It's not clear why it took almost five months to file charges, but a suspect has now been formally charged in an October murder that took place inside a hotel on Seventh Street in SoMa.

The incident occurred on October 30, according to investigators. 37-year-old Sergii Sakhno allegedly slashed the throat of a male victim twice, at a hotel on the 100 block of Seventh Street. The victim has not been publicly identified, and prosecutors aren't discussing any possible motive for the crime.

According to a release from the District Attorney's Office, Sakhno is alleged to have cut the victim’s throat twice, "cutting into the bone," and he then proceeded to "clean the blood splattered all over the room with bleach."

Officers responded to the scene around 4:30 pm that day, likely after hotel staff discovered the dead man, whose body was reportedly hanging partly out of the bathroom shower. Police said they "arrived on scene and smelled a strong odor of bleach coming from the room which had been ransacked."

Sakhno was arrested on Halloween, the following day, in a separate incident — Mission Station officers said they arrested him in connection with a hot-prowl burglary, and then informed the Homicide Detail of the arrest.

He was found, police say, in possession of the victim's cellphone.

This crime happened just a couple days before another high-profile throat-slashing that occurred on a BART train.

Sakhno is being held in custody without bail. His public defender, Deputy Public Defender Tal Klement, tells the Chronicle, "Mr. Sakhno is innocent of these charges and we will vigorously contest his case in court."

The case continues to be investigated, and anyone with information is asked to called the SFPD tip line at 415-575-4444, or text a tip to TIP411 and begin the message with "SFPD".

Photo: Getty Images