A former employee has been arrested over the murder of an 83-year-old New York socialite who was found bludgeoned to death inside her mansion two years ago.
Lois Colley, the wife of a millionaire McDonald’s franchisee Eugene Colley, was found dead inside her home on a 300-acre estate in North Salem, Westchester County back in November 2015.
Esdras Marroquin Gomez, also known as Victor, was arraigned in Westchester County Court on Monday on a second-degree murder charge.
The 32-year-old suspect had worked part-time as a day laborer on Colley’s horse farm around the time she was murdered.
Lois Colley, the wife of a millionaire McDonald’s franchisee Eugene Colley, was found bludgeoned to death inside their Westchester home in November 2015
Mystery has surrounded the mother-of-four’s death for the last two years, but sources now say Gomez was identified as a possible suspect just several days after the murder.
Police had previously questioned employees, former staff and her relatives after she was found dead in the laundry room by a caretaker.
But it took authorities a few days to identify him because he was not a full-time member of staff with long ties to the family, The Journal News reports.
Authorities believed Gomez had already fled the country by the time they realized he was a suspect.
They suspected Gomez was in his native Guatemala, but investigations uncovered he was in Mexico.
Authorities said Monday that a male former employee had been taken into custody in relation to Colley’s murder after she was found dead in the laundry room of her mansion two years ago
The 83-year-old died from a blunt trauma wound to her head, which police believe may have been caused by a fire extinguisher
Authorities had been planning to get him extradited back to the US when he was deported.
Gomez was tracked down in Miami, Florida last week and was taken into custody.
Colley died from a blunt trauma wound to the head, which police believe may have been caused by a fire extinguisher.
Authorities said at the time there was no signs of forced entry and no valuables were taken from the home.
The only thing missing was the fire extinguisher.
Authorities revealed on Monday that the extinguisher was found dumped in a nearby pond a week after Colley’s death and that it had been linked to the murder.
Colley’s family were present at the arraignment on Monday but made no comment as they left.