moments later Denis found her husband, gave him money and drove him to the Brentwood train station, at which point he fled to Brooklyn, officials said.

Vega turned himself in to police on Oct. 2.

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.