Two teenage squatters accused of murdering a mother and stuffing her body in a duffel bag in their flat used her credit card to buy an engagement ring, a court heard.
Halley Tejada, 19, and Kensly Alston, 18, arrived in Manhattan Supreme Court on Thursday accused of killing Nadia Vitels, a 52-year-old woman who was found in a duffel bag in her Manhattan apartment. New York City on March 14.
The couple pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, burglary, robbery, criminal possession, grand larceny and concealment of a human corpse and were taken into custody.
The medical examiner ruled Vitels’ death a homicide after an autopsy determined she died from multiple facial fractures, a brain hemorrhage, two broken ribs and blunt force trauma to the head.
Prosecutors allege that Tejada and Alston broke into Vitels’ apartment on March 10 and remained there for two days before she returned home with her dog and told them to leave.
Tejada is accused of stomping on her head before hitting her with a frying pan while Alston kicked her body and then the pair wrapped a rope around her neck and body.
Halley Tejada appears in court in a ‘Yes… no’. t-shirt since he is accused of murder,
Kensly Alston, 18, was wearing a Scooby-Doo T-shirt when she entered the courtroom.
Medvedev said his mother loved her dog and had adopted the puppy while she was going through a difficult time in her life caring for her sick parents.
Manhattan Deputy District Attorney Elizabeth Clerkin told the court: ‘He suffered broken ribs and bruising to his arms and legs.
“But the most important was to his skull, where he had multiple fractures, including a hinge fracture.”
Vitels was hit so hard that her injuries were similar to those typically seen in people hit by a train or in people who fall from a great height.
After the attack, the suspects allegedly fled to Pennsylvania in the victim’s Lexus and Alston told authorities how good his life was with the couple celebrating his 18th birthday and using Vitels’ credit card to purchase items such as a engagement ring, AirPods and a PlayStation 5.
It is unclear how the couple gained access to Vitels’ apartment, or if they ever met before she was murdered.
The teens wore relaxed looks for their court appearance.
Alston sported a Scooby Doo t-shirt, black sweatpants and sandals, while Tejada opted for a shirt with the words “Yes.” No.’ emblazoned on the front.
Tejada and Alston were located by US Marshals and taken into custody on March 22.
“We believe some squatters took over the apartment and this woman returned home … and ran into the squatters who were there,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said at the time.
The two suspects were seen driving Vitel’s Lexus SUV around the time they believe she died and were even captured on surveillance footage that has not yet been made public.
Kenny added that the unique layout of the “luxury apartment” meant they may have been able to hide from Vitels for some time.
Michael Medvedev, Vitels’ son, made the gruesome discovery of his mother’s body upon returning to the building’s superintendent, Jean Pompée, who has lived there for 22 years, after Vitels had not been seen for 48 hours.
“As they were preparing to leave, the son opens the closet door near the front door and discovers the duffel bag with one foot sticking out,” Kenny said.
Prosecutors allege that Alston confessed to the brutal beating of Vitels. “She explained how Ms. Vitels told the defendants to get away from her and how the defendant Tejada screamed that he was going to kill her,” Clerkin said.
‘She described how Mrs Vitels went to the bedroom and how they followed her. How each one grabbed her body and threw it to the ground.
“She described how Tejada stomped on Ms. Vitels’ head while she kicked his body.”
The medical examiner ruled his death a homicide Friday after an autopsy revealed he died from blunt force trauma to the head.
Sources said police are searching for two suspects described as a black man and a black woman, both in their 20s, who were seen driving in Vitels’ Lexus SUV.
Alston also allegedly told her fiancé to put on shoes while he hit the victim because she was worried he would hurt himself.
‘Alston said Mrs Vitels was still breathing at the time. “Defendant Tejada said he grabbed a rope that he wrapped around her neck and body,” prosecutor Clerkin added.
“Defendant Alston explained that she kept the bag open while defendant Tejada put her body inside and that she was still breathing and that they hid it in the closet.”
Alston allegedly told authorities how in love they were and how they lived a good life in Pennsylvania and recently celebrated his 18th birthday and got engaged.
Police arrested the couple in Pennsylvania a day after Vitels was killed when they crashed the Lexus into another vehicle, according to prosecutors.
Alston is said to have given a false name to police before sharing his true identity and the pair were fired because the victim’s body had not yet been found and authorities did not know the vehicle had been stolen.
‘Defendant Tejada denied ever entering the Vitels apartment building, but admitted that he had been to a tobacco store in the area.
“He said his foot was swollen because he worked at Lowe’s and he dropped a box.” But the retailer denied he was an employee.
The couple was eventually located and arrested on March 22 before being returned to New York.
Acting Supreme Court Justice Stephen Antignani said Vitels was “murdered in a cruel and horrific manner.”
Nadia Vitels, 52, was found inside the bag in her apartment on East 31st Street in Manhattan’s Kips Bay on March 14 after her family called the building’s superintendent to do a welfare check.
Vitels’ son, Michael Medvedev, made the gruesome discovery of his mother’s body upon returning along with the building’s superintendent, Jean Pompée, who has lived there for 22 years, after Vitels had not been seen for 48 hours.
The defendants are believed to have crossed the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey before crashing Vitels’ truck in Lower Paxton Township in Pennsylvania.
NYPD officials didn’t receive the car’s license plate numbers until the next day, but they know the squatters immediately tried to spend $1,000 on a replacement vehicle.
Medvedev remembered his mother as an intelligent, beautiful and adventurous woman during her funeral at Gutterman’s Funeral Home in Woodbury on Monday.
‘I remember he showed me a gold medal he had won in high school in Russia, a student honor medal for being the best in his class. That medal, for some reason, I have always engraved. She made me proud to be her son and I wanted to win my gold medals to live up to her,” Medvedev said.
He said his mother had moved to the United States from Russia to attend college in Oklahoma and play tennis, and then moved to Miami for graduate studies.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Vitels was a marketing professional who worked at Canon, Nokia and tennis star Maria Sharapova’s candy line, Sugarpova.
Medvedev said his mother loved her dog and had adopted the puppy while she was going through a difficult time in her life caring for her sick parents.
‘He became her next obsession, her best friend, her man. He was the only man he needed,” the son said at his funeral.
“This little puppy gave him the love he needed to get through the hardest time of his life.”
The building’s superintendent, Jean Pompée, discovered that his dog was urinating all over the floor because he was unaccompanied, which was very unusual.
“They found a bag in the closet and said, ‘I think there’s a body in here.’ “I felt like something was wrong, it looked suspicious,” Pompee said.
He added that he saw signs of a struggle in the apartment as the switch panel, which he believes is electrical, was damaged.
Vitels’ worried relatives called the Fire Department, who quickly arrived at the scene.
“The fire department opened the bag and discovered his body,” Pompee added. “I didn’t look and see the body, they just said there was a body there and called the police. It was in the closet by the door entrance.
It was in some kind of small bag that zipped shut, a kind of soft case. I felt bad, you never want to hear about someone being killed or murdered.’
The superintendent confirmed there was another name on the lease for the apartment Vitels was in and said he had only met that person once and had forgotten what he was like.
‘Apparently she [Vitels] I was subletting. “I didn’t know she was moving,” she added.
Vitels had reportedly moved into the apartment just days before his death and Medvedev said his mother was looking forward to the next chapter of her life.
‘Preparing to move to New York City, where he would conquer the world. “She was very excited to move to the city,” she said.