Kriti Mehrotra
While every loss of life is tragic, some are even more so as they are a direct result of others’ needless, senseless actions, and that was unfortunately precisely the case for Sylvie Cachay’s demise in 2010. As chronicled in Netflix’s ‘Homicide: New York: Soho Horror,’ the 33-year-old was a rising fashion designer gradually establishing herself in the industry when she was suddenly found dead in Manhattan’s Soho House. The scene was reportedly a mess, but it didn’t take local authorities long to figure out something truly terrible had transpired, thanks to the physical evidence present, leading them directly to her assailant.
Sylvie Cachay Was Found Dead in the Bathtub of a Hotel in 2010
Although born in Arlington, Virginia, on January 7, 1977, to painter Sylvia Cachay and surgeon Antonio Cachay, Sylvie Cachay was a proud Peruvian-American with dual citizenship, owing to her upbringing and roots. She often spent a lot of time around water and eventually became a bikini collector at a fairly young age. It paved the way for her to develop a passion for creative design and expressive fashion. That’s how she decided to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Fashion Design from Marymount College in the late 1990s, before kick-starting her career with an internship at Marc Jacobs in New York.
Sylvie subsequently served as a designer for Tommy Hilfiger, from where she made the jump to Victoria’s Secret and eventually settled into the role of Head of Swimwear Design Team in 2002. The experience she gained throughout these roles ingrained in her a different kind of ambition and confidence, driving her to establish her own independent brand, Syla, in 2006. According to records, she was doing very well for herself as her designs soon featured in publications like Elle, InStyle, Sports Illustrated, and Vogue, that is, until the 2008 recession took its toll on her, too.
Sylvie ultimately had to close her business due to economic changes, but she always kept hope alive of one day rebuilding her brand because she was not ready to give up yet. Alas, she could never realize her dream as she was found dead under running water in the bathtub of Room 20 at the exclusive Soho House club on 9th Avenue in Manhattan on December 9, 2010. Her autopsy later revealed she had a bite mark on her hand, hemorrhaging in her eyes, wounds on her neck, and water in her lungs, consistent with her being held underwater and fatally strangled.
The Investigation Into Sylvie Cachay’s Death Moved Quickly
It was roughly 2:11 am on the fateful morning when the night manager of Soho House began receiving multiple complaints of water dripping from the ceiling into the rooms directly below Room 20. Therefore, he decided to check it out a short while later, letting himself into the suite after no one answered his several knocks on the door, only to immediately come face to face with a harrowing scene. He saw 33-year-old Sylvie submerged in the overflowing bathtub, so he rushed to pull her out and perform CPR in the hopes of reviving her while ordering the acquaintance with him to dial 911.
Unfortunately, it was already too late — despite significant efforts to revive the fashion designer by both the night manager and the first responders, she was pronounced dead on the scene at 3:33 am. Sylvie was still wearing a sweater, her underwear, and a Rolex watch, but what officials found even stranger upon securing the scene were the pair of wet men’s grey socks on the floor at the foot of the bed. That’s when they learned she had arrived at the hotel around 12:30 am alongside her boyfriend of 6 months, Nicholas “Nick” Brooks, before taking a room for the night, but he was nowhere to be found.
Investigators also discovered a couple of prescription anti-depressants and sleeping medications in the room, making them genuinely wonder if Sylvie’s death was an accident, a suicide, or a homicide. Hence, they quickly sent her remains to be autopsied, dusted the bathtub for prints, recovered the socks, the pills, and any other possible piece of evidence, and began going through the hotel’s surveillance footage. They saw Nick go in and out of the room alone numerous times before he left for the final time at 2:18 am, until he walked back into the hotel lobby right in front of several detectives at roughly 5 am.
Sylvie Cachay Was Killed by Her Boyfriend Following a Tumultuous Relationship
Nick was almost immediately detained for questioning in connection with his girlfriend’s death, not only because he had been missing for a few hours, but also because he was not wearing any socks. However, as per police records, he wasn’t interrogated until the next morning. They noted he was intoxicated, and they wanted him to sleep off the apparent effects, which they stated he did in the interrogation room itself. He then claimed he and Sylvie had a nice evening at her apartment, but a fire started from lit candles and filled her bedroom with so much smoke that they had no choice but to come to the hotel.
Nick also alleged his girlfriend had already taken her prescription medications, so she had trouble staying up/walking even when they were checking in, but he claimed she still wanted to take a bath. He even told officials that things between them were good, which is why he left her alone in their room while he went to the hotel’s club and then to a nearby bar with a fellow patron for some drinks. A search of Sylvie’s apartment, another review of surveillance footage, and questioning of the man he was with corroborated some aspects of his account, but there was also evidence against him. According to the show, the primary thing that made investigators suspicious of him was that he hadn’t seemed at all bothered upon learning of the 33-year-old’s death.
After all, while Nick claimed he and Sylvie were good, officials learned things had almost always been rough between them, with her especially being bothered by his alleged Playboy lifestyle, drinking, and drug use. In fact, they reportedly met that evening to discuss their liaison, hours after the fashion designer had sent him an e-mail with the subject “F**k you,” which prosecutors argued was driven by her suspicions that he was using her credit cards to hire sex workers. According to court records, a highly incriminating piece of evidence was Nick’s DNA discovered on the bathtub, reportedly contradicting his earlier claims that he hadn’t even gone near it. The fact that he left the room for the final time at 2:18 am, when calls about the water leak began at 2:11 am, also came to light. He’d claimed he left his girlfriend sleeping in bed, but that wasn’t the case.
Nicholas “Nick” Brooks is Currently Serving His Sentence in State Prison
With statements from Sylvie’s loved ones asserting she was not suicidal and her autopsy confirming her manner of death a homicide, Nick was arrested for her murder on December 9, 2010. He pleaded not guilty to the charge against him, so he stood trial for the same in 2013, with prosecutors arguing their tumultuous bond ended in murder after she threatened to report him for fraudulently using her credit cards. On the other hand, he tried to maintain his innocence, but to no avail — he was convicted of second-degree murder in July 2013 and later sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. He has since lost all his appeals, so today, at the age of 40, he remains incarcerated at the maximum-security Green Haven Correctional Facility in Stormville, New York. Nick is expected to remain there until he becomes eligible for parole in December 2035.
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