Delaware Man Gets 25 To Life For Execution-Style Murder In Westchester

YONKERS, NY — A Delaware man has learned his fate after being found guilty in the cold-blooded, execution-style murder of a sleeping acquaintance.

Westchester County District Attorney Miriam Rocah announced on Friday that the New Castle, Delaware man was sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison for the 2021 murder of 22-year-old Jabree West, of Wilmington, Delaware.

"Due to the tireless efforts of our prosecutors and law enforcement partners, justice has been served for this ruthless and cold-blooded murder," Rocah said.

After a four-week trial in June, a jury found Eric Williams, 24, guilty of felony murder in the second degree and felony criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree.

On June 20, 2021, around 4:30 a.m., Williams, who had an ongoing personal conflict with the victim, used a 9mm semi-automatic pistol to shoot West once in the back of the head while he was sleeping on the stoop of a residential building on Bronx River Road in Yonkers. West was taken to New York-Presbyterian Westchester hospital in Bronxville where he died.

The Yonkers Police Department recovered surveillance video of Williams walking back and forth in front of the building next to where West was sleeping, "appearing to rack the slide of his gun." Williams then walked off camera and a gunshot was heard approximately one minute later, and he was observed quickly walking away from the crime scene. Additional footage showed Williams walking around Yonkers for several hours before getting picked up and driven back to Delaware.

Yonkers police also recovered West's cell phone, which contained videos and photographs of Williams and West together during their trip from Delaware to New York.

Through the use of digital forensics, authorities located and arrested Williams as he was leaving his father’s home in Staten Island on Dec. 19.

The murder weapon was never recovered.

Rocah thanked the Yonkers Police Department, the FBI’s Westchester Safe Streets Task Force, the NYPD, the DA’s Office High Technology Crimes Unit and the New Castle County Police Department in Delaware for their assistance with the investigation.

The case was before Judge Robert Neary in Westchester County Court, and prosecuted by Major Case Bureau Chief Nadine Nagler and Senior Assistant District Attorney Adrian Murphy, both of the Trials and Investigations Division.