Suffolk indicts trio in murder-for-hire tied to illegal dental practice

Byron Martinez, 23, was shot outside his Huntington Station home at about 1:18 a.m. on Aug. 2, 2022, in a killing Suffolk prosecutors now say was tied to an unlicensed dental practice. Investigators recovered shell casings and a black drawstring bag containing a cartridge near the scene, and an autopsy determined Martinez died of a gunshot wound to the torso.

Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said Thursday that Yolani Mejia Carranza, 56, Daniel Kersey, 35, and Aldo Esmizadeh, 70, all of Huntington Station, were indicted in the case. Carranza and Kersey were each charged with murder in the first degree and related counts, while Esmizadeh was indicted on conspiracy charges for his alleged role in facilitating the murder-for-hire scheme.

Prosecutors say the violence grew out of dental work Carranza performed on Martinez’s mother in 2022 at an unlicensed practice in Huntington Station. According to authorities, the work led to serious complications, and repairing it would have cost thousands of dollars. Investigators allege Martinez recorded Carranza during the procedure, and that he and his mother threatened to report the illegal practice unless she reimbursed them.

That dispute, prosecutors say, escalated further when Carranza allegedly asked Esmizadeh whether he knew anyone who would “hurt” people. Esmizadeh allegedly connected her with Kersey. Investigators say Carranza and Esmizadeh then surveilled the basement apartment where Martinez and his mother lived and passed the location to Kersey.

The indictment says the arrangement unraveled when Kersey allegedly did not carry out the attack as agreed. Prosecutors say Carranza then grew dissatisfied, demanded that both victims be killed and refused to pay until the murders were completed.

The homicide indictment lands on top of a broader investigation that had already cast a harsh light on Carranza’s alleged dental operation. In March 2025, police described a fully functioning dentist’s office inside her Bay Shore home and said she had also allegedly practiced for about eight years at another illegal location in Huntington Station. Detectives said three patient complaints led them to the case, and alleged injuries included nerve damage and partial facial paralysis.

Police also said they believed the operation targeted financially strapped Hispanic residents, including undocumented migrants and people without health insurance. With the murder case now laid alongside the dental allegations, Suffolk’s bigger question is how an alleged unlicensed practice could keep operating long enough to put patients at risk. Before any treatment, verify the provider’s license, confirm the office address matches the licensed professional, and walk away from any practice that refuses basic credentials or pushes urgent cash-only care.