Man convicted of brutally stabbing woman to death in DC hotel sentenced to 40 years
Man convicted of brutally stabbing woman in DC hotel sentenced to 40 years
Family and friends of a northern Virginia woman embraced outside D.C. Superior Court on Friday after her killer was sentenced to 40 years in prison. More than 50 friends and family attended the sentencing hearing, all wearing golden butterfly hairclips to the courthouse — a symbol to remember the life of Christy Bautista.
WASHINGTON - Family and friends of a northern Virginia woman embraced outside D.C. Superior Court on Friday after her killer was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
That was the maximum punishment for what the judge called "vicious, senseless violence."
More than 50 friends and family attended the sentencing hearing, all wearing golden butterfly hairclips to the courthouse — a symbol to remember the life of Christy Bautista.
The backstory:
The sentencing hearing for 44-year-old George L. Sydnor, Jr., was held on Jan.16.
Sydnor was convicted in the murder of 31-year-old Arlington native Christy Bautista.
Bautista was savagely stabbed to death in her room at the Ivy City Hotel on New York Avenue, D.C. on March 31, 2023. She was in D.C. for a concert.
"We're happy that we have justice for Christie and protection for the DC community for everyone," said Emily Bautista, Christy’s sister.
Christy Bautista was a Yorktown High School and James Madison University graduate.
"She loved the simple things in life. Most of my time with her we spent hiking, playing board games, listening to music," Emily Bautista went on to say.
Christy’s other sister, Ashley, also spoke after the hearing.
"Having lost Christie and never being able to be able to talk to her again, to love her, to hug her, I miss her so much," she said. "This has made our family become a shell of what it was."
Dig deeper:
Sydnor, a lifelong drug addict who was homeless, already had a lengthy criminal history by the time he committed the murder.
"Christy was the victim of a person who had just pleaded guilty months before to attacking another woman randomly. He was supposed to come back to court and he didn't," Christy’s Aunt Sheila Toothill said. "When he didn't, he was free to murder Christy."
Cameras are not allowed in this courthouse and we don't have a mug shot or photo of the Sydnor. In the courtroom, he was sitting in a wheelchair after having had a stroke, wearing an orange jumpsuit and handcuffs.
He looked down for the entirety of the hearing until just before he was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
"I never intended for this to happen, and I'm terribly sorry," Sydnor said, looking at the judge.
"He addressed the judge, not the family. Not the victims," Ashley Bautista said.
In loving memory:
Outside the courthouse, Christy's friends and family posed with a flag that says "Full Send."
"She really loved her life for herself, everyone around her, to just really embrace that. You only have one life and you have to ‘full send’ it because you don't want any regrets," Ashley said.