Three Individuals Indicted for Asphyxiation Death of Brooklyn Man in his Crown Heights Apartment

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, March 10, 2021

 

Three Individuals Indicted for Asphyxiation Death of
Brooklyn Man in his Crown Heights Apartment

Victim Was Allegedly Killed During a Robbery by Female Acquaintance and Two Others

Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a woman and two men have been arraigned on an indictment in which they are charged with murder, robbery and burglary for the asphyxiation death of Malcolm Holder.

District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Malcolm Holder was killed in his own home allegedly by a woman he trusted and her accomplices. This was an incredibly callous murder of an innocent man whose family and friends are devastated by his death. We will now seek to bring these defendants to justice.”

The District Attorney identified the defendants as Amanda Sylvester, 35, Sean Idlet, 49, and Barber Byron, 61, all of Brooklyn. They were arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Vincent Del Giudice on an indictment in which they are charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and first- and second-degree burglary. The defendants were ordered held without bail and to return to court on June 23, 2021. They face up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the top count.

The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on January 22, 2021, at approximately 4 a.m., the defendants allegedly attacked Malcom Holder, 46, in his Crown Heights apartment during a robbery. It is alleged that Sylvester was an acquaintance of the victim and that she and her boyfriend, Idlet, and another man, Byron, went to the apartment to rob the victim. After Mr. Holder let Sylvester into the apartment, it is alleged, the other two defendants forced their way in. They allegedly stole a cash box containing an unknown amount of money, a PlayStation console, a speaker and a cell phone.

The victim was found later that morning inside of his apartment by a home health aide. His hands and legs were tied with electrical cord and he was face down on the living room floor.
The Medical Examiner determined the cause of death to be asphyxiation.

The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorneys Lana Schlesinger and Daphney Gachette, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Timothy Gough, Homicide Bureau Chief.

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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.