Two squatters have now each been sentenced to 20 years to life in state prison for murdering a mother when she returned home to her Kips Bay apartment in 2024.
Kensly Alston, 20, and Halley Tejada, 21, each pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the killing of Nadia Vitels, a mother who had just begun moving into a new apartment on East 31st Street, the Manhattan district attorney's office said in an announcement of the sentencings Friday.
Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg called Vitels "a mother who was starting a new chapter in life."
"While I hope today's sentencing can provide some closure, it will not bring Ms. Vitels back," Bragg said.
Tejada pleaded guilty in December and was sentenced in April. Alston pleaded guilty in May and was sentenced Friday, closing the case.
Alston and Tejada entered Vitels' apartment with a pink suitcase around 1 p.m. on March 10, 2024, two days before she was killed, according to court documents. They came and went from the building over the next two days, prosecutors said.
Vitels returned home with her dog around 11:30 a.m. on March 12, 2024, while the two were still inside, according to the district attorney's office. Later that afternoon, they briefly left the apartment to buy a vape and a second suitcase at Target using Vitels' credit card before returning, prosecutors said.
By 5:45 p.m. that day, the two left the building wearing blue gloves and carrying both suitcases, then drove off in Vitels' car toward Pennsylvania, according to court documents.
Vitels' family grew concerned two days later when she stopped responding to messages, prosecutors said. The building's superintendent let them inside, where they found her dog alone and her body inside a bag in the front coat closet. The medical examiner determined she died of blunt force trauma.
During nine days in Pennsylvania, Alston and Tejada used Vitels' credit cards to buy a PlayStation 5, AirPods, clothing, food and a diamond ring, prosecutors said. U.S. Marshals arrested them in York, Pennsylvania, on March 22, 2024.
Alston’s attorney did not return a phone message and contact information for Tejada’s lawyer was not immediately available.
