New York, NY– A fugitive suspected of choking his boss to death with zip ties inside a Tribeca jewelry store more than eight years ago has been extradited back to the Big Apple and charged with the heinous cold case murder, prosecutors said.
Michel Patrick Desalles, now 54 – accused of murdering Omid Gholian, 43, inside World of Gold N Diamond at Church and Duane streets on Feb. 14, 2017 — quickly booked a flight to his native Mauritius to escape the long arm of the law, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office said Monday.
Desalles hid out in the Indian Ocean island country until Friday, when officials from multiple agencies caught up to him and brought him back to New York to face justice, prosecutors said.
Desalles was charged with second-degree murder and ordered held without bail, the DA’s office said.
The now-captured attacker is accused of savagely beating his boss and tying two zip ties tightly around his neck, prosecutors said.
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The deadly assault happened in the morning, and by the evening, Desalles was already on a flight from JFK International Airport to Mauritius, according to prosecutors.
Meanwhile, Gholian’s family hadn’t heard from him for a few days, and his brother had even filed a missing-person report with the 1st Precinct, police said at the time.
When Gholian’s brother went to the store the next day to look for him, the gate was locked.
Cops then helped him track down a family member who had keys to the shop and were able gain entry.
Inside, they found the lifeless victim lying in a pool of blood in the back, with zip ties around his neck, according to cops and prosecutors.
Gholian, of Marine Park, Brooklyn, had suffered bruising on his eye and a gash on his head, the DA’s office said.
He was pronounced dead at the scene by responding EMTs.
The city medical examiner’s office confirmed that Gholian’s death was a homicide , caused by “compression of the neck.”
At the time, Fred Laleh, who owns a neighboring shop called Korner Jewelry, told The Post he knew something was wrong when he saw Gholian’s store locked up on Valentines Day.
“I thought it was strange because that is the busiest day of the year for us,” Laleh said.
Laleh said he later spoke to one of the deceased shop owner’s employees who said Gholian dispatched him to take care of business uptown in the Diamond District.
While the employee was on his way, Gholian allegedly called to tell him not to come back to the store.
“We don’t know why he told him not to go back,” Laleh said. “I am still in shock. This is unbelievable.”
The US Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs, the US Embassy in the island nation’s capital of Port Louis, the US Marshals Service and the Office of the Attorney General of Mauritius and the Mauritian Police Force all teamed up to arrest and extradite Desalles, prosecutors said.
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