West Babylon man charged in fatal Deer Park carjacking, police say

Suffolk County police have charged a West Babylon man in the fatal Deer Park carjacking that killed 65-year-old Donald Klune, a case that has lingered for more than a year and now moves into court.

Jason Buttchampagne, 25, was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree robbery in connection with the attack on Brook Avenue on Dec. 11, 2024. Police said Klune was sitting in his 2009 Mitsubishi around 8:35 p.m. when at least one person approached him, pulled him from the vehicle, punched him and kicked him. The suspect or suspects then fled in Klune’s car.

Klune, who lived in Deer Park, was taken to a hospital after the assault and died on Dec. 13, 2024. His family later said he had been disabled, was on a ventilator and was in a coma at South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore before he died. The attack took place near his townhouse complex, adding to the fear that spread through the neighborhood after the killing.

The Suffolk County Police Department said Buttchampagne was arrested on Monday, May 11, 2026, held overnight at the Sixth Precinct and scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday, May 12, in First District Court in Central Islip. The timing marks a major development in a case that began as a violent street robbery and ended in a homicide investigation.

Police originally asked anyone with information to contact the Suffolk County Police Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-220-TIPS, a sign the investigation remained active while detectives worked to identify those involved. The new arrest now gives prosecutors a chance to present the case in court, even as police stress that a criminal charge is an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

For Deer Park and nearby West Babylon, the case carries a stark public-safety message: a man was allegedly beaten after being removed from his own car on a residential street, and the vehicle was stolen in the process. What began as a late-night robbery on Brook Avenue has become one of the area’s most serious violent-crime cases, with the victim’s death still central to the prosecution ahead.