Teen Squatters Indicted In Murder Of Woman Found Stuffed In Bag

NEW YORK CITY — A pair of teen squatters face a murder charge in the death of Nadia Vitels, whose body was found stuffed in a bag inside her Kips Bay apartment last month, prosecutors said.

Kensly Alston, 18, and Halley Tejada, 19, were indicted Thursday on multiple felonies after an ultimately unsuccessful escape to Pennsylvania, officials said.

Cops carted them back from the Keystone State to New York City, where authorities said they killed Vitels after she found them squatting in her apartment March 12.

"Kensly Alston and Halley Tejada allegedly murdered Nadia Vitels in her own apartment while she was moving in to start a new chapter of her life," said Alvin Bragg, district attorney for Manhattan, in a statement.

The discovery of Vitels' body March 14 by her family shocked New Yorkers, as did the subsequent revelation that police believed that two young squatters killed her.

Vitels had begun moving things in the East 31st Street apartment about March 10, the same day that Alston and Tejada were spotted entering it, prosecutors said.

The teens' and Vitels' paths ultimately crossed inside the apartment March 12, when Vitels returned to it with her dog while the squatters were still inside, authorities said.

Shortly afterward, the teens started to use Vitels' credit card to make a series of purchases, including a suitcase that they were spotting carting from the building while wearing blue gloves, officials said.

The pair drove off in Vitels' car toward Pennsylvania, where over nine days they bought a PS5, a diamond ring, Apple AirPods, clothing and food with Vitels' credit card, prosecutors said.

Vitels' family, meanwhile, grew concerned after not hearing from her and visited the apartment March 14, officials said.

They found Vitels' dog, alone, and a crack in a bedroom wall, prosecutors said.

Under a pile of coats, Vitels' family found her body stuffed in a bag, authorities said.

Alston and Tejada ultimately were arrested March 22 by U.S. Marshals, officials said.

They face two counts of second-degree murder, as well as charges of concealment of a human corpose, burglary, robbery, possession of stolen property and grand larceny.

Both pleaded not guilty in court Thursday, where a judge ordered them jailed without bail.