A Salvadoran national who entered the United States as an unaccompanied minor in 2016 now faces murder charges after allegedly stabbing two women to death in separate attacks on Long Island. The 22-year-old suspect called police himself after the second killing.
Double Murder on Long Island
Rony Yahir Alvarenga Rivera faces first and second-degree murder charges following the deaths of two women Friday morning. Police responded to a Wendy’s restaurant on Austin Boulevard in Island Park just after midnight, where they found 42-year-old Ana Maria del Aguila-Cordova stabbed to death while taking out garbage. Aguila-Cordova, a Long Beach resident and mother of two children ages eight and one, worked alongside the suspect at the fast-food restaurant.
Minutes after the restaurant attack, Alvarenga Rivera walked into a police station on Atlantic Avenue in Lynbrook. He told officers he had killed someone, according to Detective Lieutenant George Darienzo of the Nassau Police homicide unit. Investigators then discovered a second victim at a home on West Mineola Avenue in Valley Stream around three in the morning. Police believe Alvarenga Rivera killed his 32-year-old roommate Thursday night around nine o’clock before heading to work.
Attack Driven by Rage
Nassau County Police Chief Patrick Ryder described both crime scenes as showing evidence of extreme violence. Both women suffered multiple stab wounds to the neck and torso. When asked about possible motivation, Detective Lieutenant Darienzo provided a one-word answer: anger. Investigators have not disclosed what triggered the suspect’s rage or whether any prior incidents occurred between the victims and the accused.
Entry as Unaccompanied Minor
Police confirmed Alvarenga Rivera entered the country illegally from El Salvador in 2016 when he was 12 years old. That timing places his arrival during the final year of the Obama administration, when thousands of unaccompanied minors crossed the southern border. The suspect has entered a not guilty plea to both murder charges. Aguila-Cordova’s two young children now face life without their mother following the brutal attack that claimed her life while she performed routine workplace duties.