News

Killer of Lynbrook woman sentenced

Victim's family reacts to his 18-years-to-life punishment

Posted

Maxwell Sherman, convicted in the 2013 killing of Lynbrook woman Lauren Daverin-Gresham, was sentenced on June 11 to 18 years to life in prison.

Though his sentencing gives Daverin-Gresham’s family and friends some sense of closure, there is no amount of time served that could actually help, said the victim’s younger sister, 18-year-old Kelsey Daverin.

“There’s still the fact that she’s missing from so many people’s lives,” Daverin said. “Nobody deserves what happened to her. As for Max Sherman, I hope he finds peace for himself in knowing what he did. He didn’t destroy one life — he destroyed a whole family, and a group of friends.”

Sherman, 20, a Long Beach native, murdered 18-year-old Daverin-Gresham by strangling her and repeatedly hitting her over the head on a Rockville Centre footbridge in August 2013, according to Acting Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas. He pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder, an A felony.

“Because of the cold-blooded brutality of this crime, it is just that Maxwell Sherman pay a heavy price for tragically and inexplicably cutting Lauren Daverin’s life short,” Singas said. “It is my fervent hope that [this] sentence gives Lauren’s loved ones a small amount of closure and peace.”

On the evening of Aug. 22, 2013, Daverin-Gresham went to meet friends on the footbridge, a popular gathering spot for young people, located at Merrick Road and Sunrise Highway in Rockville Centre. Sherman, who had recently returned to Long Island to stay at his parents’ house in Long Beach, also was present on the footbridge.

As the night went on, many people had left the area. Witnesses stated that the last two people they saw on the footbridge were Sherman and Daverin. Around 9 p.m., Singas said, Sherman killed Daverin by strangling her and hitting her repeatedly in the head. By 10 p.m., those who had been on the footbridge earlier returned to discover the lifeless body of Daverin, and called police.

Page 1 / 2