Video clue in duffel slay
2 people seen at apt. where woman was killed by blow to head
Detectives are zeroing in on two persons of interest in the death of a 52-yearold woman whose body was found stuffed in a duffel bag in a Manhattan apartment closet, police sources said Saturday.
An autopsy revealed that Nadia Vitel died from blunt force trauma to the head, the city’s Medical Examiner said Friday, ruling her death a homicide.
A man and a woman were caught on video leaving the sublet apartment Vitel had just moved into on E. 31st St. near Third Ave. in Kips Bay around the time investigators believe she died, said police sources with knowledge of the case.
Cops responding to the apartment on Thursday found Vitel’s dog, who was barking at people knocking at the door.
Inside, officers found signs of a struggle, including a dented and broken sheetrock wall that the woman’s head could have struck, police sources said.
Vitel moved into the apartment on Tuesday, according to building superintendent Jean Pompee. Her parents had lived in the building years earlier, Pompee recalled.
“She’s a very very nice person,” said Pompee, 67. “(She was) very courteous. Always very accommodating. She would even give me tips, things like that. Gave me something for Christmas, too.”
After not hearing from her for two days, a family friend called Pompee on Thursday asking him to check on her.
“I knocked on the door and the dog barked,” Pompee recalled. “I called (the friend) back and I said, ‘There’s a barking dog and I don’t want to just knock and get attacked by the dog.’ ”
The family friend assured Pompee that the dog was friendly and implored him to open the door, he said.
“All I saw was the dog by himself and places where the dog had urinated,” he said. “No lights was on.”
Pompee found a broken wall — right where he had recently replaced a breaker panel — but no Vitel.
“Maybe there was some kind of a struggle. Maybe they pushed her against the wall,” he said.
The super told the family friend what he found and Vitel’s family showed up a few minutes later.
“Her son and the two in-laws looked around,” he said. “They brought the dog down. I went down with them and he told me he had called the Fire Department.”
By the time firefighters showed up, the relatives had found the duffel bag in the closet.
“(One of the in-laws) immediately pointed to the closet and said, ‘Can you please open this bag. I believe that there’s a body in there.’
“I didn’t know when he had a chance to look, but that’s the first thing he did,”
Pompee remembered. “One of the firemen came and pulled the clothes off and there was the duffel bag and he opened it. And he said that there’s a body in there.”
Medics pronounced Vitel dead at the scene. No arrests have been made.
Family members refused to comment when reached Friday.
Pompee said he understood that the persons of interest sought by police have been coming to the apartment building since last Sunday, as Vitel was in the process of gradually moving in.
She had finished moving in on Tuesday and was killed Wednesday, Pompee and police sources said.
Vitel’s murder shocked Pompee, who has lived in the building — which he considers quite safe — for more than two decades.
“I’ve lived her 22 years. I leave my front door open,” he said. “It’s tragic.”