Elmont man sentenced to 25 years in prison for 2023 Valentine’s Day strangling death

An Elmont man was sentenced July 11 to 25 years in prison for strangling a woman to death on Valentine’s Day in 2023 and leaving her body behind an Advanced Auto Parts in South Hempstead.

Andrew Avila, 26, pled guilty to manslaughter before Judge Caryn Fink April 2 to manslaughter charges for strangling 39-year-old Rebecca Carlson to death last year, according to Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly.

According to the indictment and investigation, Donnelly said in a news release Avila met with Carlson in his vehicle in Mineola in the early morning hours of Feb. 14. He had contacted her through a website and they agreed to meet in person to perform a sex act, according to the release.

“When the victim refused his demands for more, he strangled her and discarded her body next to a trash bin,” Donnelly said in an April news release.

A store employee discovered Carlson’s body later that morning.

“Carlson was a mother who had tragically fallen on difficult times and met a cruel end because of this defendants violent outburst,” Donnelly said in the release. “Her family remains in our thoughts.”

Avila was arrested by the Nassau County Police Department’s Homicide Squad March 2 in Hewlett.

“Without a care for the life he extinguished, the defendant dumped Rebecca’s body behind a local storefront with the trash and drove off,” Donnelly said in a July 11 news release. “Avila will now spend more than two decades of his young life behind bars for his callous violence. Our thoughts remain with Rebecca’s family as her killer is brought to justice.”