The New York Police Department (NYPD) is hunting for a pair of squatters in connection with the brutal killing of Nadia Vitels, 52. Her body was found stuffed into a duffel bag in a Manhattan apartment last week.
The two suspects, who have not been publicly identified, were caught on surveillance camera fleeing the scene and escaping in Vitels’ Lexus. Police say they drove to Pennsylvania, where they crashed in Lower Paxton Township.
NYPD Chief of Detectives, Joseph Kenny said the deceased had flown into the U.S. from Spain to prepare the Kips Bay apartment owned by her late mother for a family friend to move into, and believed Vitels was beaten to death by the squatters when she found them living in the property.
According to him, “We believe that some squatters took the apartment over and this woman came home… and walked in on the squatters that were there,” Kenny said, according to the New York Post.
“As they’re getting ready to leave, the son opens up the closet door near the front door and discovers the duffel bag with a foot sticking out.”
The chief also said that on the day Vitels was murdered, neighbors heard the apartment building’s garbage chute opening and closing repeatedly and when authorities checked through the garbage in the basement, the Police found a lot of the victims's property.
“The apartment itself is very unique in that there’s no front door to apartment,” Kenny said, according to the Post. “You take an elevator up and then you key your way in. The elevator is actually your front door,” he added, describing the apartment as “upscale.”
An autopsy found that Vitels died from blunt force trauma to the head, and a medical examiner ruled her death a homicide. The apartment had been vacant for months before the killing, according to CBS News, with police sources telling the outlet that the squatters were not known to Vitels.
Comments
Post a Comment