In the pre-dawn hours of September 17, 2019, the quiet of a Lansingburgh street in Troy, New York, was broken by the sound of a single gunshot. A neighbor on their way to work discovered a grim scene: the body of a young woman sprawled between two parked cars on Fourth Avenue. The victim was later identified as 18-year-old Beyonce Wint of New York City, who had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
Police determined she had no apparent ties to the Troy area, deepening the mystery of her presence there. Investigators learned she had been living in group homes in Queens and Manhattan and had spent her final days in Albany, Troy, and Burlington, Vermont.
The investigation that followed was complex, as authorities worked to understand how Wint ended up so far from home and who was responsible for her death. Detectives believed the killing was not random and was likely the result of an internal dispute among a faction of the Bloods gang based in New York City. The investigation, involving multiple law enforcement agencies including the Troy Police, State Police, and the NYPD, eventually led them to three suspects, none of whom had any significant connection to Troy.
In December 2019, police made their first arrests. Idelisse N. Armstead, 24, of Brooklyn, also known as 'Vicious' or 'Princess,' and Antwaun Twitty, 30, of Burlington, Vermont, were both charged with second-degree murder. Armstead was arrested in Brooklyn, while Twitty was apprehended at Logan International Airport in Boston upon his return from California where he had worked as a movie extra. The third suspect, 21-year-old Isaiah Williams of Brooklyn, was arrested in January 2020 after he was caught stealing at a Macy's in his home borough. All three were indicted on charges of second-degree murder.
The legal proceedings brought a resolution to the case. In exchange for their cooperation and testimony against Williams, both Antwaun Twitty and Idelisse Armstead accepted plea deals. Twitty pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Armstead pleaded guilty to the same charge and received a five-year prison sentence. In July 2023, a Rensselaer County Court jury found Isaiah Williams guilty of second-degree murder for his role in the death of Beyonce Wint. He subsequently faced a sentence of 25 years to life in prison.
