Machete Attack Spurred by 'Enraged' Boyfriend Who Found Woman With Another Man: Police

GREENPORT, NY — A man "enraged" to find his girlfriend with another man was allegedly responsible for a recent brutal machete attack in Greenport, according to a Southold Town police complaint.

Esvin Rolando Escobar, 26, was arraigned before Justice Brian Hughes in Southold Town Justice Court Thursday. Hughes set bail at $100,000 cash and $300,000 bond.

According to the complaint filed with the Southold justice court, on August 12, Escobar struck the male victim "numerous times with a machete, causing serious lacerations about the head, face and back, resulting in significant blood loss, numerous stitches and likely permanent scarring."

The female victim stated that she was at home drinking with a male friend when her boyfriend, who is originally from Guatemala, texted to say he'd be coming over; when she opened the door he pushed her to the ground and ran upstairs, according to the complaint.

Escobar's confession said that his girlfriend texted him to come over and when he arrived, he found her friend there, too. "I got very mad and felt craziness at this point," the document stated. "I took the machete and started to hit the guy with it. . . I was very jealous. . . I had been drinking so that added to my rage."

"All of a sudden I heard screaming. I ran upstairs and I saw Esvin hitting" the other victim with a machete in the bathroom. "He turned and hit me once with the machete," the complaint read.

The female victim said the machete was hers, and she kept it in her bedroom.

Police said an officer responded to find the "bloody" male victim with "large lacerations to his face and neck area." The female victim was located "naked and bleeding on the floor," with a large laceration to her neck, the complaint states. The woman, police said, "stated that Escobar became enraged when he saw she was naked and had another man in the house."

Represented by legal aid attorney Emily Miller, Escobar had an interpreter; Miller said that her client pleaded not guilty. She added that her client had been held beyond the six-day limit after his arrest.

She said that he lived on Ludlam Place in Greenport and was employed at a winery and as a farmhand on Route 48, with "ties to the community" and asked for a bail of $10,000.

Assistant District Attorney Patrick Fedun asked for a $250,000 bail and said Escobar posed a flight risk since he had been previously deported and was a "fugitive of justice." He added that the charges may be upgraded to attempted murder.

Justice Hughes said the defendant was in the country illegally and could not have been working as a farmhand if he had been found in Rhode Island. A stay away order of protection was issued for both the victims of the attack, he said.

According to Southold Town Police, Escobar, 26, was arrested on August 18 at 12:30 p.m. in Central Falls, Rhode Island.

He was transported back to Southold Town Justice Court where he was arraigned on a charge of first degree assault, a felony, police said.

Escobar had been previously deported and is currently in the country illegally, police said.

Southold Town Police detectives along with members of the United States Marshal’s New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force and the Rhode Island State Police Lincoln Barracks all worked together to locate and arrest Escobar, the alleged perpetrator of a machete attack on a Greenport man and woman on Friday night, police said.

After being located in Central Falls, Escobar was charged with being a fugitive from justice, police said.
Escobar was brought before a Rhode Island Court and waived extradition, police said.

Additional charges are being considered and are likely, police said.

According to Southold Town Police, the attack took place at 7:11 p.m. on 2nd Street in Greenport; both the man and woman were found bleeding from their slash wounds, police said.

Greenport Fire Department responded and transported the pair to Eastern Long Island Hospital; they were then transferred to Stony Brook University Hospital, police said.

Escobar allegedly fled the scene prior to the arrival of police, authorities said.