Squatters in custody after woman found dead in duffel bag in Manhattan apartment

(NEW YORK) — Two suspected squatters have been taken into custody for questioning after they allegedly killed a woman who walked in on them living in her mother’s New York City apartment, police sources told ABC News.

The victim, Nadia Vitel, a 52-year-old woman from Spain, came to the U.S. to prepare her mother’s Manhattan apartment for a family friend, sources said. The Kips Bay apartment had been vacant for the last few months after Vitel’s mother died, sources said.

When Vitel went inside, she found a man and a woman living there, the sources said.

A struggle ensued, and it appears Vitel was thrown into a sheetrock wall, sources said.

The two suspects then allegedly stole Vitel’s Lexus and drove to New Jersey and then Pennsylvania, where they crashed near Harrisburg, sources said.

They were taken into custody on Friday in York, Pennsylvania, sources said.

On March 14, Vitel’s worried son, who hadn’t heard from his mother in two days, accessed the Kips Bay apartment with the superintendent and other relatives, and found his mom’s body, sources said. Vitel’s body was in a duffel bag in a closet, with her foot sticking out of the bag, sources said.

Vitel died from blunt force trauma to the head and her death was ruled a homicide, officials said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.