NC Man Pleads Guilty In Fatal Slaying Of His Girlfriend's Ex Outside Stony Brook Yacht Club

RIVERSIDE, NY — A North Carolina man pleaded guilty on Tuesday in connection with the fatal stabbing of his girlfriend's former flame outside the Stony Brook Yacht Club last year.

Victor Panebianco, 32, pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter, after admitting to chasing down and then stabbing 52-year-old Selden resident Christopher Millwater, 52, as he left the club in the early morning hours of Nov. 10.

Subscribe

Panebianco is expected to serve 25 years in state prison under his plea agreement, Newsday reported.

His attorney, John Manley of Hauppauge, told Patch, "Victor has always been extremely remorseful about this incident and has now taken full responsibility for his actions. "

"It's been his desire from the outset to avoid a difficult trial," he added.

District Attorney Ray Tierney said, the plea "does not take away the pain of the loss that Christopher Millwater's

friends and loved ones have endured."

He thanked prosecutors for securing the conviction, as well as the Stokes County Sheriff's office, and the Suffolk County Police Department for their work on this case.

He went on to say that the admission of guilt spares Millwater's family "from enduring a painful and difficult trial while holding Victor Panebianco fully accountable for this heinous killing."

At around 3:42 a.m., police received a 911 call reporting an unconscious male on the ground in the parking lot of the Stony Brook Yacht Club, and when first responders arrived, Millwater was found with two stab wounds to the chest, prosecutors said.

He was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

During the subsequent police investigation, in which witness interviews, and review of video and audio surveillance was included, revealed that Millwater pulled into the yacht club and parked his car shortly before the 911 call was placed, according to prosecutors.

His co-defendant, Kacy Corso, had just pulled into the same lot, both sitting inside her vehicle, and Panebianco got out of the passenger side of the vehicle and approached Millwater, prosecutors said.

Millwater drove around Corso's car towards the exit of the parking lot, but Corso crashed into him, preventing him from leaving, and at that point, he got out of his car and

tried to run away, according to prosecutors.

Panebianco chased after Millwater while swinging a knife, eventually catching up to him, prosecutors said.

Panebianco continued to scuffle with Millwater, threatened to kill him and kicked him in the head as he lay motionless, according to prosecutors.

Panebianco and Corso then got back into the vehicle and bolted from the scene before traveling out-of-state, prosecutors said.

Cellular telephone records were obtained for Panebianco's phone showing that Panebianco arrived on Long Island from out of state around an hour and a half before the murder and fled New York after the killing, according to prosecutors.

Panebianco was arrested on Nov. 19 in North Carolina with the help of the Stokes County Sheriff's office.

Corso previously pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter for her role in the crime and is expected to be sentenced on Sept. 2 to seven years in prison.