Friday, June 6th, 2025: A day that would forever rock a Long Island family.
According to Suffolk County Police, a woman called 9-1-1 at 8:20 a.m. that morning. She had found her daughter, Rebecca Roth, 33, dead in the driver’s seat of the Hyundai Elantra outside the Tall Oaks Apartments they shared.
The next day, James Quininchetta, 40, of Ridge, was arrested for killing Roth—reportedly over a $1,500 debt.
“Boom, boom, boom — he put five shots into my baby,” the victim’s mother told News 12. “How do you kill a young girl that you hardly know, who has a family?”
Quinichetta was charged with second-degree murder, processed at the Seventh Precinct, and arraigned at First District Court in Central Islip on June 7th.
Friends and family launched a GoFundMe campaign over the weekend to help support Roth’s young son and cover funeral costs in her honor.
“Please keep her son Pharaoh, her mother Laura, and her sister Jessica Roth Christiansen in your thoughts and prayers,” fundraiser organizer Kim Wershil wrote.
The fundraiser has garnered $3,000 of its $5,000 goal as of Monday, June 9th.
Detectives ask that anyone with information on the shooting pertinent to the ongoing investigation contact the homicide squad at (631) 852-6392 or leave an anonymous message with Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS.