Man had criminal history in Delaware

A man who allegedly sexually assaulted a child before slitting the throat of the child’s grandmother and killing himself in West Islip on Monday was charged with attempted murder in Delaware County in 1981.

Philip Zagarella, 50, was 23 when he stabbed Jeffrey Lor, 22, of Andes, four times in the chest with a hunting knife after a fight at

the Lor home on New Year’s Eve in 1980.

Delaware County District Attorney Richard Northrup said the men were grappling over a rifle that went off. He said that according to court records, Zagarella claimed he pulled the knife from his belt and stabbed Lor because he was trying to get away from him.

The second-degree attempted murder charge was reduced to first-degree assault, and Zagarella was sentenced Oct. 6, 1981, to serve 1½-to-3 years at Attica State Prison.

On Monday, a West Islip woman returned home to find her mother lying blood in the garage, and a drunken Zagarella standing in the doorway with a rifle, police said.

Zagarella, a trusted handyman and an employee of the woman’s ex-husband, went to the woman’s home where he told the grandmother he was going to fix a deck. He was let in by the grandmother, who was babysitting her daughter’s children. The grandmother left to pick up one of the children, leaving Zagarella alone with the other child.

When the grandmother returned, he killed her and left her body in the garage, police said. When the children’s mother returned around 12:30 a.m., Zagarella yelled for the woman to get inside, but she ran to a neighbor’s home and called police to say her two children, ages 10 and 13, were still inside, Suffolk County Police Detective Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick said.

Later, Zagarella allegedly sexually assaulted one of the children. The children were let out of the house a few hours later, but

Zagarella remained inside, where he negotiated with police by telephone.

Police said that after negotiating for hours, a robot was sent to try to get inside, but Zagarella shot at it with a rifle.

When police, who also used tear gas, entered the home around 2:50 p.m., Zagarella was dead.

His criminal records indicate he also served prison sentences for assault and burglary committed upstate. In 1998, he pleaded guilty to third-degree assault in Nassau County.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Patricia Breakey can be reached at 746-2894 or at

stardelhi@stny.rr.com.

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