Two individuals who were squatting are being pursued in connection with the brutal killing of a 52-year-old woman, whose body was discovered crammed into a duffel bag inside her deceased mother’s luxurious Manhattan apartment last week, authorities announced Thursday.
According to police, the victim, Nadia Vitel, was viciously attacked by the two perpetrators upon encountering them occupying the 19th-floor residence on East 31st Street last week.
Having recently arrived from Spain, Vitel had gone to her late mother’s apartment, which had been unoccupied for approximately three to four months, to prepare it for a family friend who was planning to move in.
“We believe that individuals who were squatting took over the apartment, and this woman returned home… only to walk in on the squatters,” stated NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
[adinserter name="Two"]The savage assault resulted in Vitel sustaining severe head injuries, multiple facial fractures, a cerebral hemorrhage, and two broken ribs, according to law enforcement.
The suspects, whose identities have not been disclosed by the NYPD, were captured on surveillance footage fleeing the scene after the murder and driving off in the victim’s Lexus SUV.
[adinserter name="Three"]They evaded across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey, eventually crashing the SUV in Lower Paxton Township, Pennsylvania, authorities reported.
However, the NYPD was not notified until the following day, as Pennsylvania authorities did not immediately run the license plates to discover that the vehicle was linked to a homicide, Kenny explained.
[adinserter name="Four"]Police revealed that the squatters, who remain at large as of Thursday, had visited several local car dealerships following the accident in an attempt to purchase a new vehicle for $1,000.
These developments follow after Vitel’s son, 19-year-old Michael Medvedev, made the grim discovery of his mother’s remains when he accompanied the building’s superintendent to the apartment on the afternoon of March 14, having not heard from her in 48 hours.
[adinserter name="One"] [adinserter name="Five"]Authorities stated that he knew she had been at the apartment because they tracked each other’s locations via their mobile phones.
“As they were preparing to leave, the son opened the closet door near the entrance and found the duffel bag with a foot protruding,” Kenny recounted.
[adinserter name="Six"]It remains unclear how long the perpetrators had been squatting in the apartment before being discovered by the victim, or how they gained entry initially.
“The layout of the apartment is quite unique in that there is no traditional front door. You take an elevator up and then use a key to enter. The elevator essentially serves as the front entrance,” Kenny explained, noting that “it’s an upscale apartment.”
[adinserter name="Seven"]Although the identities of the two suspects have not been disclosed, police sources previously described them as a man and a woman in their twenties.
“At present, we have probable cause, two suspects, and the Regional Fugitive Task Force is actively pursuing them,” Kenny affirmed, noting that one of the squatters has a prior arrest record.
[adinserter name="Eight"]
