Westchester County District Attorney Miriam E. Rocah and Tarrytown Police Chief John Barbelet announced today that a New York City man was sentenced to 25 years to life for the 2018 murder of Tarrytown mother Jessica Wiltse.
DA Rocah said: “Today’s sentence is justice for the heinous and cold-blooded murder of Jessica Wiltse, a mother of two who was shot and killed in a place where she should have felt safest – her home. I commend the Tarrytown Police Department for their leadership and our law enforcement partners for their assistance in securing this conviction on behalf of the victim’s family.”
Chief Barbelet said: “Cynell Brown committed a vicious crime in our Village. Through the dedicated efforts of numerous investigators and law enforcement personnel, Mr. Brown was brought to justice and will now be held accountable for his actions. Our thoughts remain with the victim’s family members.”
On Nov.16, 2022, after a four-week trial, a jury found Cynell Brown, 32, 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.
On Feb. 27, 2018, at approximately 7:10 a.m., the defendant used a .45 caliber semiautomatic pistol to shoot the 34-year-old victim two times, striking her in the chest and arm, in her home on White Plains Road in Tarrytown. The victim was transported to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where she was pronounced dead.
During the investigation, police recovered the gun that the defendant used to murder the victim in a garbage can at a bus stop near the victim’s home and a suitcase near the garbage can that contained papers with the defendant’s name and phone number. Police also recovered a bag of cocaine that the defendant discarded from the window of a cab as he fled the scene. Police also obtained surveillance video showing the defendant purchasing a number of grocery items the night before the murder that were later recovered from the victim’s home.
The defendant was apprehended by the Port Authority Police Department at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan on the evening of Feb. 27, 2018, with the assistance of the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force. The multi-agency pursuit and investigation was conducted by the Tarrytown Police Department, with the assistance of the Greenburgh Police Department, the Westchester County Department of Public Safety, the Greenburgh Drug and Alcohol Task Force, the Ardsley Police Department, the Dobbs Ferry Police Department, the Irvington Police Department, the Sleepy Hollow Police Department, the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department, the New York State Police, the Westchester County Department of Laboratories and Research, and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.
The case was before Judge George Fufidio in Westchester County Court, and was prosecuted by Major Case Bureau Chief Nadine Nagler and Counsel to the Trials and Investigations Division John O’Rourke
