Hotel Empire sits among other towers on the Upper West Side. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)
A Manhattan jury found a woman guilty of the 2018 grisly killing of her 70-year-old neighbor on the Upper West Side, prosecutors said Monday.
Anya Johnston was found guilty on one count of murder in the second degree in the Oct. 21 death of Susan Trott, whose neck was found cut after police followed a trail of blood from her living room to her bedroom. The two lived in the same apartment building, Johnston a floor above her victim.
Cops found Trott after her business partner called 911, saying she hadn't been seen in days. She was pronounced dead at the scene, police said at the time.
Neighbors said Trott lived in the building for more than a decade. They described her as an animal lover who was well known in the neighborhood.
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Another neighbor, Helen Stein, described Trott as generous, a bit eccentric and a woman with strong opinions.
Johnston was 24 at the time of her arrest, more than one week after Trott was found dead.
During opening remarks at last month's trial, Johnston's defense attorney said the 29-year-old "was not in her right state of mind" at the time of the murder. The West Side Rag reports he said Johnston had stopped taking medications a month earlier.
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“Today, a jury found Anya Johnston guilty of the gruesome, fatal stabbing of her elderly neighbor Susan Trott, a vibrant and talented woman who was beloved by her family and friends,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
"Ms. Johnston’s heinous and calculated actions reflected a blatant disregard for Ms. Trott’s life, as she left her body to decompose for nearly four days after the stabbing."
