A Tribeca jewelry store worker has been arrested for using two zip ties to choke his boss to death before fleeing the country eight years ago, officials said Monday.
Michael Patrick Desalles was charged with murder for the slaying of Omid Gholian and on Friday extradited back to New York to face charges.
Gholian was found dead in the bathroom of World of Gold N Diamond, the cash-for-gold store he owned on Church St. and Duane St. in Tribeca, on Feb. 15, 2017, two days after his family last heard from him.
“I hope the victim’s loved ones can take some measure of comfort that this defendant will finally face accountability,” said Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. “I thank our prosecutors for never wavering from the investigation and doggedly seeking the return of this defendant.”
According to Bragg, Desalles allegedly attacked his 51-year-old boss and tied two zip ties tightly around his neck the day before his body was discovered.
Three hours later, according to court documents Desalles bought a plane ticket to Mauritius, his native country, and flew out of JFK Airport that evening.
A day later, police and members of the victim’s worried family went to the store, which was locked.
Police used a key provided by the family to enter the store, where they found the victim in the back dead with the zip ties around his neck.
He also suffered bruising to his eye and a gash on his head. Blood was found on the bathroom floor next to Gholian’s body, officials said. His hands and feet were not bound, authorities said.
Cops found no evidence that the store was ransacked and could not tell whether any of the pricey jewelry usually bought and sold there had been taken, police sources said at the time.
Desalles was extradited back to the United States Friday and charged with murder.
