In the early hours of March 9, 2017, the life of 23-year-old Alexander Martuscello, a male, was abruptly ended in a burst of violence that shattered the quiet of his Amsterdam, New York home. Martuscello was fatally wounded by a shotgun blast fired through a glass door. The tragic event was not a random act of violence but rather a grim culmination of a dispute that, by all accounts, did not involve him.
He had only been living in the apartment on Glen Avenue for a month or two before he found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The investigation into Martuscello's death moved swiftly, and within a day, three local teenagers were in custody. The suspects were identified as 19-year-old Christopher Malave Jr., and two brothers, 18-year-old Raymond Matros and 16-year-old Anthony Matros. Authorities reported that the trio had gone to the residence with the intent to commit a robbery, stemming from an "ongoing beef" with one of Martuscello's roommates. It is believed that Martuscello was not the intended target of their retribution. Police located the 12-gauge shotgun believed to be the murder weapon hidden in a neighbor's pile of lumber, a discovery made with the assistance of a State Police dog.
In the ensuing legal proceedings, the youngest of the accused, Anthony Matros, accepted a plea deal. He pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter for his role in the fatal shooting. He was subsequently sentenced to ten years in prison, followed by five years of post-release supervision. His attempt to appeal the sentence was later denied.
The alleged shooter, Raymond Matros, and the third accomplice, Christopher Malave Jr., were also charged in connection with the senseless killing. While their initial arrests and charges were widely reported, the specific details of their convictions and the full extent of their sentences have not been as publicly documented in available online sources. The case serves as a somber reminder of how a conflict between others can have devastating and unintended consequences, forever altering the lives of all involved.
