Life in prison for Bay Shore woman who told crew to ‘hunt’ and kill victim

Kayla Alvarenga orchestrated the 2022 murder of Linver Ortiz Ponce after he fell asleep in his car in front of her home

A Bay Shore woman will spend the rest of her life behind bars after a judge on Monday sentenced her to life in prison without parole for orchestrating the kidnapping and murder of a stranger who parked in front of her home.

Kayla Alvarenga, 23, was sentenced in Suffolk County Court after a jury in March convicted her of first-degree murder and other charges in the 2022 killing of Linver Ortiz Ponce.

“A man is dead because he parked in front of the wrong house,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney said. “This defendant orchestrated his kidnapping and murder, directed co-defendants to hunt him down, and used minors to get it done.

“The jury saw exactly what she did, and now she will spend the rest of her life in prison for it,” he added.

It was just before midnight on Sept. 17, 2022, when Ortiz Ponce, 29, of Central Islip, parked his red Chevrolet Camaro in front of Alvarenga’s Fifth Avenue home in Bay Shore.

Prosecutors said Alvarenga confronted him and demanded he move the car. After the dispute, she called co-defendant Christopher Perdomo, 28, of Glen Cove, and three teenagers to come to her home and remove Ortiz Ponce from the street.

The group arrived in a BMW they had carjacked from a Bay Shore woman hours earlier, authorities said. They dragged Ortiz Ponce from his vehicle while he slept, beat him and stole his Camaro, prosecutors said.

Ortiz Ponce scampered away to a nearby gas station, where he tried to hide behind vehicles. At that point, Alvarenga ordered her co-defendants to find, abduct and kill him, Tierney said.

Surveillance video captured Ortiz Ponce being dragged at gunpoint into the BMW. Alvarenga directed the group to follow her to the parking lot of House of Prayer Church of God parking lot, where she ordered Perdomo to kill him, Tierney said.

Perdomo shot Ortiz Ponce multiple times as he tried to crawl away, prosecutors said. The group fled in both stolen vehicles before abandoning them in Smithtown and Brentwood, then took a rideshare together back to Alvarenga’s home, where they divvied up the cash from the victim’s wallet, Tierney said.

Perdomo was arrested in Georgia in May 2024. He pleaded guilty in September 2025 to first-degree murder, first-degree kidnapping, second-degree robbery and weapons charges. He is scheduled for sentencing on May 12 and faces up to 20 years to life in prison.

Five adolescent co-defendants also pleaded guilty. All remaining participants in the crime have been sentenced.

Alvarenga was convicted on March 26 after a jury trial before Acting Supreme Court Justice Anthony Senft Jr.

In addition to the first-degree murder conviction, the jury also found her guilty of the following charges:

• First-degree kidnapping
• Second-degree robbery
• Fourth-degree conspiracy

_{Top: House of Prayer Church of God (Google Maps Street View) and Kayla Alvarenga, 23 (SCDA).}