Ridge Man Gets 23 Years to Life for Fatally Shooting Former Girlfriend

A Ridge man was sentenced to 23 years to life in prison on March 11 after pleading guilty to fatally shooting his former girlfriend outside her Moriches apartment complex last June, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond Tierney announced.

James Quininchetta, 41, fired seven rounds from a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun into Rebecca Roth's parked vehicle at approximately 12:30 a.m. on June 6, 2025, striking her multiple times in the torso and killing her. An autopsy confirmed Roth, 33, died from multiple gunshot wounds to the torso.

Prosecutors said Quininchetta went to Roth's Moriches apartment complex that night to confront her over money he believed she owed him. "What was, at most, a financial dispute escalated into irreversible violence," Tierney said. "This defendant made a calculated decision to take another person's life in a horrific act of violence. This sentence will not bring back Ms. Roth, but hopefully it will give her family some small comfort."

After the shooting, Quininchetta fled the scene. Suffolk County Police Department homicide detectives Matthew Sagistano, James Hughes, and Michael Ronca responded and recovered the .45-caliber handgun in a nearby parking lot along with ammunition packaging and spent shell casings. A police K-9 unit separately located a fanny pack containing ammunition in a wooded area near the complex exit. Quininchetta was arrested the following day, June 7, 2025.

On January 29, 2026, Quininchetta pleaded guilty before Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei to one count of Murder in the Second Degree, a Class A felony, and two counts of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Class C felonies. His attorney, George Duncan, represented him through the proceedings. Assistant District Attorney Eric S. Aboulafia of the Homicide Bureau prosecuted the case.

"This defendant chose to respond to a perceived financial dispute with irreversible brutality, and now he will be held accountable for his crime," Tierney said. "Our thoughts remain with Rebecca Roth's loved ones who continue to live with the pain of her absence."

Roth's death prompted an outpouring of community support. GoFundMe organizer Kim Wershil asked the public to "please keep her son Pharaoh, her mother Laura, and her sister Jessica Roth Christiansen in your thoughts and prayers.