New York, NY- A Tribeca jewelry store worker who pleaded guilty to strangling his boss to death with two zip ties before fleeing the country was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, officials said.
The brother of victim Omid Gholian, 51, said he hopes the killer, Michel Patrick Desalles, spends the rest of his life without ever enjoying another moment of freedom.
“It brings some comfort to the family, but it doesn’t bring my brother back,” Jacob Gholian told the Daily News. “And I wish they would have given him a lifetime instead of giving him 20 or 25 years that they gave him.”
Though they obtained justice, Jacob said his family still doesn’t know what compelled Desalles, 56, to attack his brother, who was found dead in the bathroom of World of Gold N Diamond, the cash-for-gold store he owned at Church and Duane Sts. in Tribeca, on Feb. 15, 2017.
“Nothing new was found,” the victim’s brother said. “We didn’t even find out what was the motive.”
Desalles, 54, cinched two zip ties tightly around the neck of his boss, whose body was discovered the next day.
Three hours after the deadly assault, Desalles bought a plane ticket to Mauritius, his native country, flying out of JFK Airport that evening, according to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“The defendant went to great lengths to avoid accountability for this brutal murder,” Bragg said. “His actions have caused Mr. Gholian’s family and loved ones lasting emotional damage, and I join with them in mourning their loss.”
The victim’s brother said Desalles had been working at the store for close to a decade, first for their cousin and then for Omid Gholian after the victim took over the store.
“(Omid) considered him as part of the family,” Jacob said shortly after Desalles’ arrest in May 2025. “When they told me that night that he’s a suspect, I said, ‘It is impossible.’”
After not hearing from Gholian, his worried family contacted police, who met them at the victim’s store, his brother said.
“We were looking around because we hadn’t heard from him,” Jacob said.
“We decided maybe we should check the store, so we called the precinct to find out what was going on. I had extra keys at home. They (police) were waiting for me. Once we opened the store, they asked us to stay out. They went inside, and they found his body in the store.”
In addition to the zip ties still wrapped around his neck, Gholian was found with a bruised eye and a gash on his head, cops said. The bathroom where he was found was smeared with blood, according to officials.
Three months after the shocking slaying, Desalles told someone in a phone conversation secretly recorded by investigators that he left the U.S. to take care of his mother, who was in a coma, according to court documents.
In the phone call, Desalles claimed his boss was alive when he left the store that day and insinuated the store owner had likely been killed by someone he knew, maybe another worker. Desalles said a lawyer had advised him to return to the U.S. to clear his name.
Gholian’s father died of natural causes a year after his murder, and Jacob believes their dad died of grief.
The family gave up the jewelry store.
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