Woman Becomes Second Person Charged In Brooklyn Home Invasion That Left Man, 91, Dead
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A second person was arrested and charged Monday in connection with a home invasion in Brooklyn last week that left a 91-year-old man dead.
As CBS2's Jessica Layton reported, Suzette Troutman, 45, of Brooklyn, was charged with second-degree murder and assault, and two counts of burglary, in the home invasion on Wednesday, Oct. 11, police said.
Sources told CBS2 that Troutman was a home health care attendant for the Thompsons at one point.
Police sources told CBS2 that Troutman was not inside the home during the incident, but was outside in the car waiting as the getaway driver. Sources said it appeared that Troutman orchestrated the whole robbery.
"Some media have dubbed her the mastermind in this," the NYPD Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Public Information said. "While that's not a name we gave her, it's not incorrect either."
Troutman had to take baby steps Monday evening, making for a long, slow walk from the 81st Precinct to the police car that would haul her off to court.
On Friday, another suspect -- Dwayne Blackwood, 27 -- was arrested and charged with murder, felony assault, and burglary in the incident.
Waldiman Thompson went into cardiac arrest and died after he and his wife were tied up and robbed inside their home on Decatur Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
Police said several men entered their apartment in the afternoon on Oct. 11, tied them up, and stole a lock box containing thousands of dollars in cash.
His 100-year-old wife, Ethlin, managed to untie herself and call 911.
Last week, the NYPD released surveillance video of one of them carrying what appears to be a black lock box in his right hand. Blackwood was not the one seen in the video, police said.
The third suspect, seen in the video, remained at large Monday. The lock box and cash that were taken also had not been recovered Monday night.
Thompson's widow says despite whats happened to her she forgives the men responsible for her husband's death.