Squatters arrested after woman found stuffed in bag in NYC apartment: sources
NEW YORK (PIX11) — Authorities arrested two squatters who allegedly killed a woman and stuffed her body in a duffel bag after she walked in on them in her dead mother’s Manhattan apartment last week, according to law enforcement sources.
Halley Tejada and Kensly Alston were arrested at a home in York, Pa. by a Fugitive Task Force at around 10 a.m. Friday, according to the U.S. Marshal’s Office. The suspects are charged with receiving stolen property in connection to a car crash in Pennsylvania on March 13, authorities said.
Tejada and Alston allegedly killed Nadia Vitels, 52, before stealing her Lexus and fleeing to the Keystone State, where they had a minor car accident in Lower Paxton Township, authorities said.
Police found Vitels in the closet with her foot hanging out of the bag in an apartment on the 19th floor of 206 East 31st St. in Kips Bay at around 4:30 p.m. on March 14, according to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. The woman had several facial fractures, a brain bleed, and two broken ribs. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
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Vitels may have been dead for a few days before the family urged the building superintendent to check on her, police said. Her son made the initial gruesome discovery after sweeping the space.
“The (victim’s) son opens up the closet door near the front door and discovers a duffel bag,” Kenny said on Thursday.
The apartment had been vacant for a few months since the victim’s mother passed away. Vitels was in town from Spain to set it up for a family friend before she was brutally killed, police said.
“We believe that some squatters took the apartment over and this woman came home to get this apartment set up and walked in on the squatters that were there,” Kenny said.
The squatters were seen going in and out of the building, and neighbors heard the garbage chute opening and closing on the day of the murder, Kenny said. Authorities found Vitels’ belongings in the garbage in the basement.
It was unclear how the suspects gained access to the luxury building, where the elevator acts as the apartment’s front door, Kenny said.
“[Police] knew they came in on [March 10] and last saw them on [March 12],” explained building superintendent Jean Pompee.
Alston was driving the victim’s Lexus and initially gave a fake name and age before cops pressed her to tell the truth after the March 13 crash in Pennsylvania, according to the Lower Paxton Township Police Department. Officers verified the girl’s identity with her mother, authorities said.
Kenny said local authorities did not run the car’s plates and let the suspects escape. However, the NYPD did not register the Lexus into the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) database until March 14, according to the Lower Paxton Township Police Department.
Pennsylvania cops then got a hit on the plates on March 16 and immediately reached out to the NYPD about the Manhattan homicide, officials said.
Tejada and Alston will be arraigned in Pennsylvania before facing possible extradition to New York City, authorities said.
“We continue to cooperate with the NYPD in an effort to assist them in bringing closure for the victim’s family and friends,” the Lower Paxton Township Police Department said in a statement.
Mira Wassef is a digital reporter who has covered news and sports in the New York City area for more than a decade. She joined PIX11 News in 2022. See more of her work here.
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