Woman charged with murder in dismemberment of missing Brooklyn-based Guyanese mom

Last Updated on Thursday, 24 July 2014, 12:03 by GxMedia

(WNBC-TV – NBCNewYork.com).-A 42-year-old Brooklyn woman has been charged in the killing of a missing mother of four whose partially dismembered body was found in a parking lot on Long Island earlier this month, police say.

Leah Cuevas is charged with second-degree murder in the death of 27-year-old Chinelle Latoya Browne, who lived at the same Brooklyn address as the 42-year-old suspect.

Browne was last seen at her home in Brownsville on July 5, police say. Her dismembered remains were discovered in a weedy, vacant parking lot in Bay Shore early on July 8 by people going to the nearby Fire Island ferry. Law enforcement sources told NBC 4 New York at the time that the woman’s legs had been partially cut off.

Sources told NBC 4 New York Wednesday night that that the suspect may have had a dispute with Browne before her death. Investigators are also looking to see if a second person played a role in disposing the victim’s body and plan to question Cuevas’ husband about the case. 

Cuevas was apprehended by the U.S. Marshals on Wednesday and will be arraigned in Islip on Thursday.

It’s not yet clear if she has an attorney. 

Police couldn’t confirm Wednesday night if the body parts dumped in lawns in Hempstead earlier this month are Browne’s.

On July 17, a severed head was found on Boylston Street in Hempstead. On July 9, a homeowner found an arm with women’s clothing attached to it in his front yard on Webb Avenue. The next day, someone else discovered another arm in their yard about a half-mile away, near Stewart Avenue and Cornell Street.

Investigators in Nassau and Suffolk counties say DNA tests were being done on the body parts to see if they matched Browne.