FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, November 17, 2017
Canarsie Woman and Her Nephew Arraigned on Indictment for Murder of
91-Year-Old Bedford-Stuyvesant Man during Home Invasion Robbery
Face Up to 25 Years to Life in Prison if Convicted; Third Suspect Still at Large
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Canarsie woman has been arraigned on an indictment in which she is charged with the murder of Waldiman Thompson, 91, during a home invasion robbery in Bedford-Stuyvesant last month. The defendant’s nephew is also charged with the murder and was arraigned on the indictment earlier this week.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant betrayed the trust of an elderly couple who allowed her access to their home. Instead of helping them with errands and housekeeping, as she was hired to do, we allege that she callously set them up to be robbed by her nephew and his accomplice. We intend to seek justice for Waldiman Thompson and his wife, Etheline.”
The Acting District Attorney identified the defendant as Suzette Troutman, 45, of East 92nd Street in Canarsie, Brooklyn. She was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Neil Firetog on an indictment in which she is charged with one count of second-degree murder, one count of first-degree attempted assault, one count of second-degree assault, one count of first-degree burglary, one count of second-degree burglary and one count of endangering the welfare of a child. She was ordered held without bail and to return to court on February 2, 2018. She faces up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on October 11, 2017, at approximately 3:30 p.m., at 160 Decatur Street, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Etheline Waldman, 100, and her husband, Waldiman, 91, were inside their home when Etheline was restrained by an intruder who tied her arms and legs and covered her head. Defendant Dwayne Blackwood and another man who had allegedly broken into the house told her to shut up or they would kill her.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, after the men left the house she was able to free herself. Her husband was on the floor restrained with a cord and with a sheet over his head. He was later pronounced dead.
It is alleged that Troutman, who shopped and kept house for the couple, came up with the plot to rob them and enlisted her nephew, Dwayne Blackwood, 27, and another man, and that she waited outside in a vehicle, with a 3-year-old child, and drove her accomplices away from the scene after the robbery. Blackwood was arraigned on the same indictment on Tuesday, November 13, 2017, and ordered held without bail. The third suspect has not been apprehended yet.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Bernarda Villalona, of the District Attorney’s Homicide Bureau, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Timothy Gough, Bureau Chief.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.