A feminine tenant has been charged within the homicide of a constructing superintendent whose physique was discovered stabbed, battered and wrapped in rubbish baggage inside a Queens residence this week – following a dispute over $24,000 she and her husband owed in again hire, cops mentioned.
Sandra Coto Navarro, 48, was charged with second-degree homicide, tampering with bodily proof and weapon possession in connection to the demise of Jose Portillo, who was found round 5 p.m. Tuesday hidden beneath a mattress with baggage overlaying his physique contained in the Kew Gardens Hills residence, in response to police.
“It’s loopy,” a girl who recognized herself because the sufferer’s distraught ex-wife mentioned Thursday as she stood exterior within the chilly. “I need to see her. The one who hit him. The one who killed him. I need to see her.”
“He tried to assist everybody,” she mentioned. “He tried to assist them and so they killed him. It’s horrible.”
She later waited exterior the 107th Precinct in tears, forward of Coto Navarro’s anticipated perp stroll.
Portillo had gone contained in the seventieth Avenue unit the place Coto-Navarro lived with a person – to speak about gathering again hire – when a battle ensued, the sources mentioned.
The proprietor of the property instructed investigators he noticed Portillo go into the couple’s residence, however by no means noticed him depart, in response to the sources.
Portillo’s brother requested a wellness verify when he nonetheless hadn’t emerged, the sources mentioned.
Portillo was declared useless on the scene by EMS staff.
He was discovered to have suffered blunt drive trauma to the pinnacle, a stab wound to the neck and cuts behind his knees, the sources mentioned.
The town’s health worker’s workplace didn’t instantly reply to a request about his official explanation for demise.
Coto Navarro and her husband had owed $24,000 in again hire, cops mentioned.
She was residence alone when she launched her assault after Portillo was despatched to gather the hire, in response to authorities.
The girl’s husband — who was initially questioned by police — was launched when investigators reviewed video and realized he wasn’t there on the time of the slaying, cops mentioned.
When cops confirmed up for the wellness verify, he led them “proper to the physique,” a police supply mentioned.
NYPD detectives have been seen carrying baggage of proof out of the constructing Thursday afternoon.
An upstairs neighbor, Jessica Avila, mentioned in Spanish that she “did hear one thing a few hire dispute.”
“The man was seeking to acquire hire from somebody that evening and asking about them,” Avila mentioned. “I’m unsure if it was for the suspect or another person, however he was looking for somebody.”
Avila mentioned the sufferer “stored to himself loads and all the time complained about my two youngsters taking part in upstairs.”
“My husband would get into verbal fights with him about it,” she added. “A woman who used to dwell right here had worse fights with him over the identical concern, so she moved away even when it meant paying extra.”
Allison Atlas, 31, who lives subsequent door and works as a psychologist, mentioned neighbors are “all utterly stunned” by the homicide.
“None of us can imagine this,” Atlas mentioned. “All of us cared about him, all of us appreciated him! He was a pleasant man, a very nice man. If I ever even talked about something, he was so considerate and useful.”
“I simply instructed him that I used to be feeling chilly in my residence and he got here and instructed me it was as a result of [of] my air conditioner and that he would take it out after which within the spring he would put it again in, no drawback,” she mentioned. “It’s completely loopy. This entire neighborhood is in shock. Completely loopy!”
A single rose was laid on Portillo’s doorstep Thursday.
“[Portillo] has been the tremendous for 20 to 30 years right here,” mentioned Jessica Cortes, 25, one other neighbor. “He has youngsters. He’s divorced. He was all the time keen to assist folks in want with any issues. He was an excellent man.”
Cops confirmed a person was taken into custody as effectively, however it was unclear Thursday whether or not he could be charged.
Extra reporting by Ronny Reyes
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