YORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHP, CBS NY) — A recent lawsuit is aiming to hold multiple companies accountable for a broken elevator and cameras it claims could have prevented a New York woman’s murder.
Nadia Vitels, 52, had traveled to her mother’s apartment building, located at 206 East 31st Street in New York City, on March 12 of 2024.
She was returning from Spain to the empty unit, which had been vacant for months following her mom’s passing.
However, when Vitels entered the apartment, that’s when investigators said she came face-to-face with Halley Tejada and Kensly Alston.
The squatters had taken over in her mother’s absence and allegedly killed Vitels before stuffing her body in a duffel bag.
She was found two days later.
A lawsuit filed on behalf of Vitels by her estate claims Tejada and Alston could have been prevented from getting into the apartment in the first place.
Filed on March 11 of 2026, the suit says there were serious security flaws in the complex, including an elevator with a broken “floor key-access mechanism” that would’ve stopped Tejada and Alston from using the lift.
It goes on to claim that security cameras inside the elevator were also faulty and could’ve caught the pair illegally squatting, long before Vitels came.
Nadia Vitels (Credit: CBS NY)
The following companies are being sued due to what Vitels’ estate argues was “gross negligence”:
HS Three, LLC443 Third Avenue, LLCH&K Associates, LLCH&K Management LTDSecuritad IPride & Service Elevator Co., Inc.Alliance Elevator Company LLCEltechPrideVertical Systems Analysis, Inc.AEC Electronics, Inc.XYZ Companies
Tejada and Alston themselves were also listed in the lawsuit as defendants.
Both were arrested days after Vitels’ murder in York, Pennsylvania.
Even though Alston’s court case is still pending, Tejada was found guilty and sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
Vitels’ legacy is left with her family, who have since spoken publicly about the kind of person she was.
“Her laugh was the weirdest, most infectious sound. I hear it in my head,” her son, Misha Vitels, said during Tejada’s sentencing.
“It was just us against the world. It’s just me now. I’m alone now. This animal took her from me.”