Lauren Daverin (Dennis A. Clark)
Maxwell Sherman (Handout)
The 18-year-old man arrested for the brutal murder of a beautiful Long Island teen whose nude body was found on a Rockville Centre footbridge gave a chilling television interview at the scene of the crime before his bust, the Post has learned.
Maxwell Sherman, 18, of Long Beach, told a WCBS crew Friday that he was shocked by the killing. “I’m amazed,” he said.
Nassau County cops would not say whether Sherman and victim Lauren Daverin, also 18, of Lynbrook, had known each other.
He’s been charged with strangling Daverin.
At the suspect’s arraignment this morning, prosecutors said Sherman is a flight risk because he has contacts in Washington state. Judge David Sullivan agreed, and ordered Sherman held without bail until his next court date on Wednesday.
Sherman’s an unemployed recent high school graduate who lives with his parents, a defense lawyer said.
“We are here to get justice for my sister,” the victim’s older sister, Suzanne Caldeira, said outside court.
About two dozen friends and loved ones of Daverin filled the courtroom to get a close look at Sherman. Many of them broke down in tears when the suspect was brought into the room.
“He’s being remanded, he’s not going anywhere. Let’s go,” Caldeira told her mom, moments after Sullivan’s ruling to keep Maxwell locked up.
Earlier in the day, a handcuffed Sherman, wearing a gray and purple plaid shirt, was taken from Nassau County police headquarters in Mineola to court in Hempstead.
Sherman sported a scratch under his left eye and more scratches and bruises on his right cheek.
He didn’t answer any questions shouted at him by reporters outside the police station.
Daverin had been hanging out with pals on the bridge when they left her alone for an hour on Thursday night, friends told police.
The horrified friends returned to find her body, naked except for her boots — in a pool of blood.
One of her pals, Laura Barabasch, 18, described Daverin as a “wild child” who loved to dance and hang out at the footbridge.
“I just started crying. And that’s when it hit me that my best friend was really gone,” Barabasch said.
“The bridge we hang out on is a real fun place. I’ll come back here to remember her and all the good times we shared,” she said.