Two teenagers are in custody after a woman’s body was found in a duffel bag in a NYC apartment.
Nadia Vitel, 52, from Spain, arrived in the U.S. to prepare her mother’s empty Manhattan apartment for a family friend, according to ABC News.
Police say Vitel was attacked after she entered her mother’s vacant apartment and found two people living there.
During the ensuing struggle, Vitel was thrown against a wall, police say.
The two suspects, 19-year-old Halley Tejada and a male juvenile, then stole Vitel’s Lexus and drove to New Jersey. They crashed the vehicle near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
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The suspects were taken into custody on Friday in York, Pennsylvania, sources told ABC.
On March 14, Vitel’s worried son and other relatives entered the Kips Bay apartment with the superintendent. They found Vitel’s body in a duffel bag in a closet. Her foot was sticking out of the bag, sources said.
Vitel died from blunt force trauma to the head, ABC 7 reports.
New York’s squatter’s rights law protects squatters who break into vacant homes and remain there for more than 30 days.
NY’s squatter’s rights law is a remedy for homelessness in the state.
The law shifts the financial burden onto the homeowners.
Homeowners can’t cut off the utilities, remove their personal belongings, or change the locks on the doors.
Adele Andoloro, of Queens, was arrested when she changed the locks after finding several people living inside her vacant $1 million home.
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