Kensly Alston, 18, and Halley Tejada, 19, are blamed for murdering Nadia Vitels, 52, who found the intruders inside her late mother’s Manhattan apartment.
Vitels’ body was discovered in a bag in the closet of her mother’s 19th-floor apartment with injuries from a blunt force to her head, a brain injury, two broken ribs, and several fractures, according to police.
On March 10, Vitels left items at the apartment on East 31st Street to get it ready for relatives to stay there, said authorities. Shortly after, Alston and Tejada were seen CCTV walking in the lobby of the building and broke in.
Two days later, Vitels returned to the unit and discovered the intruders and told them to leave. Tejada threatened to kill her, said prosecutors. Vitels tried to escape through a window but Tejada allegedly grabbed her, threw her, then stomped her to death.
Prosecutors claimed that Alston told Tejada during the violent attack: ‘You should put your shoes on. You’re going to hurt yourself.’
The teens then reportedly used Vitels’ credit card to purchase vaping items and toiletries at a Target store and fled in her Lexus SUV.
On March 14, Vitels’ 23-year-old son contacted police to check on the apartment after receiving a text from her that would end up being her last. Responding officers made the awful discovery.
The teens drove Vitels’ vehicle to New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where they bought a diamond ring, AirPods, a PS5 system, clothes, and food, said prosecutors. They crashed the SUV in Lower Paxton Township and were arrested at a home on March 22.
Both were transported from Pennsylvania to New York and were charged with murder on Thursday.
Tejada wept while embracing his father before being taken into a Manhattan courtroom in handcuffs.
Alston, from the Bronx, and Tejada, from Washington Heights, are both being detained without bail pending their next court appearances.
The apartment had been unoccupied for several months since Vitels’ mother passed away, law enforcement sources told the New York Post New York Post.
‘Kensly Alston and Halley Tejada allegedly murdered Nadia Vitels in her own apartment while she was moving in to start a new chapter in her life,’ stated Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
‘I offer my sincerest sympathies to her friends and family as they continue to grieve her death. My office will ensure that Nadia Vitels receives justice.’
