The Soho House Murder: How Sylvie Cachay's Breakup Turned Deadly

0:00 December 9, 2010, a Soho House in Manhattan's meatpacking district. A 33-year-old fashion designer is found dead in an overflowing bathtub, fully clothed in a black turtleneck sweater. The scene looks like an accidental drowning, but there's a seven-minute window that tells a completely different story. This is the murder of Sylvie Keshay.

0:48 Sylvie Keshay collected bikinis when she was a kid. She saw them as these tiny engineering problems waiting to be solved. How do you make something that stays in place in the ocean while also making someone feel beautiful? That's a very particular way of looking at the world. She was born in Arlington, Virginia, January 7, 1977, to Antonio Keshay, a prominent surgeon and Sylvia, a painter. That combination of scientific precision and artistic expression showed up in everything she later created. She grew up between McLean, Virginia, and Lima, Peru. She had dual citizenship, spoke four languages fluently, and moved through international circles with this ease that made people gravitate toward her.

1:35 After studying fashion design at Maramount College, she worked her way up through the industry. Mark Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, and eventually Victoria's Secret, where she became the head swim suit designer. She learned how to marry commercial appeal with high anesthetics, which is legitimately I'm told difficult to pull off. In 2006, she launched Silla, her own swimwear line. The reaction was immediate. Within the first year, Barney's was carrying her designs. Vogue, Elle, and In-style featured her work. Sports Illustrated put her bikinis in their swimsuit video. Her publicist said that the industry's response was a genuine "wow" moment, which in fashion circles means you've created something special.

2:20 The designs had this sophisticated quality to them. Cream and black leaf patterns intricate construction that turned swimwear into something closer to evening wear. Then 2008 arrived. The global financial crisis wiped out independent labels across the board. Silla closed that year. Her most designers that would have been the end. Sylvie treated it like it was a temporary setback. By 2010, she was consulting for Anne Cole, networking at Soho House in Manhattan and actively planning her comeback. Her friends described her as someone who couldn't walk past something wounded without trying to fix it. She rescued sick pigeons and nursed them in her apartment.

3:02 She had two toy poodles, pepper and lollie. That generous instinct made her a wonderful friend. It also made her susceptible to someone who knew how to exploit kindness. Nicholas Brooks was 24 in 2010. College dropped out from the University of Colorado. No career, no real ambition, no discernible skills beyond spending his trust fund. He'd worked briefly at a cupcake shop before quitting. Sylvie would later call him a "stoneer" and her emails referring to their relationship as dating "the kid." Those aren't affectionate nicknames. Those are signals that respect has left the building. Nicholas lived entirely off money from his father, Joseph Brooks, who'd won an Academy Award in 1977 for writing "You Light Up My Life."

3:50 By 2010, Joseph was awaiting trial for raping and sexually assaulting 11 women. He'd lured aspiring actresses to his apartment for fake auditions that became sexual assaults. Nicholas actually sued his father over the trust fund administration. His sister Amanda later said that their father had abused her. This family was rotting from the roots up. Forens testified that Sylvie supported Nicholas financially and emotionally during their six months together. She paid for their lifestyle. He showed up and consumed resources. That was the dynamic. They met on the summer of 2010. On their first date, they were walking Sylvie's two poodles when some drunks startled pepper.

4:33 The little dog bolted into traffic on Hudson Street and got hit by a car. Nicholas comforted Sylvie as Pepper was euthanized that night. Shared trauma like that creates accelerated bonding. You skipped the normal process of getting to know someone because you've been through something intense together. Sylvie was grieving. Nicholas was present. She confused his proximity with actual care. By December 2010, the relationship was collapsing. Last week, Nicholas showed Sylvie a website he'd used to hire sex workers. He showed her casually like it was something to share. She also discovered unauthorized withdrawals from her bank account.

5:14 She knew he'd taken the money. Sylvie sent what prosecutors later called the "FU email." She wrote, "For the past six months, I have supported you financially and emotionally. The fact you cheated on me makes me sick and you will pay. I'm speaking with the credit card company and the police." She also made a list of conditions. Stop smoking pot, help clean the apartment, get a job, and she finished with, "If you can't do all these things, then this likely won't work." That wasn't negotiation. That was a breakup with a small escape clause. Sylvie was reclaiming her life and cutting off access to her bank account. The evening of December 8, 2010, they were at Sylvie's West Village apartment.

5:57 According to Nicholas's later police statement, they watched a movie, lit candles and had sex. He claimed he went to shower and returned to find the bed on fire. He said he'd carelessly left candles behind the headboard. He also claimed Sylvie stayed asleep in the burning bed because she'd taken Xanax earlier. Your bed catches on fire and you don't wake up. The smoke alarm goes off and you're still unconscious. Prosecutors would later argue the hotel scene was staged. The question becomes, was this fire actually an accident or was it a deliberate move to get her out of the apartment and into a location where he had more control? The fire also provided a ready-made excuse for why she'd been exhausted and disoriented later.

6:42 They checked into the Soho House around 12.30am on December 9. The hotel sits in the meat-packing district on 9th Avenue. Sylvie told the clerk her stoner boyfriend had set the apartment on fire. She mentioned taking Xanax and that she couldn't stay awake. She was stumbling, visibly impaired, needing assistance to walk. Hotel employee Kristen Stevens helped Sylvie to room 20. During that walk, Sylvie was alert enough to complain about Nicholas. She called him a child and said she'd planned to break up with him. Stevens left her on the bed, intending to sleep. At 12.45am, a bus boy delivered ice to the room.

