Elmont man guilty in family slayings

A Nassau County jury Friday found an Elmont man guilty of first- and second-degree murder for killing his entire family two years ago, then continuing to live in the house with two of the bodies until he was arrested.

Dario Ormejuste, 25, will face life in prison without parole when Judge Jerald Carter sentences him July 25.

Prosecutor Michael Walsh said that on June 21, 2010, Ormejuste first shot his brother, New York City Correction Officer Guerby Ormejuste, 10 times with the officer's service pistol. He then shot his mother, Rose Ormejuste, 65, once in the head, killing her, and waited several hours before killing his father, Bob Ormejuste, 65, as he walked through the door after work, Walsh said.

Rose Ormejuste's body was found about two weeks later in the trunk of Guerby Ormejuste's car in Brooklyn.

Walsh said in court that Ormejuste told police that he was jealous of his brother, who had a good job and a nicer bedroom.

"While nothing will bring these innocent victims back, today's verdict ensures that this killer who brutally shot his closest family members will spend the rest of his life in prison," said Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice.

Ormejuste's lawyer, Dana Grossblatt of Jericho, said her client will appeal.

"Mr. Ormejuste was saddened by the verdict," she said. "The jury was out four days, so obviously they had a lot to think about."

At trial, Grossblatt criticized police for doing "no investigation," because they assumed that Ormejuste, who had been living in the house with his dead brother and father for two days, was the killer.

Grossblatt argued that Ormejuste had been living in a separate part of the house and had no idea his family had been slain when police arrived to arrest him June 23, 2010.