Teen Found Strangled In Rockville Centre Laid To Rest
ROCKVILLE CENTRE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The teenager found strangled on Long Island last week was laid to rest Wednesday.
The body of 18-year-old Lauren Daverin, clad in only a pair of boots, was found Thursday night by a footbridge in Rockville Centre.
Daverin, a Lynbrook native who would have turned 19 this Saturday, was a newlywed. She had recently moved to Louisiana with her husband who is in the U.S. Air Force. She was on Long Island visiting her mom when she was murdered.
Man Charged In Rockville Centre Murder Has Court Appearance
Meantime, Maxwell Sherman, the man accused of killing Daverin, did not enter a plea during a court appearance Wednesday.
He was handcuffed as he was brought before a judge.
Sherman's attorney William Petrillo has asked the DA's office to either indict his client by Friday or release him.
"He is doing as well as an 18-year-old young man could be doing being charged with second-degree murder," Petrillo said. "There are a lot of things being said about this case that are just basically out of left field. I'm not going to speak about his defense in this case. There is a viable and strong defense in this case."
Sherman is from Illinois but was staying at his parent's summer home in Long Beach, Hall reported. Prosecutors said Sherman is unemployed.
His parents cried as they sat in court, Hall reported.
The 18-year-old spoke with CBS 2's Carolyn Gusoff and WCBS 880's Sophia Hall at the crime scene Friday, one day before his arrest.
At the time, Sherman was not a suspect, but he said he was part of the group hanging out with Daverin the night she was murdered.
"I met her, I don't know her, I met her once for like five minutes," Sherman told Hall. "I don't even know what happened, I just heard."
Sherman told Gusoff that he had met up with the group around 7 p.m. Thursday.
Gusoff: What was everybody doing? Just hanging?
Sherman: They were chilling by the soccer post or whatever. I just rode by and saw my friend Steve, and got a cigarette from him.
Gusoff: And what's your reaction to this now?
Sherman: Amazed, kind of. It's right in the middle of town. Surprised.
Gusoff: And there was nothing going on in the group last night that would suggest somebody was getting hurt?
Sherman: Nah, everybody was just chilling, hanging out.
Friends of the victim said Sherman wanted to date Daverin.
"He wanted to hook up with her," David Paiz, a friend of Daverin's, told Gusoff. "He was asking other kids, 'Do you know if she's dating anyone?'"
Police said at some point, Sherman strangled Daverin and hours after the interviews, he was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.
At his arraignment Sunday, Sherman hung his head in court, denying that he killed Daverin.
"I want to make sure this kid goes away for the rest of his life if he is the one responsible for killing my daughter," the victim's mother, Kathleen Daverin, said Monday before her daughter's wake.
Sherman is being held without bail and faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
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