{"id":197405,"date":"2026-04-14T21:54:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197405\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:54:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T21:54:39","slug":"squatter-who-killed-manhattan-tenant-stuffed-her-body-in-closet-gets-20-years-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/197405\/","title":{"rendered":"Squatter who killed Manhattan tenant, stuffed her body in closet, gets 20 years to life"},"content":{"rendered":"

A squatter convicted of killing a tenant in her own Manhattan apartment<\/a> and stuffing her body in a duffle bag was sentenced to 20 years to life on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Halley Tejada was in a Manhattan courtroom Tuesday after pleading guilty in December to second-degree murder<\/a> in the brutal death of Nadia Vitels, 52, who was beaten to death, stuffed into a duffle bag shoved into a closet of her new Kips Bay apartment in March 2024.<\/p>\n

Vitels\u2019 son, Misha Vitels, and two friends discovered the the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just us against the world,\u201d the son said in court before the sentencing. \u201cWe were a small, tight-knit family, and she was everything to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Obtained by Daily News<\/p>\n

Murder victim Nadia Vitels.<\/p>\n

Misha said he was at work that day when he got a text from a worried family friend asking if he had heard from his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom always answered the phone,\u201d he said. \u201cEspecially from her friends. She always responded to me immediately. I knew right then something was really wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misha said he frantically started calling around to friends and family, none of whom had heard from her in days.<\/p>\n

\"LovedLoved ones of Nadia Vitels hug after the sentencing of Halley Tajada on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

He said he raced to her home and begged a superintendent to let him into the locked apartment. But because he felt anxious, he waited for someone to go in with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cInside, everything felt wrong,\u201d he said. \u201cClothes were scattered on the floor by the front closet. In the living room, Mama\u2019s dog was alone, the floor covered in crusted pee. To the right, near the bedroom entrance, there was a massive crack and hole in the wall. Noluggage, no computer, none of the things she\u2019d just moved in with. My mind spun: Had she run away? Had she hurt herself? Did she kill herself? I searched the bedroom carefully, but I was shaking all over, I was terrified I\u2019d find her body.\u201d<\/p>\n

Misha, who was 23 at the time, said his friend Adam sent him and his friend Vera outside while he looked around some more. A short time later, Misha said, Adam came outside with the bad news.<\/p>\n

Misha\u2019s mother\u2019s body was hidden under some clothes<\/a> in a front closet, stuffed inside a duffle bag.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe entryway closet where Nadia Vitel\u2019s body was found in a duffle bag. (Obtained by Daily News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe waiting, the searching, the moment I realized the truth, broke me and I\u2019ll never fully heal,\u201d Misha told the court. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t just losing her. It was how she was taken, those hours, and the image of her walking into her apartment and never leaving, just stuffed in a bag. My rock, my everything, my mom, reduced to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said the apartment had been vacant after Vitels\u2019 mother died months earlier. Tejada and a co-defendant, Kensly Alston, were squatting in the apartment, and surprised Vitels when she returned.<\/p>\n

Tejada and Alston were seen on video stealing Vitels\u2019 Lexus that was parked in front of the building. The car was later involved in a crash in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

\u201cNadia Vitels was about to start a new chapter of her life when Halley Tejada brutally murdered her in the very apartment she was moving into,\u201d Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\u201dHalley Tejada has been sentenced to 20-years-to-life in state prison for his abhorrent and fatal conduct. My thoughts are with Ms. Vitels\u2019 loved ones who continue to mourn her painful loss. I know this sentence will not bring her back, but I hope it can serve as a measure of comfort.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HalleyHalley Tejada is pictured during his court sentencing for the murder of Nadia Vitels on Tuesday, April 14, 2026 in Manhattan, New York. (Barry Williams\/ New York Daily News)<\/p>\n

Misha said every day is a struggle without his mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow does a 23-year-old son go days without hearing from his mom, rush to check on her, discover her body stuffed tied up in a bag \u2014 and know the person responsible could one day be back on the streets, riding the subway, while she never gets another day?\u201d Misha said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut people told me early on, and it\u2019s proven true: The only reason I get through every single day is because of my mom\u2019s lessons and the strength she poured into me for 23 years. She showed me what waking up, persevering and fighting through hardship looks like.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A squatter convicted of killing a tenant in her own Manhattan apartment and stuffing her body in a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":197406,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[262,263,266,85,267,75,84,83,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":{"0":"post-197405","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manhattan","8":"tag-city","9":"tag-county","10":"tag-crime-and-public-safety","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-local-news","13":"tag-manhattan","14":"tag-manhattan-headlines","15":"tag-manhattan-news","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-new-york-county","19":"tag-news","20":"tag-nyc","21":"tag-nyc-crime","22":"tag-sub-county-region"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=197405"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/197405\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/197406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=197405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=197405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=197405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}