A man was on Monday found guilty of executing a Guyanese, whose body was dumped in Salem County, New Jersey, according to a report in the News Journal.
Leonard Taylor, 35, was found guilty of murder in the first degree in the death of Sven Hinds, 29, of Brooklyn, New York. He was also found guilty of possessing a prohibited weapon.
The verdict was reached after the trial in Delaware Superior Court.
According to the report, Hinds’ body was discovered on the morning of May 4, 2009, in a remote wooded area off of Courses Landing Road in Carneys Point. He was shot twice in the back of the head and once in the temple. His head and feet had been wrapped in black trash bags.
A probe that spanned several states led to the arrest of Taylor in July 2009.
Hinds had been killed by Taylor in a Super 8 Motel in Newark, Delaware and his body dumped in Carneys Point. It took detectives 25 days to identify Hinds and another 50 days to find out where he was murdered. Five additional days were spent looking for his murderer.
The report quoted Delaware Deputy Attorney General Diane Walsh as saying that the motives for Hinds’ murder were related to drugs and alleged threats by Hinds against Taylor’s family.
Hinds moved to America with his family in 1987, according to information published on the Caribbean Guyana Institute for Democracy website in 2009. He is credited with starting three clothing lines in the New York area: Brooklyn Fly, Money Making Men and AGEIZM.
According to the report, prosecutors said Taylor and Hinds were business partners in a drug operation that used a T-shirt business as a way to launder proceeds.
Walsh said Taylor had the clientele for the drug sales and access to heroin while Hinds had connections to get cocaine and was good at marketing clothes in the front operation.
