{"id":673302,"date":"2026-03-22T07:44:39","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/673302\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T07:44:39","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T07:44:39","slug":"teen-squatters-accused-of-killing-mom-found-in-duffel-bag-should-not-have-been-in-nyc-building-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/673302\/","title":{"rendered":"Teen squatters accused of killing mom found in duffel bag should not have been in NYC building: lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

A pair of cold-hearted teen squatters who allegedly stomped a New York mom<\/a> to death in her family\u2019s Kips Bay apartment should never been able to get into the building in the first place, the victim\u2019s son said.<\/p>\n

Suspects Kensly Alston and Halley Tejada were squatting in a vacant 19th-floor pad at 206 East 31st Street for days before cruelly killing Natalie Vitels, stuffing her in a duffel bag and tossing it in a closet, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The apartment, once owned by Vitels\u2019 mother, was vacant for months. The Long Island woman stopped by March 12, 2024, to get it ready for a friend\u2019s visit and found Alston and Tejada inside. They went beserk when she demanded they leave, authorities said.<\/p>\n

Natalie Vitels was found stuffed in a duffel bag shoved in a cloest. Kevin C. Downs for NY Post<\/p>\n

The squatters were able to get into the building because of lax security that included a faulty front door, intercom and elevator, according to the the victim\u2019s son, Michael Medvedev, in a Manhattan Supreme Court lawsuit. <\/p>\n

Building management knew about the security issues because there had been a \u201chistory of trespassers gaining access to the building and\/or complaints,\u201d Medvedev said in court papers.<\/p>\n

The buzzer and intercom also allowed unauthorized people to get inside the building, he said in the legal filing against HS Three LLC, management company 443 Third Avenue LLC and others.<\/p>\n

The body of Vitels, 52, was found two days later. She had broken bones in her face and two broken ribs, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The two suspects allegedly used Vitels\u2019 credit card to buy a PS5 game system, AirPods, clothes, food and even a diamond ring.<\/p>\n

Halley Tejada was one of two teens accused of brutally killing a Manhattan woman inside a Kips Bay apartment. Steven Hirsch<\/p>\n

Kensly Alston was one of two teens accused of killing a Manhattan woman before fleeing in her car and using her credit card to buy everything from X and y to X. POOL photos<\/p>\n

Alston and Tejada fled to Pennsylvania in Vitels\u2019 car<\/a> after the killing, authorities said.<\/p>\n

The teens, who are also being sued, were arrested about a week later after crashing Vitels\u2019 Lexus SUV in Pennsylvania, and eventually extradited to New York and charged with murder.<\/p>\n

Tejada pleaded guilty in December to a second-degree murder charge and is set to be sentenced next month to 20 years to life in state prison, while Alston\u2019s case is pending.<\/p>\n

The management company could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A pair of cold-hearted teen squatters who allegedly stomped a New York mom to death in her family\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":673303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,4221,165477,336,5249,5248,27813,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,4995,76400,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":["post-673302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-america","tag-homicide","tag-kips-bay","tag-lawsuits","tag-manhattan","tag-metro","tag-murders","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkcity","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-security","tag-squatters","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-us-news","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116271714671605210","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=673302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/673302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/673303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=673302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=673302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=673302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}