7:22 He observed Nicholas and Sylvie entering together. Nobody else went in. Timeline locked into place at that moment. Between 12.45am and 2am, guests in adjacent rooms heard arguing. One neighbor specifically heard a voice yell, "You really hurt me." That destroys any narrative about Sylvie going peacefully to sleep. A confrontation was escalating inside that room. At 2.11am, guests directly below room 20 called the front desk. Water was leaking through their ceiling. At 2.18am, security cameras recorded Nicholas Brooks leaving room 20 for the last time. He was inside that room for at least 7 minutes while water actively flooded the bathroom and leaked downstairs.

8:08 There's no believable scenario where he's unaware unless he's unconscious. He walked out 7 minutes later under his own power. He knew what was happening. He left anyway. At 2.51am, after a second leak complaint, the hotel staff entered the room. The bathtub faucet was running full blast. Sylvie Kasey was submerged under the water face up. She was wearing a black turtleneck sweater, pink underwear, and her Rolex watch. Nobody bathed in clothes. No less a turtleneck sweater. That single detail breaks the entire staged scene apart. He was attacked while fully dressed, strangled, and then placed in the tub.

8:50 The running water was meant to suggest accidental drowning, but he failed to undress her. Probably from panic or because moving a body is harder than anticipated. An empty prescription pill bottle sat on the dresser, likely positioned to support a suicide or overdose narrative. The autopsy revealed brutal violence, cause of death, strangulation, and forcible drowning. Susie's covered the front and back of her neck. The injuries matched manual strangulation. First blood vessels appeared in her eyes, a condition called "particular hemorrhaging" that happens during a fixation. Her lungs weighed twice their normal weight. She'd inhaled a massive amount of water.

9:30 She was alive when she went under, gasping for air while her lungs filled with water. A bite mark appeared on her hand. Cut was found inside her lip, suggesting a hand had been clamped over her mouth. Nicholas Brooks's DNA was on the bathtub faucet handle. Eed turned those controls himself. After leaving at 2.18 am, Nicholas met his friend David Raleigh in the lobby. They went out drinking. He was partying while his girlfriend's body lay in the room he'd just exited. He returned to Soho House at 5.30 am and found the lobby full of police. The hotel manager pointed him out to officers, and later described Nicholas' reaction to the news of Sylvie's death as "blank and emotionless."

10:14 Detective Tommy Jones noted Nicholas appeared to be intoxicated with bloodshot eyes. During interrogation at the precinct, Nicholas fell asleep in the interview room. When he woke, he wrote a statement claiming he never went near the tub. His DNA on the faucet proved otherwise. While Nicholas sat and Rikers Island to waiting trial, his father Joseph Brooks killed himself on May 22, 2011. The trial opened in June 2013. The Manhattan DA presented the motive and timeline. The F.U. email showed Sylvie was cutting Nicholas off financially. The staged scene showed his attempt to cover the murder, an attempt that failed because of one piece of clothing.

10:54 Defense Attorney Jeffrey Hoffman argued accidental drowning. He claimed Sylvie was heavily medicated with Xanax and Cerequil, passed out, and drowned accidentally. Lexpert's testified the drug levels weren't sufficient to cause immediate unconsciousness. The defense called a doctor who suggested neck injuries could have resulted from recestatation attempts or consensual erotic esfixiation. The judge shut that theory down. The court ruled there was no evidentiary basis for claiming the couple engaged in rough sex, so speculation was inadmissible. That ruling prevented the defense from blaming Sylvie for her own injuries. After cross-examination, the doctor admitted strangulation was, in fact, possible.

11:37 On July 11, 2013, the jury convicted Nicholas Brooks of second-degree murder. On September 23, 2013, Judge Bonnie Wittner sentenced him to 25 years to life. She called the sentence "richly deserved." [music] Thanks for listening to 10-minute murder, binge-able true crime stories. My name is Joe, I'm the host, and here's an email, "Subject Future Plans." Hey Joe, any chance you'd do a follow-up episode on an old case if new info came out? That comes from Martin in Durango, Colorado.

12:17 Martin? Absolutely. I do that from time to time. I'll revive older episodes that I've done on the podcast include more new information that I've learned over the time, so if you see me repeat an episode, that's probably why I did it because I learned new information about the case, maybe not new information. In general, just new to me information that I didn't relay in the original episode, so I'll do it again. But if there's a big update, like let's say I've done an episode on John Bene Ramsey, if they finally have some new information that's worth sharing, I'll do a whole new episode. So yeah, sure. Hey, if you're a brand new listener to 10-minute murder, welcome. It comfortable, go back and listen to the hundreds and hundreds of previous episodes we've covered here on the podcast, and more importantly, make sure you hit subscribe.

13:02 You can also go to 10minutemurder.com, sign up for the newsletter, check out the blog, and all kinds of other things, including contact me like Martin from Colorado did. If you're an OG listener, keep doing what you're doing, sharing this podcast with your friends and your family, and let me tell you, thank you for being a friend. Travel down the road and back again. Yeah, your heart is true. You are a pal and a confidant. And now you're going to be singing that for the rest of the day. You're welcome. And that's going to do it. That's your episode for today. Thank you again for listening to 10-minute murder.