The head housekeeper at the Essex House on Central Park Sourh strangled and stabbed a business woman in her apartment after he tried to sexually attack her, according to authorities.
Derrick Praileau, a long-time building employee, admitted to investigators that he was drunk and "just lost it" when he used his manager key card to break into the apartment early Saturday morning, according to the New York Post.
Police said Praileau admitted to killing victim Andree Bejjani, 44, an investment advisor, in an apparent sex attack gone awry. Bejjani was found strangled with a jump rope around her neck and a with a serrated 10-inch kitchen knife plunged into her neck as she lay half-naked in her condo with her nightgown bunched above her waist, the paper reported.
Police said the attack seemed sexually motivated, but here was no evidence of sexual assault.
The attack came as the city's posh hotels filled with international dignitaries and celebrities in town for the UN General Assembly and MTV's Video Music Awards.
VMA winner Taylor Swift was spotted leaving the Jumeirah Essex House Sept. 17, two days before Praileau struck.
The city's medical examiner said the cause of death was strangulation.
Praileau, 29, was spotted on surveillance video a short time after the murder using an access key card to go back into to the 10th-floor condo that belonged to Bejjani's sister, according to the Post.
He allegedly tried to cover his tracks by grabbing his victim's bloody bed linens and leaving the apartment.
He was seen by surveillance cameras dragging linens off an elevator at the famed 45-story Art Deco building at about 8 a.m., according to the New York Times.
Praileau, a father of two from the Bronx, was arraigned Sunday night on charges of second-degree murder and was held without bail.
The Essex House employee had worked at the building since he was 17 and had gained a reputation for having a fiery temper, an employee told the Post.
