Nina Varrino, 52, pleaded guilty Monday to aggravated vehicular homicide, assault and driving while ability impaired by drugs in the deaths of Lisa and George Pelaez, who were riding a motorcycle in North Hills in July 2025. Prosecutors said Varrino had cocaine and Xanax in her system and had continued driving after an earlier collision. She is expected to be sentenced to seven to 21 years in prison.
Varrino admitted striking the couple’s 2010 Harley-Davidson shortly before 1 p.m. on July 12, 2025, on the Long Island Expressway South Service Road between New Hyde Park Road and Shelter Rock Road, according to Newsday. The Pelaezes, ages 58 and 64, were reportedly traveling to Port Jefferson and then to the Oyster Bay motorcycle museum.
The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said the crash happened at approximately 12:49 p.m. The impact threw both riders from the motorcycle, and the car and motorcycle became fully engulfed in flames, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
A Trail of Warnings and a Rear-End Crash Beforehand
Investigators found evidence that Varrino had been driving erratically on the Cross Island Parkway roughly an hour and 20 minutes before the fatal crash, according to prosecutors. The same account, as reported in the seed publisher's reporting, states that witnesses told detectives Varrino had been warned she should not be behind the wheel — but she kept driving anyway.
At about 11:40 a.m., Varrino rear-ended another car on Marathon Parkway in Queens while driving a 2025 Kia Sportage, according to the prosecution’s account. She continued driving and later struck the Pelaezes’ motorcycle in North Hills, the District Attorney’s Office said.
Prosecutors said Varrino had worked as an Uber driver the night before the crash and used cocaine and Xanax afterward to stay awake. Active levels of both drugs were found in her blood four hours after the crash, according to the prosecution’s account.
Injuries That Proved Fatal Days Apart
Lisa Pelaez suffered blunt trauma and multiple injuries and died at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset about two hours after the crash, the District Attorney’s Office said. George Pelaez suffered broken ribs, a broken spine and broken shoulders, as well as a collapsed lung. He remained hospitalized for a month and died on July 18, six days after the crash.
The case moved from Varrino's not-guilty plea at arraignment in February, when Nassau County police detectives arrested her on Feb. 18 and she was remanded, to Monday's guilty plea. Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly said the plea may help the Pelaez family heal. Varrino's attorney, Jason Russo, said his client was remorseful and had accepted full responsibility.
Sentencing Set for Mid-November
Varrino is due back in court on Nov. 19, 2026, and is expected to be sentenced to seven to 21 years in prison, according to LongIsland.com. The plea resolves the criminal case more than a year after the crash killed Lisa Pelaez and, six days later, her husband.
Statewide Data and a Separate Nassau County Case
A 2024 research paper cited by the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles found that drug-related traffic fatalities exceeded alcohol-related fatalities statewide in 2020 and 2022, accounting for 23 to 25 percent of motor vehicle fatalities in those years. Those statewide figures do not establish a trend or explain this Nassau County crash. In a separate case, the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office said Jericho resident Jordan Solomon pleaded guilty after a March 15, 2022, crash on Jericho Turnpike killed motorcyclist Stanley Christopher Soobrian. Prosecutors said Solomon was highly intoxicated and driving 100 mph; the case involved different circumstances from the drug-impairment allegations in Varrino’s case, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
