FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, May 2, 2019
Brooklyn Woman Sentenced to 17 Years in Prison for
Strangulation Death of Elderly Neighbor in East Flatbush Home
Victim Also Suffered Blunt Force Trauma to Her Head and Injuries to her Upper Body
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a 45-year-old Brooklyn woman has been sentenced to 17 years in prison for the strangulation death of her elderly neighbor in 2017. She pleaded guilty to manslaughter last month.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant strangled to death a neighbor she once considered a close friend. My sincerest condolences to the family of this victim, a 78-year-old woman who suffered such a violent and sudden death at the hands of someone she trusted.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Tamisha Harper, 45, of East Flatbush, Brooklyn. She was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Jill Konviser to 17 years in prison. She pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter on April 18, 2019.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, at around 9:53 p.m. on February 27, 2017, Edna Pierre-Jacques, 78, was found in a pool of blood inside her home located on Troy Avenue, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn. The victim was discovered by her 16-year-old granddaughter, who then, along with her mother, alerted the victim’s husband, Frederick Pierre-Jacques, 76, who was in another room. He then performed CPR until Emergency Medical Services personnel arrived.
Another daughter of the deceased arrived at the scene and immediately went to the defendant’s home. The daughter knocked on the door but the defendant did not answer, according to the investigation. She was seen by the daughter running out the back door, getting into a car and driving away. Based on that suspicious behavior, the police were notified and searched for the defendant.
The defendant was located in New Jersey, and she later admitted to strangling the deceased.
The victim was pronounced dead at the scene. It was determined that the cause of death was manual strangulation. She also suffered blunt force trauma to her head and bruising on her upper body.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Olatokunbo Olaniyan, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Timothy Gough, Homicide Bureau Chief.
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