On the morning of July 3, 2018, 17-year-old Emilio Sanchez Maldonado was found shot to death outside his East Patchogue home. His father discovered his body beside a bicycle when he returned after Emilio didn’t answer his phone; the teen had been due to start a summer job at a bakery that day. Emilio had come to Long Island from El Salvador about four years earlier and was remembered by family as a fun-loving teen who loved soccer.

Investigators described the killing as an ambush-style shooting. Family members worried MS-13 might be involved, saying Emilio had told relatives he’d had trouble with some school peers he believed were gang members. In May 2019, police charged 17-year-old Melquisedec Antonio Sanchez-Hernandez of Bellport, a classmate at Bellport High School, with second-degree murder. Authorities said Sanchez-Hernandez, identified as an MS-13 member, lured Emilio outside via social media and shot him five times; prosecutors say a videotaped confession blamed Emilio’s company for the motive. Sanchez-Hernandez pleaded not guilty and was held without bail.

Did anyone in the community know Emilio, his routine, or the people he’d been associating with?