Indictment Charges District Man in the Murder of 31-Year-Old Tourist Inside Her Ivy City Hotel Room

            WASHINGTON – George L. Sydnor, Jr., 44 of Washington, D.C., was indicted earlier today by a D.C. Superior Court Grand Jury on several felony charges stemming from the stabbing murder of 31-year-old Christy Bautista on March 31, 2023, inside her room in the Ivy City Hotel, in Northeast D.C., announced U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves.

            A five-count indictment charges Sydnor with premeditated first degree murder while armed; burglary while armed; first degree felony murder while armed burglary); kidnapping while armed; first degree felony murder while armed (kidnapping). The indictment also charges an aggravating circumstance enhancement as to all five counts, finding that the offenses committed were “especially heinous, atrocious or cruel.”  Sydnor is also charged with committing these crimes while he was on release in another criminal case.

             An arraignment on the indictment is scheduled for January 4, 2024, at 9:30 am, in Courtroom 301 before the Honorable Judge Robert Okun.

            This case was investigated by the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Sarah Santiago.  

            An indictment is merely a formal charge that a defendant has committed a violation of criminal laws and every defendant is presumed innocent until, and unless, proven guilty.