Hotel Manager Testifies At Murder Trial Of Slain Fashion Designer

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Testimony continued Friday in the murder trial for the death of fashion designer Sylvie Cachay.

The jury heard from a manager at the Soho House hotel.

Cachay's boyfriend Nicholas Brooks, 26, has been charged with her murder. Her partially clothed body was found submerged in a bathtub at the posh hotel in Dec. 2010.

Bryant Toth, the manager at Soho House testified that when Cachay and Brooks checked in after midnight, just hours before Cachay's death, he was told they'd had problems that night - a fire in their apartment - and that they should be given the highest level of hospitality.

So, at 1 a.m., when Brooks ordered full dinners for two to be served in the restaurant, Toth said the table was all set up, WCBS 880's Irene Cornell reported.

The prosecutor asked Toth how many people he was expecting.

Toth said two.

He was then asked how many people showed up and his answer was one - the defendant.

Toth described him as looking distraught and angry, as if he'd had a bad day. He said he only picked at his steak dinner.

Toth said he next saw Brooks walking into the hotel lobby after Cachay's body had been found in the overflowing bathtub. Toth said Brooks was carrying a six-pack of bear.

By then detectives were all over the hotel and wanted to speak with Brooks. It wasn't long before they charged him in Cachay's death.

Brooks' attorney has previously acknowledged that his client and Cachay had a rocky relationship, but noted that Brooks' DNA was never found near the bathtub faucets.

The trial is expected to go through early July.

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