The 52-year-old woman whose body was found stuffed in a duffel bag in a Manhattan apartment died from a fatal blow to the head as detectives zero in on two possible suspects in her killing, officials said Saturday.
An autopsy revealed that victim Nadia Vitel died from blunt force trauma to the head, the city’s Medical Examiner said Friday, ruling her death a homicide.
At the same time, detectives are narrowing their focus on at least two persons of interest they believe played a role in her death, police sources with knowledge of the case said.
A man and a woman were caught on video leaving the apartment Vitel had been subletting on E. 31st St. near Third Ave. in Kips Bay around the time investigators believe the woman died, the sources said.
After not hearing from her for several days, Vitel’s brother and other family members showed up at the Kips Bay apartment on Thursday.
Building superintendent Jean Pompee let them into the apartment.
“When I opened the door, the dog was there [and] the dog was alone,” he told the Daily News. “She wouldn’t have left the dog all alone.”
Vitel’s brother and the other men searched around the apartment for the woman before finding her body in a duffel bag in the closet.
“They looked in the bag and said it was a woman,” Pompee recalled. “They said, ‘You have to go, this is a crime scene.’”
Medics called to the scene pronounced Vital dead in the apartment. No arrests have been made.
Family members refused to comment when reached Friday.
With Ellen Moynihan
