NYPD Is Investigating Death of Brooklyn Accessories Designer

The New York Police Department is investigating the death of a self-employed accessories designer Svitlana Indelicato, who sold her creations on Etsy and via social media.

The 50-year-old woman was found Thursday morning, after police officers responded to a 911 call that had been placed from her Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, home. After receiving that call at 5:05 a.m., police officers found her “unconscious and unresponsive with trauma about the neck,” according to an NYPD spokesperson. EMS responded to the 1608 86th Street address and pronounced Indelicato deceased at the scene.

No arrests have been made and the investigation remains ongoing, according to the NYPD spokesperson.

The office of the chief medical examiner will determine the cause of death. Representatives from the office were not immediately available Saturday to comment on the status of the autopsy.

For more than 15 years, Indelicato has sold her scarves, bags and other accessories online via two Etsy shops called VitalTemptation and ScarfObsession. On her LinkedIn page, the designer said she works with wool, silk and other natural fibers “using very unique and almost forgotten techniques,” while creating her designs. 

She once explained online, “I use felting that is an ancient textile art, where manipulating wool, [and using] warm soapy water and rolling, squeezing and rubbing creates a very special one-of-a-kind piece.”

A media request that was emailed to ScarfObsession was unreturned Saturday afternoon.

Indelicato described VitalTemptation as “free-spirited bohemian leather goods for life” that were made in the U.S. With 3,734 sales, the label is identified as a “star seller,” as is ScarfObsession, which had more than quadruple as many sales — 15,877. ScarfObsession specializes in scarves, pashminas, luxury hair accessories and bags. Indelicato flagged her designs on Instagram too with the tag line, “Looking for ways to spruce up your scarf collection?”

She also sold her creations on Pinterest and on two Facebook pages, where she also posted videos of her pashminas and offered such advice as “When it comes to matching colors with red brick, you can never go wrong by selecting neutral hues such as white, beige and gray. The use of these hues helps to produce a unified appearance by counteracting the effect of the brick’s inherent warmth. What color would you pair with brick red?”

As of May 12, there had been two reported murders this year in the 62 Precinct, where Indelicato lived, according to NYPD data. Last year there was one reported in the precinct.