Man Who Murdered Tarrytown Mom Gets Up To Life In Prison

TARRYTOWN, NY — The New York City man who was found guilty of murdering a Tarrytown woman will be going to prison — possibly for the rest of his life.

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah said Thursday that Cynell Brown, 32, was sentenced to 25 years to life for the 2018 murder of Tarrytown mother Jessice Wiltse.

“Today’s sentence is justice for the heinous and cold-blooded murder of Jessica Wiltse, 34, a mother of two who was shot and killed in a place where she should have felt safest — her home,” Rocah said.

After a four-week trial, on Nov. 16, a jury found Brown guilty of second-degree murder, second-degree criminal possession of a weapon, fourth-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and two counts of tampering with physical evidence, all felonies.

According to authorities, around 7:10 a.m. Feb. 27, 2018, Brown used a .45-caliber semi-automatic pistol to shoot Wiltse twice, striking her in the chest and arm, in her home on White Plains Road in Tarrytown.

She was taken to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, where she was pronounced dead.

During the investigation, police recovered the gun that Brown used to murder Wiltse in a garbage can at a bus stop hear her home and a suitcase near the garbage can that contained papers with Brown’s name and phone number.

Police also found a bag of cocaine that the defendant threw from the window of a cab as he fled the scene. Police also obtained surveillance video showing Brown buying a number of grocery items the night before the murder that were later recovered from Wiltse’s home.

Brown was apprehended by the Port Authority Police Department at Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan 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.