Wayne Chambers found guilty in murder of Stony Brook nurse Sandra McIntosh

A Medford man was found guilty of murdering his ex-girlfriend, nurse Sandra McIntosh, after she finished a shift at Stony Brook University Hospital in 2021.

Wayne Chambers, 51, was convicted of second-degree murder in a jury trial on Thursday, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney announced.

“The domestic violence murder of Sandra McIntosh was a tragedy that should not have happened,” Tierney said in a statement. “If you or anyone you know is a victim of domestic violence, I urge you to contact the Police Department or the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office to help us prevent tragedies like this one.”

On July 22, 2021 at about 7:43 p.m., Chambers picked up McIntosh, 46, of Medford, after her nurse’s shift at the hospital was over. He had dropped her off earlier and had been driving McIntosh’s 2010 white Lexus RX350.

Chambers had previously been in a relationship with McIntosh for about six years, but the two had broken up months before the fatal stabbing, prosecutors said.

According to an investigation, he violently stabbed McIntosh at least 25 times, including in her neck and back, puncturing her heart and lung.

At about 8:03 p.m., a 911 caller reported seeing Chambers in the same vehicle driving erratically and then stopping on Woodland Avenue in Holtsville. Witnesses heard McIntosh's screams and saw her in a physical altercation with Chambers as he attempted to “drag her out of the woods by her hair.” 

Once Chambers saw the witnesses, he jumped into McIntosh’s Lexus and sped away, prosecutors said. 

McIntosh died within two hours of the attack, police said.

“She returned to that hospital … not as a nurse, but as a patient in dire need of lifesaving aid,” Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Michelle Chiuchiolo told the jury during opening arguments before State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro in Riverhead on Tuesday.

The Suffolk County Police Department tracked Chambers to a location in the Bronx and found McIntosh’s SUV. It had “red staining” that “appeared to be blood” on both its interior and exterior, which later tested presumptively for blood and mixtures of DNA between Chambers and McIntosh, prosecutors said.

Chambers is due back in court Jan. 9 for sentencing and faces up to 25 years to life in prison.