Wanted fugitives in the slaying of a woman whose body was stuffed in a duffel bag in her Manhattan apartment have been apprehended in Pennsylvania, according to police.
US Marshals tracked down 19-year-old Hailey Tejada and 18-year-old Kensly Alston in York, PA around 11 am in the morning and took the pair into custody.
It has been about a week since the body of 52-year-old Nadia Vitel was found hidden inside the 19th floor of an apartment on East 31st St in Manhattan.
Authorities believe the teenagers were squatting in the upscale apartment when they came face-to-face with Vitel, beating her to death in an ensuing scuffle.
The victim reportedly suffered multiple facial fractures, two broken ribs, and blunt force trauma to the head that caused brain bleeding.
The New York Post reported that the floor of the closet where the victim's body was discovered was soaked in blood, and one of the walls of the apartment had a crack in it.
A blood stain remained Thursday on the floor of the closet where her body was found and one of the walls of the apartment had a huge crack, grim photos of the crime scene show.
Surveillance video showed the suspects escaping the scene in the dead woman's Lexus SUV after the slaying, according to NYPD.
Nadia Vitel, 52, flew in from her home in Spain earlier this month to prepare the East 31st Street apartment so a family friend could stay there, according to the New York Post.
But when she arrived, Vitel found that the apartment she believed had been empty for some three to four months was occupied.
"We believe that some squatters took the apartment over and this woman came home ... and walked in on the squatters that were there," said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, according to the Post.
