Fil-Am woman brutally murdered in Washington, D.C.
Christy Bautista, 31, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, was stabbed multiple times. Police arrested a suspect at the crime scene. TWITTER
A Filipino American woman from Virginia was brutally murdered Friday, March 31, by a man who entered her Washington, D.C. hotel room and stabbed her multiple times, police said.
The horrific crime took place less than an hour after Christy Bautista, 31, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, checked in at the Ivy City Hotel on New York Avenue NE at about 5:55 p.m., and parked directly in front of the door to room 116, court documents said.
Police arrested a suspect, George Sydnor, 43, who was found covered with blood inside Bautista’s room. He was charged with first-degree murder. He pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
Security camera footage shows Sydnor arriving on a red bike at the hotel parking lot about 6:45 p.m., and listening at the door to room 116. He is seen entering the room, and sounds of a possible struggle can be heard in the footage, court documents say.
Bautista’s family said she had gone to the U.S. capital for a concert. The family told News4 they don’t believe she and the suspect knew each other.
A witness called 911 after seeing Bautista open the hotel room door, screaming for help. Footage captured Bautista screaming, before a man pulled her back in and slammed the door shut.
D.C. police officers who arrived about 10 minutes later found Bautista on the floor, and Sydnor splattered with blood. They found a bloody kitchen knife with a broken blade. EMS pronounced Bautista dead at the scene.
The D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office said Bautista had about 30 wounds, mostly to her back. Christy Bautista graduated from James Madison University in Harrisburg and was a student at Yorktown High School from 2007 to 2010.
Sydnor had been arrested several times before, according to court records. Although he was denied bail in December as a possible danger to the community, another judge released him two weeks later.
He was wanted on two arrest warrants for failing to appear in court on an attempted robbery charge in D.C. and a theft case in Prince George’s County. He is wanted in Maryland on other charges, News 4 reported.
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