A man was handed a 25-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to stabbing his girlfriend’s ex-boyfriend to death outside of a Long Island, New York, yacht club.
Victor Panebianco, of North Carolina, allegedly killed Christopher Millwater at the Stony Brook Yacht Club as part of what prosecutors have described as a love triangle involving Panebianco’s co-defendant and girlfriend, Kacy Corso, according to Greater Long Island.
Panebianco, 33, was sentenced on Tuesday, September 22, on a first-degree manslaughter charge following his guilty plea last month, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
“The killing of Christopher Millwater at the hands of the defendant was brutal,” Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said in a statement. “We are grateful that the court imposed the maximum sentence requested by my office.”
An investigation revealed that within an hour and a half of Millwater’s killing on November 10, 2025, Panebianco and Corso traveled to Long Island from out of state, according to prosecutors. Millwater was 52 when he died.
Around 3:42 a.m. that morning, a 911 caller reported an unconscious man in the parking lot of the Stony Brook Yacht Club, leading Suffolk County police to find Millwater had been stabbed twice in the chest.
Millwater was taken to a hospital declared dead.
Investigators learned that “shortly before the 911 call,” Millwater parked outside of the yacht club, according to prosecutors.
Panebianco and Corso also arrived in Corso’s car and parked in the lot, prosecutors said.
Then, Millwater saw Panebianco approaching his vehicle.
In response, he “drove around Corso’s car towards the exit, but Corso crashed into him, preventing him from leaving,” prosecutors said.
Following the crash, Millwater tried to run away, but Panebianco caught up to him, as seen on surveillance footage capturing him wielding a knife, according to the district attorney’s office.
A struggle between Panebianco and Millwater ensued, with Corso yelling at Millwater, prosecutors said.
Panebianco ultimately stabbed Millwater and kicked his head before he and Corso left the yacht club, according to the district attorney’s office. The pair then fled the state.
Millwater’s family said he fished at yacht club, which is where he went for “peace and tranquility” after he had struggled with sobriety and cancer, Newsday reported.
“The water will still move with the tide. The beach will still be there. Life will continue in the place my uncle once went to find peace,” Millwater’s nephew, Chase Millwater, said at Panebianco’s sentencing, per the newspaper. “But it will never be the same village for us.”
Panebianco reportedly apologized to Millwater’s loved ones in the courtroom.
His defense attorney, Jonathan Manley, didn’t immediately return a request for comment from Us.
Corso, who pleaded guilty in July to first-degree manslaughter in relation to Millwater’s death, is set to be sentenced on September 23, according to prosecutors.
Her defense attorney, Christopher Gioe, didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
