Guilty Plea In Father's Day DWI Crash That Killed East Hampton Teen, Injured 6 Others: DA

EAST HAMPTON, NY — A 19-year-old from Moriches pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a 2025 Father's Day DWI crash that killed his teenaged passenger in East Hampton, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said.

Luis Gonzalo Barrionuevo Fuertes pleaded guilty Wednesday to aggravated vehicular homicide and other related charges, after driving while intoxicated and crashing a 2009 Toyota Camry into a tree on Old Stone Highway in East Hampton, the DA said.

The crash killed Scarleth Samaniego-Urgiles, 19, of East Hampton, who was sitting in the back seat, and seriously injured another passenger, the DA said.

According to court documents and the defendant’s admissions during his guilty plea allocution, on Father’s Day, June 15, 2025, Barrionuevo Fuertes drove a group of seven teenagers in his 2009 Toyota Camry to a local beach in East Hampton.

There, Barrionuevo Fuertes and the teenagers, whose ages ranged from 15 to 19 years old, consumed alcohol, Tierney said.

The group then left the beach and Barrionuevo Fuertes drove them in his 2009 Toyota Camry — six people, including a 15-year-old, were all passengers in the back seat, Tierney said.

At about 7:39 p.m., as Barrionuevo Fuertes drove the Camry northbound on Old Stone Highway, he approached a curve in the road at a high rate of speed and drove into the opposite lane, where he nearly struck an oncoming vehicle, the DA said.

Barrionuevo Fuertes then drove off the roadway and crashed into a tree, causing the vehicle to roll onto its passenger side, Tierney said.

One of the rear-seat passengers, Samaniego-Urgiles, was killed, Tierney said.

The remaining passengers were transported to local hospitals for medical treatment, with one rear passenger suffering a spinal fracture and severe lacerations to her hand that resulted in significant disfigurement, the DA said.

Responding police officers saw that Barrionuevo Fuertes was exhibiting signs of intoxication and placed him under arrest, Tierney said. Barrionuevo Fuertes consented to a chemical test of his blood which revealed that he had a .08 percent blood alcohol concentration, the DA said.

An analysis of the event data recorder from the car that Barrionuevo Fuertes was driving revealed that seconds before the crash, he was driving 74 miles per hour in a 30-mph posted zone, Tierney said.

On Wednesday, Barrionuevo Fuertes pleaded guilty before Acting Supreme Court Justice Steven A. Pilewski to charges including aggravated vehicular homicide, a Class B felony; second-degree manslaughter, a Class C felony; aggravated vehicular assault, a Class C felony; second-degree assault, a Class D violent felony; and aggravated driving while intoxicated with a child, a Class E felony, the DA said.

"Today’s guilty plea underscores the outrageous and utterly unacceptable decision to get behind the wheel while intoxicated, especially when entrusted to drive others," said Tierney. "Driving while intoxicated is not a mistake; it is a selfish and lethal choice that ruins lives. Nothing can undo the pain inflicted on this family, as well as the other passengers in the car, but this conviction ensures the defendant will be held accountable for his crime.”

Barrionuevo Fuertes is due back in court for sentencing on March 18 and faces up to four to 12 years in prison, the DA said.

He is being represented by Melissa Aguanno, who spoke with Patch Wednesday. "I've been a defense attorney going on 14 years and he's my favorite client, out of all those years," she said. "This one was probably the most difficult case for me — just because I liked him so much."

Of Barrionuevo Fuertes, Aguanno said: "He's a kid. I'm a mom. He turned 19 in jail. He had no priors. And I feel for Scarleth's family, too — they lost a daughter. This is the saddest case all around."

Her client, she said, "took responsibility from Day 1. He made a poor decision."

At his sentencing, Aguanno said, he will read a letter. "He has never asked for mercy. He understands the gravity of this. From the beginning, he has said, 'I want to talk to Scarleth's mom. I want her to know that I'm so sorry.' This is just a terrible situation," Aguanno said.

