![\"Nadia](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/2080c4f6-0519-49d9-bb39-4d94277eaa2d-large16x9_Screenshot20240322130339.png\"\/)
<\/p>\nYORK COUNTY, Pa. (WHP, CBS NY) \u2014 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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
She was returning from Spain to the empty unit, which had been vacant for months following her mom’s passing.<\/p>\n
However, when Vitels entered the apartment, that’s when investigators said she came face-to-face with Halley Tejada and Kensly Alston.<\/p>\n
The squatters had taken over in her mother’s absence and allegedly killed Vitels before stuffing her body in a duffel bag.<\/p>\n
She was found two days later.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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Nadia Vitels (Credit: CBS NY)<\/p>\n
The following companies are being sued due to what Vitels’ estate argues was “gross negligence”:<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Tejada and Alston themselves were also listed in the lawsuit as defendants.<\/p>\n
Both were arrested days after Vitels’ murder in York, Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n