Police are reportedly looking for two suspects in connection with the case of a mother found murdered and stuffed in a duffel bag in her New York City apartment.
Nadia Vitels, 52, was found in the bag at the East 31st Street apartment in Manhattan’s Kip’s Bay on Thursday evening after her family called the building’s superintendent to do a welfare check.
The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide Friday after an autopsy showed she died of blunt force trauma to the head. The New York Post.
Sources said police are looking for two suspects, described as a black man and a black woman, both in their 20s, who were seen driving away in Vitel’s Lexus SUV around the time they thought she died.
Her son, Michael Medvedev, remembered his mother Monday during her funeral at Gutterman’s Funeral Home in Woodbury as a smart, beautiful and adventurous woman.
Nadia Vitels, 52, was found murdered and stuffed into a duffel bag in her New York City apartment
Her son, Michael Medvedev, remembers his mother as a smart, beautiful and adventurous woman during her funeral at Gutterman’s Funeral Home in Woodbury on Monday
Medvedev said his mother loved her dog and that she adopted the puppy while she was going through a difficult time in her life and caring for her sick parents.
“I remember her showing me a gold medal she had earned in high school in Russia, a student medal of honor for being the best in her class. That medal has always stuck with me for some reason. I felt proud to be her son and I wanted to earn my gold medals to live up to her,” Medvedev said.
He said his mother moved to the United States from Russia to study and play tennis in Oklahoma, then moved to Miami for college.
According to her LinkedIn profile, Vitels was a marketing professional who worked at Canon, Nokia and tennis star Maria Sharapova’s candy line, Sugarpova.
New York City Police Department officers were seen dragging several bags of the victim’s belongings, including three suitcases and bags containing her clothing, out of the building on Thursday.
The building’s superintendent, Jean Pompee, who has lived there for 22 years, was the first to enter Vitels’ apartment after an emergency call from her relatives.
Her family told him they hadn’t heard from her in a few days, so he went to her apartment to check on her and saw signs that something was wrong.
Medvedev said his mother loved her dog and that she adopted the puppy while she was going through a difficult time in her life and caring for her sick parents.
“He became her next obsession, her best friend, her husband. He was the only man she needed,” the son said at her funeral.
“This little puppy gave her the love she needed to get through the hardest time of her life.”
Pompee discovered that her dog was urinating all over the floor because he was unsupervised, which was very unusual.
“They found a bag in the closet and said, ‘I think there’s a body in here.’ “I kind of felt something was wrong, it looked suspicious,” Pompee said.
Sources said police are looking for two suspects, described as a black man and a black woman, both in their 20s, who were seen driving away in Vitel’s Lexus SUV.
The medical examiner ruled her death a homicide Friday after an autopsy showed she died of blunt force trauma to the head.
Vitels recently moved into the apartment and her son said she was excited to move to the city
He added that he saw signs of a struggle in the apartment when the circuit breaker panel, which he believes is electrical, remained damaged.
Vitels’ concerned family members then called the fire brigade, who quickly arrived on the scene.
“The fire department opened the bag and discovered her body,” Pompee added. ‘I didn’t look at the body myself, they just said there was a body inside and called the police. It was in the closet near the entrance to the door.
‘It was in a small kind of bag that you zipped shut, a kind of soft bag. I felt bad, you never want to hear about someone being killed or killed.”
The chief inspector confirmed that there was a different name on the lease for the apartment where Vitels was located and said he had only met that person once and had forgotten what he looked like.
‘Apparently she (Vitels) was sublet. “I didn’t know she was coming to live here,” he added.
Vitels reportedly moved into the apartment just days before her death, and Medvedev said his mother was looking forward to starting this next chapter in her life.
‘Preparing to move to New York City, where she would conquer the world. “She was so excited to move to the city,” he said.
