Tiliek Shamel Thompson #

Introduction #

Tiliek Shamel Thompson is a 41-year-old Washington Heights man charged with murder on September 12, 2026 in the death of 27-year-old Lovay Williams, a mother found beaten to death in her West 156th Street apartment six days earlier with her 7-year-old daughter inside. Thompson — whom police had identified as a person of interest and who family members said had been romantically involved with Williams for roughly two years — surrendered at the 33rd Precinct stationhouse on Saturday morning with his attorney, Neville Dexter, present, and was later perp-walked out of the precinct flanked by detectives, photos published by the NY Post show. Prosecutors charged him with a slate of offenses that the New York Daily News reported includes murder, assault, strangulation, criminal obstruction of breathing, child abandonment and acting in a manner injurious to a child. The charges are accusations, not convictions; Thompson has not been tried and is presumed innocent.

Background Information #

Little public information exists about Thompson beyond the case. According to the Daily News, police said before the arrest that they were looking for a man Williams had been casually dating for about two years, and her family said they believed that man — whom the family identified as Thompson — killed her. Williams was found dead shortly after 1:30 p.m. on September 6, 2026, when officers conducting a 911 wellness check at her apartment near Amsterdam Avenue found her unconscious and unresponsive with injuries to her face and neck; EMS pronounced her dead at the scene, and her 7-year-old daughter — who relatives said had slept beside her mother’s body without realizing she was dead — answered the door for responding officers. Police sources described the case from the start as domestic in nature. Thompson’s attorney, Neville Dexter, said his client surrendered at the 33rd Precinct after someone had been implicating him on social media.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation #

Adjudicated vs. alleged. Thompson has been charged with murder, assault, strangulation, criminal obstruction of breathing, child abandonment and acting in a manner injurious to a child, but the charges are accusations, not convictions: he has not been tried, and any conduct connected to them remains unproven until tested in court. He is presumed innocent.

The case began on the afternoon of September 6, when the wellness check discovered Williams dead; police deemed the death a homicide, and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner was working to determine the exact cause, according to coverage of the scene. Williams’ father, Nuquan Williams, told reporters that his granddaughter witnessed the killing and recounted to detectives, play by play, a man he identified as her mother’s boyfriend trying to clean her up, place her in a bathtub, tidy the apartment, put her back in bed and cover her — an account the family gave reporters describing what the girl told investigators, not a police or court finding. At a vigil days later, the father called the suspect “the devil,” and Williams’ mother, Monica Manners, said her daughter should be here to care for her child. After Thompson surrendered on September 12, his attorney said, “Everybody should reserve judgement… We don’t know what happened,” and told the Daily News, “It doesn’t sound to me like it was a murder so far, but that’s what I think about the case based on the little bit that I know.”

Public Reaction and Consequences #

The arrest drew heavy local and national coverage anchored by the presence of the 7-year-old, whose family said she witnessed the attack and later laid beside her mother’s body. Relatives and neighbors flooded the scene coverage: Williams’ brother said she was “very attentive to her child. Best mom in the world,” her god sister, Asia Walker, said the family had known Thompson “for a while” and that she could not recall the couple arguing, and a family friend’s WARM advocacy group joined a balloon-release vigil at Courtney Callender Playground in Harlem urging awareness of domestic violence. Nuquan Williams said before the arrest that whoever killed his sister should “man up to the things you did.” Thompson, for his part, has not been convicted of anything; his attorney’s public position is that the case does not look like a murder so far and that his client deserves a fair trial.

Current Status #

As of September 13, 2026, Thompson faces the murder and related charges filed September 12, with his arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court pending at the Daily News’ deadline. He was released from the precinct only to be escorted by detectives in the perp walk photographed by the NY Post; the coverage consulted does not state his bail status. The investigation remains active, and the allegations against him — including the family’s account of the killing reconstructed from the 7-year-old’s statements to detectives — have not been tested at any trial. The Medical Examiner’s determination of the exact cause and manner of Williams’ death had also not been announced in the coverage consulted.

Impact on Their Career/Life #

Thompson, a 41-year-old man Williams’ family said they had known for years — Walker said the couple had been together “for a while” — now faces the possibility of decades to life in prison if convicted of murder, alongside strangulation, obstruction-of-breathing and child-endangerment counts stemming from the presence of Williams’ young daughter. Whatever the case’s outcome, his name is now permanently attached to one of the city’s most closely followed recent killings: a mother beaten to death in front of her child. Until trial or plea, the charges against him remain allegations he denies in substance through his attorney, who told reporters the public should reserve judgment and that his client must be treated fairly.