Police investigate Bellport woman’s death at Yaphank gas station as homicide

A Bellport woman was found injured and unresponsive inside a vehicle at a Yaphank Speedway early Saturday, and Suffolk County police later said the death was being investigated as a homicide.

Suffolk County police said Juliann Bachmann, 30, was discovered at about 7:25 a.m. May 16 at the Speedway gas station at 80A Horseblock Road. She was taken to NYU Langone Hospital – Suffolk in Patchogue, where she was pronounced dead. Detectives said a preliminary review led them to believe the death was criminal, and the department’s Homicide Squad took over the case.

The scene placed an unsettling criminal investigation at a familiar roadside business on Horseblock Road, drawing attention from residents in Yaphank, Bellport and nearby communities who woke up to news of a fatal incident at a gas station. The fact that Bachmann was found inside a vehicle at dawn underscored the speed and severity of the response, as police moved quickly from an emergency call to a homicide probe.

By Sunday, Suffolk County police said the case had advanced again. Michael McHenry, 40, of Bellport, was arrested at 8:13 p.m. May 16 and charged with second-degree murder. The arrest came less than a day after Bachmann was found, signaling that detectives had already identified a suspect as they worked to reconstruct what happened before she was discovered at the gas station.

Police did not immediately release additional details about how Bachmann was injured or what led investigators to conclude that the death was criminal. The case now turns on the timeline from the early-morning discovery in Yaphank to the arrest later that night, along with any surveillance footage, witness accounts or other evidence from the Speedway and the surrounding area.

Anyone with information was asked to contact the Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-220-TIPS.