Crime & Safety

Man Involved in Slaying of Woodmere Dad in 1986 Gets 25 to Life

Lewis Slaughter, who had eluded authorities for 23 years, was sentenced for the murder of Samuel Quentzel.

One of the two men involved in the murder of a Woodmere father of three in 1986 was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison on Thursday, Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said.

Lewis Slaughter, 61, was found guilty of murder in the second degree by a jury on Oct. 26 for his role in what authorities believe was a botched robbery attempt on Samuel Quentzel. The 54-year-old was fatally shot in the left side of his chest in his driveway after coming home from work. Detectives found $2,500 in cash in his pockets.

"My family and I have waited 24 long and difficult years for this outcome," said Samuel Quentzel's son, Andrew. "We are deeply appreciative to all who were involved in making this possible: Nassau County DA Kathleen Rice, ADAs Mike Walsh, Meg Reiss, and Mike Reiner [and] Nassau County Detectives Jim Hendry, Mike Maloney, and Mark Garry.

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"Although there will never be justice for my father, we feel content in knowing that the court gave the maximum sentence to Lewis Slaughter."

Slaughter, who is already serving 25 years to life for the October 1986 murder of a woman that took place during a botched robbery of a Nabisco factory in Queens, was part of a "crime crew" that targeted businesses on paydays in Brooklyn and Queens, according to the DA.

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"Today's sentencing is the culmination of more than 24 years of wishing, hoping, and believing by Samuel Quentzel's family that his killers would one day be brought to justice," Rice said. "I could not be prouder of the men and women of my office and the police department who never wavered in their commitment to solving this case."

Slaughter and one of his partners, Clifton Waters, approached Quentzel on Sept. 4, 1986, as he sat in his parked Oldsmobile, the DA said. Quentzel's wife, Ann, who was in the house, heard a commotion and a car horn blowing. She and an architect who was at the house ran to the window and saw Waters slamming the driver's door of the car and running towards a van waiting in the street. She also saw a man now known to be Slaughter.

Waters, who is believed to have shot Quentzel, was killed about four months after the Quentzel murder in what was deemed to be an accidental shooting in the vestibule of his Brooklyn apartment, according to authorities.

A third man, Roger Williams, waited in the van. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree and is awaiting sentence.

The architect was able to write down part of the license plate of the van. Authorities found the vehicle less than an hour later, burned out, about four blocks from the plumbing supply store Quentzel owned in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Four cigarette butts, a bullet and a checkbook belonging to Quentzel were found in the van.

Those cigarette butts would later prove to be a vital piece of evidence.

In 2007, Ann and Andrew Quentzel asked Rice to renew the case. The butts were submitted for genetic testing, and because of a new law expanding the DNA database, the genetic profile on the butts were found to match that of Williams, who had served time in prison for dealing drugs in 1999.

Detectives started building their case around Williams, who was in prison for violating his parole, and focused on one of his known accomplices, Slaughter. Authorities set up a meeting between the two, and got an eavesdropping warrant to listen in on their conversation.

After not seeing each other for a decade, Williams and Slaughter spoke cautiously and speculated that former crewmembers were providing information on them for a reward, the DA said. They then discussed the van used in the Quentzel murder, and were so nervous that they began to wipe down the table, food containers and soda cans they were using to avoid leaving DNA and fingerprints.

"It was quite a reunion," Rice had said in June 2009. The two men were arraigned for the murder on June 17.

For Arthur Quentzel, Samuel's brother who lives in Cedarhurst, the sentence of Slaughter brings no comfort. "I'm happy that they captured the people so somebody can't go to the grave saying 'they never caught me,'" he said. "We still are grieving the loss of a guy that was right in the highlight of his life. I lost my best friend and there's no replacement for that."

Editor's note: This story incorrectly stated that Roger Williams was the driver of the van. It was also updated on Dec. 10 with a statement from Andrew Quentzel.


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