{"id":372244,"date":"2026-10-13T19:52:44","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T19:52:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372244\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T19:52:44","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T19:52:44","slug":"former-exotic-dancer-found-in-trash-can-in-brooklyn-was-strangled-to-death-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/372244\/","title":{"rendered":"Former exotic dancer found in trash can in Brooklyn was strangled to death: ME"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tanaya Campbell Ortiz, a former exotic dancer and mom of five found dead inside a trash can near a remote Brooklyn beach<\/a>, was strangled to death, the city\u2019s medical examiner announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Following the discovery of Campbell Ortiz\u2019s body<\/a>\u00a0dumped in a trash can in a parking lot at Plumb Beach, just off the Belt Parkway in Sheepshead Bay on Sept. 16, questions have swirled about whether she was a victim of foul play.<\/p>\n

Nearly a month later the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has determined Campbell Ortiz died from compression of the neck and officially ruled her death a homicide.<\/p>\n

Although Campbell Ortiz had retired from dancing and pivoted to event planning, her death sent a wave of grief throughout the New York City nightlife scene.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m devastated,\u201d said close friend Cassy Gorham, who met the victim when they worked in a strip club together in 2007. \u201cShe\u2019s a very sweet girl, one of the sweetest, most funniest people I\u2019ve ever met. Always laughing, always happy, always smiling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe genuinely just did not deserve what happened to her, to be thrown out like trash like that,\u201d Gorham added. \u201cShe deserved so much better. She\u2019s always been a great mother and her kids didn\u2019t deserve that either, to lose her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TanayaTanaya Campbell Ortiz. (Obtained by Daily News)<\/p>\n

Campbell Ortiz danced under the stage name \u201cHoney,\u201d which suited her sweet and gentle nature, according to her friends and acquaintances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen somebody told me, I couldn\u2019t even wrap my head around it,\u201d Gorham said. \u201cI was like, \u2018Honey, no. Nobody would do anything to Honey. Honey\u2019s too sweet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TanayaTanaya Campbell Ortiz’s body was found stuffed inside a trash can in a parking lot at Plumb Beach, just off the Belt Parkway in Brooklyn on September 16, 2026. (Google Maps)<\/p>\n

Gorham recalled Honey once leaping off the stage to defend her.<\/p>\n

\u201cA customer punched me in my face because I wouldn\u2019t give my phone number,\u201d Gorham said. \u201cI just remembered Tanaya jumping off the stage and literally holding my mouth and my face together until the ambulance got there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was bleeding all over her but she didn\u2019t care,\u201d Gorham added. \u201cShe had my blood all over her and she just stayed with me and helped me. That\u2019s just that person that she is.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tanaya Campbell Ortiz, a former exotic dancer and mom of five found dead inside a trash can near…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":372245,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,262,263,266,85,267,9,24,264,12,63,261,265],"class_list":["post-372244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-city","tag-county","tag-crime-and-public-safety","tag-latest-headlines","tag-local-news","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-county","tag-news","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-crime","tag-sub-county-region"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372244","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=372244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/372244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/372245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=372244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=372244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=372244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}