Wayne Chambers gets maximum sentence of 25 years to life for murdering nurse Sandra McIntosh in 2021

A Suffolk judge called a convicted murderer “heartless” as he sentenced him Thursday to 25 years to life in prison for stabbing his estranged girlfriend dozens of times in her car before dumping her on the side of a Holtsville street in July 2021.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro told Wayne Chambers, 51, of Medford, that his maximum sentence for the second-degree murder of nurse Sandra McIntosh will come “with a recommendation that the parole board never releases you to civilized society again.”

“You brutally murdered her, stabbing her upward of 25 times, leaving her body in the weeds on the side of the road,” Ambro said from his courtroom in Riverhead. “Heartless doesn’t begin to describe your brutalities.”

McIntosh, 46, of Medford, was pronounced dead at Stony Brook University Hospital two hours after completing a 13-hour shift. Months earlier, McIntosh, who also worked as a flight attendant, had ended her six-year relationship with Chambers when he returned to her home to gather his belongings in the days before killing her, according to testimony at trial.

Investigators used DNA from McIntosh’s Lexus SUV, surveillance video and cellphone evidence to show Chambers had picked her up from work, dumped her body and then fled to New York City. He was later arrested at a motel in Newburgh after dumping her vehicle in the Bronx and replacing his cellphone, prosecutors said.

“The evidence in this case was absolutely overwhelming as to this defendant’s guilt,” said Assistant District Attorney Eric Aboulafia, who prosecuted the case with colleague Michelle Chiuchiolo.

Aboulafia said following his conviction, Chambers laughed as he asked a probation officer preparing his presentencing report, “Are you here to let me out?”

“He expressed absolutely no remorse,” the prosecutor said.

Chambers declined to address the court when given an opportunity by the judge and faced the front of the room as McIntosh’s mother and three of her siblings gave victim impact statements.

“I wanted him to turn and face me,” McIntosh’s mother, Jean Edwards, said outside the courthouse. “He couldn’t do it.”

Chambers’ court-appointed defense attorney Ian Fitzgerald, of Central Islip, did turn and face the family as he offered his condolences and told them he appreciated their remarks at sentencing.

Edwards, who lives in Queens, said she felt betrayed by Chambers, who she let into her family despite concerns others had about his past.

Chambers was McIntosh’s first boyfriend when they were teens in Jamaica and, recently divorced from the father of her then-teenage son, she invited Chambers to live with her shortly after he served more than 13 years in prison on a robbery conviction, family members said. The killing happened after he learned she had begun a new relationship in the spring of 2021, prosecutors had said.

Sophia Caines, the eldest of McIntosh’s four siblings, said her sister was inclined to help people no matter the situation and dedicated herself to public service as a nurse and flight attendant. She even took care of Chambers, Caines said.

“She gave him a chance to change his life,” said Caines, of Hempstead. “ … Finally, she decided to leave an empty relationship for good, but he would not allow her to. Instead, he took her life away.”

Youngest brother Robert McIntosh, of Queens, said that while nothing can bring his sister back, he’s grateful the family “got justice.” Fellow brother Rohan McIntosh, also of Queens, thanked the Suffolk County detectives and prosecutors present at sentencing for catching his sister’s killer.

“I’m not a revengeful person, but you guys got him and I’m happy for that, because maybe I wouldn’t be here right now,” Rohan McIntosh said.

Ambro began his sentencing remarks by speaking of how impressed he is by McIntosh’s son, Shawn Magieshe, who couldn’t attend the proceeding because he is away at college.

“Despite losing your mother in the most brutal way to a man living in your home, you have excelled, achieving a bachelor’s degree and now a master’s degree as well,” the judge said to the crowd of more than 20 McIntosh family members. “That reminds me of the expression, ‘The best revenge is massive success.’”

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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.