A pair of teen squatters were charged with murder Thursday in the vicious death of a Manhattan mom whose body was stuffed into a duffle bag after she found the intruders inside her mom’s apartment.
Halley Tejada, 19, and Kensly Alston, 18, were extradited from Pennsylvania to face charges in the death of Nadia Vitels, a 52-year-old mom who came face-to-face with her alleged killers last month when she went to check up on her late mom’s upscale pad.
Tejada was led out of the 17th Precinct stationhouse in handcuffs shortly before 2:30 p.m., with the suspects both arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on a felony indictment.
They were each charged with second-degree murder, burglary, robbery, possession of stolen property, grand larceny and concealment of a corpse.
Neither suspect spoke during their court appearances.
Police conducting a welfare check on March 14 found Vitels’ body inside a duffel back in a closet with a cord wrapped around her neck and another around her torso, prosecutors said in court.
The 19th-floor apartment on East 31st Street had been vacant for three or four months after Vitets’ mother’s death, according to police and sources.
Vitels, freshly back from a trip to Spain, stopped by the apartment briefly on March 10 to drop off some things to prepare the place for some relatives to stay there, authorities said.
Less than 90 minutes later, after Vitels left, Alston and Tejada were spotted on surveillance camera footage entering the building.
The two broke into the apartment lugging a pink suitcase.
Vitels returned on March 12 around 11:30 a.m., leaving her Lexus SUV parked outside before going up to the apartment — only to come face-to-face with her alleged killers.
She demanded that the intruders get out, but Tejada allegedly screamed back that he was going to killer her, prosecutors said.
Vitels tried to make a run for a bedroom window to get away, but Tejada chased after her and grabbed her, throwing her to the ground and stomping her to death, according to prosecutors.
“You should put your shoes on,” Alston told him during the fatal attack, prosecutors said. “You’re going to hurt yourself.”
The two then went on a shopping spree at Target, where they were caught on surveillance video buying vaping supplies and toiletries with the victim’s credit card before taking off in her SUV.
Two days later, Vitels’ 23-year-old son got a text from his mom, but would not hear from her again.
On March 14 the worried son called the cops to conduct a wellness check in the apartment.
Vitels’ body was found stuffed in the duffel bag inside a closet with blunt force injuries to the head, multiple facial fractures, a brain injury and two broken ribs, according to police.
Meanwhile, Tejada and Alston were on the run in Pennsylvania, using the dead mom’s credit card to buy a PS5 game system, AirPods, clothes, food and even a diamond ring, prosecutors said.
The pair was finally caught by US Marshals in Lower Paxton Township after getting into a crash with the stolen SUV — and were held pending extradition back to New York City.
Both were ordered held without bail at their Manhattan arraignments on Thursday pending return court appearances.
Tejada, led into the courtroom in handcuffs, was allowed to hug his father in the hallway before his arraignment, with both men sobbing.
Despite the unusual embrace, prosecutors said Tejada had a pending criminal mischief charge for kicking in a glass door at this dad’s apartment in Washington Heights when Vitels was killed.
“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,” Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said in a statement.
“I send my deepest condolences to her friends and family as they continue to mourn her loss,” Bragg added. “My office will secure justice for Nadia Vitels.”
