Court Records: New Jersey man disposed of gun used in 2020 Aquebogue slaying

A New Jersey man who allegedly helped a murder suspect dispose of her gun following a March 2020 killing in Aquebogue is facing felony charges for his role in the crime, court records show.

George Woodworth, 75, told investigators in December 2020 that he knowingly brought the gun used in the killing of part-time Aquebogue resident Lee Pedersen to his home in Neptune City, N.J., where he dismantled the weapon and disposed of its parts in nearby dumpsters, according to an affidavit in the warrant issued for his arrest. The executed 2020 warrant was released following a records request and shared in an online public database in Mr. Woodworth’s home state. He was initially arrested on Jan. 8, 2021, Suffolk County court records show, though information about his arrest was not shared publicly by police or prosecutors at the time.

Mr. Woodworth pleaded not guilty before District Court Judge Richard Dunne this past Tuesday, May 24 on a superior court information charging him with second-degree criminal facilitation, according to online court records. An SCI is issued by a District Attorney at the consent of a defendant who waives a presentation of their criminal complaint to a grand jury for indictment.

Prosecutors have said Mr. Pedersen was murdered by Donatila O’Mahony of Central Islip, an acquaintance they say also forged his will in an effort to become the primary beneficiary of his estate. Mr. Pedersen was unmarried and had no children, friends, distant family members and police have said.

Detectives arrested Donatila O’Mahony, now 42, on grand larceny and forgery charges at John F. Kennedy Airport on Dec. 28, 2020, where they found her with her 6-year-old daughter and a pair of one-way tickets to El Salvador, Assistant Suffolk County District Attorney Frank Schroeder said last year. He said her house in Central Islip had been “packed” and she had also recently changed the license plates on her car to Texas plates.

She was arraigned on a murder charge in March 2021, one year after the slaying of Mr. Pedersen at his home in Aquebogue, where he was found dead from a single gunshot to the back of his head.

Ms. O’Mahony, who is also identified as Donatila Alvarez in court records, has been held in a Suffolk County jail without bail since her arrest after she was deemed a “significant flight risk,” at her arraignment by Judge Anthony Senft.

Mr. Schroeder said at the March 2021 arraignment investigators noticed that following Mr. Pedersen’s death, Ms. O’Mahony “became obsessed” with finding his will, which he said police had in their possession. Mr. Schroeder said Ms. O’Mahony, unaware that police already had a copy of a will bequeathing Mr. Pedersen’s possessions to a different “close friend,” later produced her own version.

“This will was a forgery,” Mr. Schroeder said of the document Ms. O’Mahony produced. “In this forged will, the defendant made herself the executor of the will and bequeathed the Aquebogue house to herself, disinheriting Mr. Pedersen’s close friend.”

Ms. O’Mahony, who is facing the possibility of life in prison, is due back in court for a pre-trial conference in her case June 23.

Mr. Woodworth is next scheduled to appear on his charge, a Class C Felony, July 12. The warrant for his arrest was issued on Dec. 31, 2020, two days after he allegedly told police he disposed of the gun and three days after Ms. O’Mahony’s initial arrest.