Teen squatters charged with murder after woman found dead in bag in NYC apartment
NEW YORK (PIX11) --- Two teenage squatters were charged with murder for allegedly killing a woman who was moving into her Manhattan apartment last month, authorities said Thursday.
Kensly Alston, 18, and Halley Tejada, 19, were also charged with burglary, robbery, criminal possession of stolen property, grand larceny, and concealment of a human corpse, according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office.
The suspects are accused of beating Nadia Vitels, 52, to death in the 19th-floor apartment of 206 East 31st St. in Kips Bay, police said. Investigators found Vitels in the closet with her foot hanging out of the bag 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.
Vitels may have been dead for a few days before the family urged the building superintendent to check on her, police said. Her family found her body in a bag piled under a stack of coats in a bedroom closet, officials said.
"Kensly Alston and Halley Tejada allegedly murdered Nadia Vitels in her own apartment while she was moving in to start a new chapter of her life," Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said.
The apartment had been vacant for a few months since the victim’s mother passed away. On March 12, Vitels returned to the apartment with her dog and found Alston and Tejada staying there at around 11:30 a.m., prosecutors said. The teens got into the apartment with a building key.
The suspects allegedly left the unit to go to Target to buy a suitcase with Vitels' credit card before they were spotted leaving the building again at around 5:45 p.m. They were allegedly wearing blue gloves and had the suitcase they purchased at Target before they allegedly drove away in the victim's car, authorities said.
Tejada and Alston allegedly killed Vitels before stealing her Lexus and fleeing to Pennsylvania, where they had a minor car accident in Lower Paxton Township on March 13, authorities said.
While they were in the Keystone State, the suspects allegedly used Vitels' credit card to buy a PlayStation 5, AirPods, clothing, food, and a diamond ring, prosecutors said.
On March 22, they were arrested at a home in York, Pennsylvania, by a Fugitive Task Force and charged with receiving stolen property in connection to a car crash, authorities said.
The teens were extradited from Pennsylvania to New York to face murder charges. Alston and Tejada pleaded not guilty and were held without bail at their arraignments, according to court records.
Their attorneys could not immediately be reached Thursday.
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.