Two teenagers suspected of squatting and brutally killing Manhattan homeowner Nadia Vitels were charged with murder on April 18th.
The two suspects, 19-year-old male Halley Tejada and 18-year-old female Kensly Alston, were arrested last month in Pennsylvania and extradited to New York City, where they are facing charges of second-degree murder.
Tejada, wearing handcuffs, was escorted from the NYPD’s 17th precinct to the Manhattan Criminal Court on the afternoon of April 18th. He told reporters at the scene, “I am innocent, I am innocent. I’ve never…” before being driven away by police.
Last month, the two suspects were accused of squatting in a luxurious apartment on the 19th floor of 206 East 31st Street in Manhattan’s Kips Bay neighborhood. This apartment was inherited by 52-year-old Vitels from her deceased mother and had been vacant for three to four months. Vitels returned from Spain to New York on March 10th, intending to organize the apartment for relatives to stay, but tragically encountered these two squatters and was killed. Vitels’ son, unable to contact his mother for several days, reported her missing on March 14th, and found Vitels’ body in a suitcase in the apartment’s closet, deceased from blunt force trauma to the head.
According to information released by housing rental website Street Easy and real estate group Douglas Elliman, the condo where Vitels was murdered had monthly rents ranging from $3,000 to $5,000.
Police investigations indicate signs of a struggle in the apartment, and the squatters had disposed of the victim’s belongings multiple times after the incident. The two suspects had been living in the apartment for several days before the crime occurred. Surveillance cameras captured them fleeing the building after the incident, driving Vitels’ Lexus SUV through New Jersey to Pennsylvania, during which they used the victim’s credit cards. The vehicle crashed and was abandoned in Lower Paxton Township, after which the suspects went on the run and were arrested several days later.