Erick Corado-Gonzalez, of Glen Cove, sentenced for killing mother-in-law after birthday party

A Glen Cove man could spend the rest of his life in prison for stabbing his mother-in-law to death in a West Hempstead parking lot after a birthday party for his estranged wife, the Nassau County District Attorney's Office announced Thursday.

Erick Corado-Gonzalez, 29, was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the attack in the early morning hours of Sept. 29, 2024. Corado-Gonzalez's mother-in-law, Ana Espinoza, 51, also of Glen Cove, and other friends and family members had spent the night before celebrating at the West Hempstead restaurant La Candela II, according to a news release from District Attorney Anne Donnelly's office. Corado-Gonzalez, separated from his wife, was not invited, the release said.

As partygoers left the Peruvian restaurant on Hempstead Turnpike and began walking to their cars, Corado-Gonzalez appeared in the parking lot and stabbed Espinoza "seven times in the torso," the release said. He then stabbed her husband in the hand when he tried to stop the attack. When Corado-Gonzalez's brother-in-law attempted to intervene, prosecutors said, he "pointed an imitation pistol at the man and threatened him not to follow him" before leaving the parking lot. Corado-Gonzalez’s 3-year-old son witnessed the attack.

Espinoza and her husband were transported to NYU Langone Hospital-Long Island in Mineola, where she was pronounced dead after suffering hemorrhagic shock from a stab wound to her neck.

Police in Linden, New Jersey, arrested Corado-Gonzalez later that day after he fled the state, Donnelly said. He was extradited to Nassau County that October.

Corado-Gonzalez pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree attempted murder on Sept. 3 before Judge Caryn Fink at Nassau County Court in Mineola, according to the district attorney’s office. Fink handed down Thursday's prison sentence.   

Joseph LoPiccolo, Corado-Gonzalez's defense attorney, told Newsday on Thursday that his client "now regrets" his actions "for the harm that he has caused his wife’s family, his child’s family and all those who loved the deceased in this case."

About six months before the murder, Corado-Gonzalez and his wife — who lived together in Glen Cove with her family, including Espinoza — separated, LoPiccolo said. He began living in Sea Cliff after the separation.

There is currently "no evidence that any steps have been taken affirmatively to end the marriage" between Corado-Gonzalez and his wife, he added.