In the end, she added: "After all of this, he will still have a life and she doesn't. He understands that and he's very, very, very remorseful for that. It doesn't give closure — there is never closure when you lose a child. But he's never made any excuses. For someone so young to understand that is very remarkable, really shows his character."

Any of the teens could have been driving and the outcome might have been different, Aguanno said. "But it's not and he's never made excuses. It was never about him, and I commend him for that — it's a testament to his parents, what a decent person he is."

Of her client, she said: "He cried in court, his lips were shaking. I'm pleased that the judge saw fit to give him 4 to 12 years; he pleaded guilty to the entire indictment. It's a tough sentence."

But, she said, Barrionuevo Fuertes has told her he's looking forward to starting his time in prison upstate, where he can take classes. "He's gotten into Bible classes. He was involved with church before."

She added: "It was hard, but someone had died, and there are consequences. I think it's an appropriate sentence."

A mother's grief

It was a normal Sunday in the hope-filled, bright new life she and her children were building in the United States after a harrowing journey from Ecuador, Gabriela Samaniego said. Her beautiful daughter, Scarleth, 19, had baked a cake and had gone to the beach to celebrate a friend's birthday with selfies and an East End sunset.

But in a dark turn that's every parent's worst fear, Gabriela waited and waited, but her daughter never walked through the door of their home again, never ran into her mother's open arms for a fierce embrace. She was killed in he horrific DWI crash that left six other teens injured, police said.

And now Gabriela's broken heart was left trying to make sense of the unthinkable, to carry on for her son, when the weight of life without her daughter seems unbearable.

Speaking with Patch, Gabriela paid tribute to her precious child. "My daughter was very sociable, charismatic, and always wanted to help others," she said. "Responsible, studious, and loving, she dreamed of being part of the Army and being a pilot."

Her daughter's heart was brimming with love, she said. "She always helped those in need with her phrases. She always said, 'Life is a great lesson in humility.'"

Scarleth told her brother that, she said, as they worked around the house.

Scarleth, she said, enjoyed cooking. "She loved to bake cookies and cakes," she said.

Most of all, her daughter's shining hallmark was her "strong character and good heart," she said.

Describing that last day, June 15, Gabriela said her daughter had made a cake at home for a friend's birthday. "They went to the beach to take pictures and eat the cake. She told me she would be back in about three hours. She left home at 5 in the afternoon. A friend picked her up at home."

Questions linger, Gabriela said — she cannot understand why her daughter was returning home in a different car. She didn't know the boy who was driving; he was a friend of one of the girls, she said.

Describing the anguish of that dark night, Gabriela remembered the waiting, the worrying — the ever-mounting fear. "I called her, and she didn't answer. It was a nightmare."

She added: "Why didn't she call me to go and pick her up?"

The question will remain unanswered.

And now, all she has are the memories of her tender-hearted, caring girl, she said. "My soul is broken, and a piece of my heart is missing."

But, Gabriela said, while the grief is heavy, she knows that she must continue — she must hold on to resolve, to carry on in memory of her daughter.

The community has opened its arms to hold Gabriela and her son close during their time of great sorrow, she said. "There are letters from friends, showing their respect for her memory," she said. "It was a very nice gesture, to know that my daughter touched their hearts."

Of Scarleth, she said: "She was a good girl who matured very quickly due to life's circumstances. She had a very difficult childhood, since we come from the countryside."

She and Scarleth, as well as her son Jack Urgiles, left Ecuador together, forging a path forward — a mother doing what she had to, for her children. "We crossed the jungle of Panama, the three of us, for a better life," Gabriela said. "We fought for dreams that I have to honor — I can't give up. I can't turn back time. I have to honor the memory of my daughter."

Ever since arriving in the United States just a short time ago, she said: "The three of us were happy. We felt safe in this country. My daughter left happy. We were fulfilling dreams together."

If she could speak to her beloved girl again, Gabriela knows exactly what she would tell her: "I'd say that I love her, and I'm proud of her for being a good daughter, dedicated to her family. Now, I give her into the arms of God."