Nadia Vitels, the woman found dead in a duffel bag in a Manhattan apartment, had a diverse and varied career—from marketing in the nonprofit world to running Sugarpova, tennis star Maria Sharapova’s candy company—but her last job and the one that was perhaps closest to her heart was working with her son at his business.
At her funeral March 18 in Long Island, Michael Medvedev eulogized his mother, describing her move from Moscow to Stillwater, Okla., as a young woman, her drive to provide him with the best of everything and her unwavering support.
“She then worked for a few more companies in the tennis world and ended her amazing career at home, with I think was her favorite job and what she was most used to, working with me,” said Medvedev, 24.
“She believed in me. She moved the Sugarpova candy to the side and made space for the plant-based cups.”
Obtained by Daily News
An autopsy revealed that victim Nadia Vitels died from blunt force trauma to the head, the city’s Medical Examiner said Friday, ruling her death a homicide.
Medvedev started Earth Brands with friend Peter Frelinghuysen in 2021 while the pair were still students at Williams College. After noticing how many plastic cups littered the campus, they came up with a biodegradable, compostable, alternative made from corn and sugar resin.
The following year, businessman and Shark Tank regular Mark Cuban was one of their first investors, according to the company’s website.
CBS profiled the company in 2021, shooting at the Long Island home of Vitels and Medvedev and speaking with the young entrepreneur and his proud mother, who was another investor.
In the segment, Vitels helped Medvedev move packages from the first shipment of 100,000 cups in the garage, not the first time the space had been used for a business venture.
“I kind of gave in to this. The original thought was no way,” Vitels told the reporter with a smile.
The second shipment was half a million cups, which Vitels said in the segment would not be stored in the garage.
“It’s not coming here. That’s a given,” she said, waving her hand.
Vitels, 52, was found by her son March 14 in an apartment on E. 31st St. near Third Ave. that she was readying for a family friend to move into. Medvedev discovered a foot sticking out of a bag in a hall closet.
The city’s Medical Examiner said Vitels had been killed by blunt force trauma to her head, ruling her death a homicide on March 15.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said Vitels had been attacked by a pair of squatters, who then dumped her belongings down the unit’s garbage chute and stole her Lexus after the slaying, fleeing New York.
“We believe that some squatters had taken the apartment over and this woman came home to get this apartment set up and walked in on the squatters,” Kenny said.
The two squatters wanted for killing Vitels were apprehended by U.S. Marshals in York, Penn., police sources said Friday. The duo, a 19-year-old man and an 18-year-old woman, had been on the run since they allegedly killed Vitels, fleeing in her stolen Lexus. Police have begun taking steps to extradite the couple back to New York to face murder charges.
