Nadia Vitels, 52, found stuffed in duffel bag in her Manhattan apartment was ... trends now
Police have revealed that the mother found murdered and stuffed into a duffel bag at her New York City apartment were a pair of squatters who beat the woman to death.
Nadia Vitels, 52, was found dead in the East 31st Street apartment in Manhattan's Kips Bay on March 14 after her family called the building superintendent to do a wellness check.
The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide on Friday after an autopsy ruled she died from multiple facial fractures, a brain bleed, two broken ribs and blunt-force trauma to the head.
Now, NYPD Chief of Detectives says the suspects - already believed to be a black male and a black female both in their 20s - were squatting in Vitels' apartment.
'We believe that some squatters took the apartment over and this woman came home … and walked in on the squatters that were there,' Kenny said.
Nadia Vitels, 52, was found inside the bag in the East 31st Street apartment in Manhattan's Kips Bay on March 14 after her family called the building superintendent to do a wellness check
The two suspects were spotted driving off in Vitels Lexus SUV around the time they believe she died and even caught on surveillance footage which has not yet been released to the public.
Kenny added that the unique design of the 'upscale apartment' meant they may have been able to hide from Vitels for some time.
'The apartment itself is very unique in that there's no front door to apartment. You take an elevator up and then you key your way in. The elevator is actually your front door,' Kenny told the New York Post.
Michael Medvedev, Vitels' son, made the grisly discovery of his mother's corpse upon return alongside the building's superintendent Jean Pompee, who has lived in there for 22 years, after Vitels had not been seen for 48 hours.
'As they're getting ready to leave, the son opens up the closet door near the front door and discovers the duffel bag with a foot sticking out,' Kenny said.
While the suspects - one of whom has a prior arrest - remain on the lam after swiping Vitels' car as of Thursday night, police believe they're on the right track.
'As of right now, we have probable cause, we have two subjects, we have the Regional Fugitive Task Force actively hunting as we speak,' Kenny said.
The couple are believed to have driven across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey before crashing Vitels' SUV in Pennsylvania's Lower Paxton Township.
Her son, Michael Medvedev remember his mother as a smart, beautiful and adventurous woman during her funeral at Gutterman's Funeral Home in Woodbury on Monday
Medvedev said his mother loved her dog and she had adopted the pup while going through a hard time in her life, caring for her sick parents
NYPD officials did not received the plate numbers on the car until the next day but they know that the squatters immediately tried to
