North Carolina Man Gets 25 Years in Stony Brook Yacht Club Stabbing

A North Carolina man was sentenced Tuesday to 25 years in prison for the fatal stabbing of a Selden man outside the Stony Brook Yacht Club last November, Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced.

Victor Panebianco, 33, of King, N.C., pleaded guilty Aug. 11 before state Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei to one count of first-degree manslaughter in the Nov. 10, 2025, death of Christopher Millwater, 52. The judge also imposed five years of post-release supervision.

Prosecutors said Millwater was the ex-boyfriend of Panebianco's girlfriend, Kacy Corso, who was charged with him. Cellphone records showed the pair arrived on Long Island from out of state less than an hour and a half before the killing, the district attorney's office said.

Millwater pulled into the yacht club lot and parked shortly before a 911 call came in at about 3:42 a.m., prosecutors said. Panebianco and Corso had just pulled into the same lot in Corso's car. Panebianco got out and walked toward Millwater, who drove around Corso's car toward the exit. Corso crashed into him, blocking his way out, and Millwater got out and ran.

Surveillance footage showed Panebianco chasing Millwater while swinging a knife and catching up to him, prosecutors said. Police found Millwater with two stab wounds to the chest. He was taken to Stony Brook University Hospital and pronounced dead.

The pair drove off and left the state, prosecutors said. Panebianco was arrested in North Carolina on Nov. 19, 2025, with help from the Stokes County Sheriff's Office. Corso, who had returned to Suffolk County, was arrested by Suffolk County police.

"The killing of Christopher Millwater at the hands of the defendant was brutal," Tierney said. "We are grateful that the court imposed the maximum sentence requested by my office."

Corso pleaded guilty separately to first-degree manslaughter on July 22 and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, her attorney, Christopher Gioe, told Patch at the time. Gioe said she stayed in her car "throughout the altercation" and has "consistently expressed remorse." The district attorney's office said Sept. 22 that Corso was expected to be sentenced the next day to seven years in prison. Gioe has said her deal also carries five years of post-release supervision.