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The North Carolina man accused of fatally stabbing a Selden father of two in the parking lot of the Stony Brook Yacht Club has pleaded guilty, closing out a case that Suffolk prosecutors said was set in motion by a love triangle and a Facebook feud.
Victor Panebianco, 32, of King, North Carolina, pleaded guilty Tuesday to first-degree manslaughter in the November 2025 killing of Christopher Millwater, 52, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced Tuesday.
Panebianco is due back in court for sentencing Sept. 22 and is expected to be receive a term of 25 years to life in prison. His plea comes seven months after prosecutors say Panebianco and his co-defendant, 33-year-old Kacy Corso of Setauket (Millwater’s former lover) ambushed Millwater in the yacht club’s parking lot in the early morning hours of Nov. 10.
“The defendant’s guilty plea does not take away the pain of the loss that Christopher Millwater’s friends and loved ones have endured,” Tierney said, while adding that the plea spares the victim’s family a trial while holding Panebianco “fully accountable” for the killing.
The attack in Stony Brook
Tierney said Suffolk County Police received a 911 call about 3:42 a.m. reporting an unconscious man in the lot. Responders found Millwater with two stab wounds to the chest; he was pronounced dead shortly later at Stony Brook University Hospital.
Prsecutors said Millwater parked his car in the lot just before Panebianco and Corso arrived in Corso’s car.
When Millwater spotted Panebianco, he tried to drive around Corso’s vehicle to escape — but Corso rammed his car, blocking him in, according to authorities. Millwater then jumped from his vehicle and tried to run.
Prosecutors said Panebianco chased him down while swinging a knife, caught up to him and kicked him in the head as he lay motionless on the ground. Panebianco and Corso then fled the scene and drove outside the state, according to the DA’s office.
Cell phone records showed Panebianco had arrived on Long Island from out of state roughly 90 minutes before the killing and left New York shortly after, prosecutors said. He was arrested nine days later in North Carolina with help from the Stokes County Sheriff’s Office, Tierney said.
As GLI has previously reported, court filings pointed to a months-long feud between Corso and Millwater that played out publicly on Facebook, with Corso accusing Millwater of deception in posts leading up to the day of the killing.
Just two days before he was killed, Millwater eerily wrote on Facebook: “Plenty of time to rest when I’m dead.”
In the days leading up to his death, Millwater posted a series of short videos documenting the hair growth serum he was treating his scalp with. Below is one of them.
Corso pleaded guilty last month to first-degree manslaughter for her role in the killing. She is expected to be sentenced Sept. 2 to seven years behind bars.
Top: from left, Vincent Panebianco (SCDA), Christopher Millwater (Facebook) and Kacy Corso (Facbeook).
Prior coverage
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