Metro

Son of ‘perv’ composer Joseph Brooks questioned in connection with girlfriend’s death

The scene today at SoHo House at 14th Street and Ninth Avenue, where a woman was found dead in a bathtub. (SETH GOTTFRIED)

The son of accused perv Oscar-winning composer Joseph Brooks is being questioned by police after his girlfriend was found dead early today inside the bathroom of a swanky hotel in the Meatpacking District where he was staying, authorities said.

Nicholas Brooks, 26, who sources identified as the son of “You Light Up My Life” songwriter Joseph Brooks, was at the 6th Precinct station house following the grisly discovery, sources told The Post.

The 33-year-old woman, identified as swimsuit designer Sylvie Cachay, broke off her relationship with him just hours before she was found, a friend of the victim told police.

At their home in an affluent neighborhood of McLean, Virginia, Cachay’s parents were trying to accept what had happened.

PHOTOS: SWIMSUIT DESIGNER SYLVIE CACHAY

“It’s incredible,” Cachay’s mother, Sylvia, said, her eyes red and puffy, standing at the door in a bathrobe. “She was an artist. She was a painter. Everything was perfect. You know the stories with everything that’s perfect, it doesn’t seem real yet.”

Cachay was found at about 3 a.m. inside a room at the SoHo House hotel near 14th Street and Ninth Avenue.

She was only wearing a sweater and panties, while lying in the bathtub with the water running, sources said.

Hotel workers went up to the room after the people staying in the room below called 911 and complained that water was leaking through the ceiling, the sources said.

Cachay had checked into the room with Brooks on Wednesday.

Sources told The Post Cachay was a member of the SoHo House, so she had privileges to rent a room whenever she wanted. The couple checked in under her membership.

No one else was in the room at the time of the body’s discovery. Paramedics pronounced Cachay dead at the scene.

No one has been charged in Cachay’s death.

There were marks on her neck and cops are looking into the possibility that Cachay was strangled. An autopsy needs to be conducted in order to determine an exact cause of death.

Cachay was an animal lover and had just taken in a sick pigeon she found on the street and sources said Brooks thought she might have gotten sick from feeding the bird. She also had two poodles — one of which was recently hit by a car.

Police sources described the hotel room as strangely serene, with no signs of a struggle or illegal drugs around.

Cachay was lying submerged in the bathtub with red marks around her collar bone and prescription pill bottles nearby, the sources said, but the bottles still had drugs in them.

Police said they have been unable to make contact with the victim’s family today.

Stepping out of his apartment this morning, the elder Brooks was asked if he knew his son was in trouble.

“I did,” he told The Post, without elaborating.

A spokesman for SoHo House told The Post, “We are cooperating fully with the police.”

As for Nicholas Brooks, the spokesman said, “I don’t know the person involved. It happened at our venue. I’ve never heard his name before in my life.”

He also said he did not know anything about the victim or why she was at hotel.

The death comes on the heels of a scandal that rocked the Brooks family last year.

The 72-year-old Brooks was charged in 2009 with a series of sex crimes. He remains charged in Manhattan with casting-couch sexual assaults on 11 starlets.

The elder Brooks was indicted on 91 counts and charged with rape, sexual abuse, criminal sexual act and assault. His trial has yet to begin.

Brooks won an Oscar for Best Original Song for the 1977 hit “You Light Up My Life.” He also wrote and directed the movie “You Light Up My Life,” about a comedian who has a one-night stand with a director.

SoHo House, a six-story boutique hotel, is one of the city’s swankiest places to stay and includes a rooftop pool and lounge area. Other amenities at the 24-room hotel include a screening room and library. Rooms go for $200 a night and up, according to the hotel’s website.

Additional reporting by Rebecca Rosenberg, Lorena Mongelli, Jennifer Gould Keil and Grant Slater in McLean, VA.