Composer's Son Charged in Sylvie Cachay's Death

Police say the son of an Oscar-winning composer has been arrested on charges of choking his girlfriend, who was found dead in a tub at an upscale Manhattan hotel.

Twenty-four-year-old Nicholas Brooks was arrested on charges of attempted murder and strangulation Friday. Sylvie Cachay was found dead around 3 a.m. Thursday in her room at the Soho House hotel.

The arrest comes after investigators obtained a search warrant to examine Brooks.

The warrant allows police to take fingernail samples and swabs from him.

Police say the death was a homicide. The medical examiner's office has not ruled on a cause of death pending toxicology test results, which could take days.

Police say Brooks has an attorney but didn't have the attorney's name. Brooks is the son of "You Light Up My Life" songwriter Joseph Brooks.

Police responded to a 911 call from The Soho House, a tony Manhattan hotel made trendy by the HBO series "Sex and the City."

There, in a bathtub overflowing with water, they found Cachy's partially-clothed body. She was a swimsuit designer whose work has been featured in Vogue, Glamour, and on runway shows around the country.

Red marks on her neck suggest she might have been strangled, police say. Several bottles of prescription pills that appeared to be full were also found in the room, authorities note.

People who knew Cachay said she had recently broken up with her boyfriend, 27-year-old Nicholas Brooks, but she had checked into the hotel with him just a few days earlier. Brooks, who was not there when her body was discovered, was questioned by police but later released. He's the son of composer Joseph Brooks, a 1978 Academy Award- winner for the ballad "You Light Up My Life."

The elder Brooks also gained notoriety after he was indicted in 2009 for 82 counts of sex-related crimes.

Cachay's death has stunned loved ones. In a statement, her publicist said, "It was her magnetic energy, sincere kindness and emotional generosity with friends and family that she will be best remembered for. She will be deeply and painfully missed."