Woman's body found inside bag in Manhattan apartment; NYPD searching for 2 suspects

Squatters sought after NYC woman found in duffel bag

Authorities launched a multi-state manhunt for a pair of squatters who may be tied to the murder of a woman whose body was found stuffed inside a duffel bag in her Manhattan apartment. FOX 5 NY’s Briella Tomassetti reports from Kips Bay.

NEW YORK - The NYPD is searching for a pair of squatters believed to have something to do with the murder of a woman whose body was found stuffed inside a duffle bag in Manhattan.

According to authorities, last Tuesday, 52-year-old Nadia Vitel walked into her apartment building located on East 31st Street in Kips Bay.

The building's super says that surveillance video shows her getting on the elevator to the 19th floor, but that she never came down. Inside days, her family and friends were searching for her.

"A friend called and said they hadn't heard from her in a couple of days and asked if I could go up and check, so I went up," said Jean Pompee, the building's supervisor.

Pompee says he went inside the apartment, where all he found was a dog. Shortly afterward, the victim's son arrived, looking for his mother.

Police were called, and that was when the grisly discovery was made. In a closet, authorities found a duffle bag with Vitel's lifeless body inside.

Police say she had been beaten to death.

According to police, a man and a woman, who they are calling squatters, had been staying in that apartment for days. They say Vitel walked in on the pair, and that's when things became violent, with the pair killing the mother and then fleeing in her SUV.

Security cameras in the building captured the suspects coming in on Sunday and then leaving Tuesday afternoon, the same day Vitel came in.

Police believe the pair fled across the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey and into Pennsylvania where they ultimately crashed the victim's car. They are currently still on the loose.