Niece Arrested In East Harlem Woman's Bathtub Murder, Police Say

EAST HARLEM, NY — The East Harlem woman found dead in her bathtub on Friday was killed by her niece, who is now accused of murder, police said Monday.

Ana Nieves, 56, was found by police around 6:15 p.m. Friday inside her third-floor apartment on East 100th Street, between Third and Lexington avenues. She was lying fully clothed in her tub with wounds to the head, and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Monday morning, police announced that they had arrested 30-year-old Kristie Miro, who lived in the apartment with her aunt. Miro was charged with murder.

The two had been involved in some kind of dispute before the killing, an NYPD spokesperson said, but no further details were available.

On Saturday, the Daily News reported that Nieves's niece had tried to stop officers from entering the apartment when they arrived for a welfare check, leading to her being questioned by police. Neighbors remembered Nieves as "a good person," who had just begun a new job as a home attendant, according to the Daily News.

The case remains under investigation, and Nieves's cause of death will be determined by the city's medical examiner, according to police.