In the early morning hours of July 18, 2021, a backyard gathering in Amityville, New York, turned into a scene of tragedy. Maresse Stevenson, a 41-year-old Black man, was at the party on Great Neck Road when the event was irrevocably shattered. At approximately 2:50 a.m., a man from Pennsylvania named Paulin Cerisier arrived at the residence. Cerisier, the 29-year-old ex-boyfriend of Stevenson's niece, walked into the backyard, approached Stevenson, and without any provocation, shot him in the
left shoulder. Maresse Stevenson was pronounced dead at the scene shortly after the shooting.
Following the unprovoked attack, Paulin Cerisier fled the scene, sparking a years-long investigation by the Suffolk County Police Department's Homicide Squad. Detectives worked persistently on the case, and their efforts eventually led them to a hotel in Washington County, Pennsylvania. On July 15, 2024, nearly three years after the fatal shooting, authorities arrested Cerisier. He was subsequently charged with second-degree murder and two counts of second-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
Paulin Cerisier was arraigned on August 7, 2024, where he faced the charges for the death of Maresse Stevenson. The evidence presented during the trial established that Cerisier had driven to the Amityville party with the intent to harm Stevenson. An assistant district attorney stated that Cerisier had planned the killing, learning of Stevenson's whereabouts that morning and approaching him masked and wearing sunglasses under the cover of darkness. Although Cerisier initially called the police and confessed on video, he later recanted this confession. On June 11, 2025, a jury found Paulin Cerisier guilty of murder in the second degree and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. On August 14, 2025, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Maresse Stevenson.
