A federal judge in the District sentenced a man to 40 years in prison on Friday for the murder of a Virginia woman at the Ivy City Hotel in Northeast three years ago.
On March 31, 2023, victim Christy Bautista, 31, traveled from Harrisonburg, Virginia, about 100 miles southwest of Washington, to stay at the hotel ahead of attending a concert.
George Sydnor, now 46, arrived at the hotel about 90 minutes after Bautista on a rideshare bike.
He parked in front of her room, paused to listen, then barged in at 5:22 p.m. and stabbed Bautista to death, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said.
Hotel surveillance picked up thudding sounds after Sydnor made his way into the room, and a witness reported hearing a woman screaming, the U.S. attorney’s office said. In all, Sydnor stabbed Bautista at least 30 times.
Sydnor, who was out on release for a previous armed robbery charge, was arrested the same day of the stabbing and has been in custody since.
He pleaded guilty last year to one count of premeditated first-degree murder while armed, the U.S. attorney’s office said, but never offered any reason for his attack.
Emily Bautista, one of the victim’s sisters, said that “the randomness of it all is, I don’t know, it’s hard to digest, because things could have been prevented. … She had all the right precautions, and she still was killed randomly,” according to Washington’s WTOP-FM.
Following his 40-year sentence, Sydnor will be subject to five years of supervised release.
“The victim, Christy Bautista, was visiting D.C. to attend a concert — an experience that should have been safe and routine. Instead, this monster brazenly rode his bike up to her motel, entered her room and launched a deadly stabbing attack against an innocent woman. Today’s 40-year prison sentence delivers justice,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said Friday.
