The New York City medical examiner's office said a fashion designer from northern Virginia was found in a bathtub full of water at a swank Manhattan hotel was strangled and drowned.
Sylvie Cachay, was found dead at the Soho House hotel on Dec. 9. She was half-clothed and face-up in the tub, with bruises on her neck.
The medical examiner's office said Wednesday that the 33-year-old died from neck compression and drowning and she had been forcibly submerged in the tub. The death was ruled a homicide.
Cachay's 24-year-old boyfriend, Nicholas Brooks, son of Oscar-winning songwriter Joseph Brooks, has been arrested. He initially was charged with attempted murder, but prosecutors are withholding indictment details until a Jan. 4 court appearance.
His lawyer has said his client is innocent.
Cachay had dual citizenship and split her time growing up between Peru and McLean, Va. She attended design school in Paris and earned a degree from Marymount University in Arlington, Va.
Cachay's resume included stints with Anne Cole and Victoria's Secret. She also started her own line of swimwear called Sylva.
The daughter of an artist, Cachay said on her website that she was first inspired by watching her mother work in her studio.
Designer Was Strangled, Held Underwater in Tub
Copyright AP - Associated Press
