A man is now in custody following the execution-style killing of a Guyanese-born New York City clothing entrepreneur Sven Hinds back in May.
The body of Hinds was discovered on May 4, in a remote wooded area along Courses Landing Road, in Carneys Point, New Jersey, according to a report in the New Jersey newspaper, Today’s Sunbeam.
According to the newspaper report, twenty-three year-old Leonard Taylor of Anderson Court in Bear, Delaware has been charged with the murder of Hinds. Taylor is suspected to be a Bloods gang member. According to the report, Taylor is currently being held at the Harford County Detention Center in Bel Air, Md., on a probation violation. He is awaiting extradition on charges of first-degree murder and weapons offenses, said Carneys Point Police Lt. Robert DiGregorio.
Hinds had been shot twice in the back of the head and once in the temple, police said. When he was found, he was clad only in his T-shirt and underwear, while his head and feet were wrapped in black trash bags. Authorities had taken approximately four weeks to identify Hinds as the victim. A motive at this point is still unknown. According to police, their investigation traced Taylor and Hinds to the Super 8 Motel at 268 East Main Street in Newark, Del., on the weekend of May 3.
Police said that Hinds had made statements to acquaintances in the weeks leading up to his death relaying that he feared for his life. It is unclear at this point if he had any involvement with the Bloods organization.
Taylor had apparently rented a room there. Crime scene processing performed by Newark police confirmed evidence of human blood inside the room where they stayed. Further DNA analysis is pending, police said.
Hinds migrated to the USA with his family in 1987, according to the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy (CGID). Since then he started three clothing lines in the New York City area: Brooklyn Fly, Money Making Men and AGEIZM.
CGID President Rickford Burke had previously announced that communities both in the U.S. and abroad were keeping a close eye on the investigation. In a statement issued last month by the CGID on the family’s behalf, it explained that loved ones were concerned that Hinds had not been in communication with his family for a number of weeks, but did not raise an alarm as he resided on his own in Queens, N.Y., and frequently travelled to promote his clothing line.
