NJ housemate convicted of drugging and murdering basketball pro, dumping body in NYC

🏀 Jury says ex-Knicks draft pick Michael Wright was drugged and murdered by his NJ housemate

⚖️ Bergen County man Mark Holdbrooks found guilty of first-degree murder after lengthy trial

🚔 Victim’s body was found in his SUV in NYC after a cover-up involving an accomplice

A 69-year-old Bergen County man has been convicted of the shocking 2015 murder of a Knicks draft pick and professional basketball player.

Jurors found that Mark A. Holdbrooks, of Closter, drugged 35-year-old Michael Wright before killing him with a cinderblock. He then put the victim into his own Lexus SUV and had an accomplice abandon it on a New York City street.

Holdbrooks and David “King” Victor of Brooklyn, New York, were arrested in 2016 after a year-long investigation into the death of the college basketball star.

The case was transferred in 2019 to Passaic County. An eight-week jury trial unfolded in March before Passaic County Superior Court Judge Marybel Mercado-Ramirez.

On April 24, the jury convicted Holdbrooks of the following offenses:

▪️ first-degree murder
▪️ second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose
▪️ second-degree theft by deception
▪️ third-degree theft by deception
▪️ third-degree disturbing human remains
▪️ third-degree possession of Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB)
▪️ third-degree hindering his own apprehension by destruction of evidence
▪️ fourth-degree hindering his own apprehension by giving false information to police

Sentencing was set for Friday, July 10. Holdbrooks will face between 30 years and life in prison.

Chilling details: drugging, cinderblock attack, and cover-up

On Nov. 10, 2015, the New York City Police Department found Wright’s body, covered in garbage bags, in the backseat of his SUV on a street in Brooklyn.

Wright had been reported missing by Holdbrooks, who was his housemate. An investigation was launched by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, Closter Police and the New York City Police Department.

Detectives ultimately found that five days earlier at their home, Holdbrooks drugged Wright with Gamma-Hydroxybutyric acid (GHB), before hitting him in the head with a cinder block.

Accomplice plea to manslaughter

Wright’s vehicle was then driven into New York by Victor, who initially also faced a murder charge.

In April 2025, Victor pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter, according to court records.

Victim’s basketball career cut short at 35 by slaying

Wright grew up in Chicago, Illinois, and played college basketball for the University of Arizona before being drafted in 2001 by the New York Knicks.

Though he never played in the NBA, he did play professionally in Europe and overseas, up to the time of his abrupt killing, NJ.com previously reported.

Wright's personal trainer, Dave Paladino was among those mourning the victim days after the bleak discovery in 2015.

"Basketball was his life, but his greatest accomplishment he told me was his daughter," Paladino said to ABC7 Eyewitness News, adding "Always smiling, everybody in here is devastated over the loss."

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