Police have arrested two people after a New York woman was allegedly murdered by squatters and stuffed into a duffel bag in her apartment.
Two people in connection with the death of 52-year-old Nadia Vitels were arrested Friday by the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force in York, Pennsylvania, the New York City Police Department told FOX News Digital.
At 10:07 a.m. Friday, Halley Tejada, 19, and a 16-year-old female were taken into custody by deputies. Both were charged with receiving stolen property.
It is unclear when they will be extradited to New York. Additional charges are still pending.
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Nadia Vitels, 52, was found dead in a duffel bag on March 14 inside her new apartment on East 31st Street near the Third Avenue intersection. (Nadia Vitels on Facebook)
The Lower Paxton County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release that police were able to track down the suspects who were involved in a minor crash in a Lexus SUV stolen by Vitels on March 13.
Tejada immediately gave his information to police. The teen initially gave her fake name and date of birth, according to the release.
Police said, “After asking the woman for the facts and warning her that she would be arrested if she did not tell the truth, she gave her real name, and the boy’s mother later confirmed the information.”
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The vehicle was not insured and was towed from the scene. After checking the car’s license plate on March 16, Pennsylvania State Police realized that the New York City Police Department had reported the car as stolen. Upon contacting New York police, investigators learned the owner had been murdered and took the vehicle to a detention center.
Ms. Vitels was found unconscious and unresponsive in her bag on March 14, 2024, at around 4:30 p.m. in her apartment on East 31st Street in Manhattan.
Police said in a news release Friday that they believe Vitels was killed on or before March 13.
The 52-year-old mother was preparing her apartment after recently returning from Spain. According to ABC News, the property is owned by her mother and had been vacant for three to four months.
Instead, she discovered two people living inside. According to the report, the apartment building does not have a front door and the only access to the apartment is via an elevator. It is still unclear how they accessed the space.
Police discovered the body when Vitels’ family called for a welfare check after not seeing her for 48 hours. According to the New York Post, Vitels’ son, Michael Medvedev, discovered the duffel bag under a coat in the woman’s closet when he was asked to look around the building.
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The New York medical examiner determined the Russian’s cause of death was blunt force trauma, the New York Daily News reported. Her manner of death is being investigated as a homicide.
“Some squatters had taken over the apartment, and the woman came home and confronted the squatters who were there,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenney said, as reported by the New York Post. We believe there was a break-in.”
According to ABC News, Vitels was left traumatized in the scuffle and was slammed against a wall by one of the intruders.
Police said the two were seen on surveillance video fleeing the apartment in Vitels’ Lexus SUV.
Police are standing outside the building where Vitels’ body was found. (Gardiner Anderson/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
The New York Post reported that the two crossed the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey and then fled to Pennsylvania, where they collided with an SUV in Lower Paxton Township.
Pennsylvania officials said the vehicle wasn’t reported stolen until after Vitels was found dead, so New York City police weren’t notified until the next day.
Police also said that after the accident, the two visited several local car dealerships and attempted to purchase a car for $1,000.
“We have found probable cause at this time. There are two subjects of interest. As we speak, the Regional Fugitive Task Force is actively conducting a search,” Kenney said before Friday’s arrest. and pointed out that one of the squatters had been arrested previously.
Vitels grew up in Moscow and later moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma, for college, his son said at Monday’s funeral, the Daily News reported.
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After attending graduate school in Miami, she took a job as a marketing executive for a nonprofit organization, then joined camera company Canon and mobile phone company Nokia. She loved tennis and she ran tennis star Maria Sharapova’s candy line, the Daily News reported.
