By Rick Pezzullo—
After a four-week trial, a New York City man was found guilty by a jury Nov. 16 of the 2018 murder of Tarrytown resident Jessica Wiltse.
Cynell Brown, 32, faces a sentence ranging from 15 years to life in state prison when he is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 12, 2023 after he was found guilty of Murder in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Fourth Degree, and two counts of Tampering with Physical Evidence, all felonies.
According to Westchester County District Attorney Mimi Rocah, on Feb. 27, 2018, at approximately 7:10 a.m., Brown used a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol to shoot Wiltse, 34, twice in the chest and arm in her home on White Plains Rd. in Tarrytown. Wiltse was later pronounced dead at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla.
During the trial, it was revealed that police recovered the gun Brown used to murder Wiltse in a garbage can at a bus stop near the victim’s home, as well as a suitcase near the garbage can that contained papers with Brown’s name and phone number. Police also recovered a bag of cocaine that Brown discarded from the window of a cab as he fled the scene.
In addition, police obtained surveillance video showing Brown purchasing several grocery items the night before the murder that were later recovered from Wiltse’s home.
Brown was arrested by the Port Authority Police Department, with the assistance of the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan on the evening of Feb. 27, 2018.
A multi-agency pursuit and investigation was led by the Tarrytown Police Department, with the assistance of police officers from neighboring Greenburgh, Irvington, Dobbs Ferry, and Sleepy Hollow, along with Westchester County and State Police.
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