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NYPD arrest tenant in Queens building where super was found dead stuffed in garbage bags
By Colin Mixson; Emma Seiwell; Kerry Burke; Thomas Tracy; Ellen Moynihan
UPDATED: January 16, 2025 at 3:31 PM ET
Cops on Thursday arrested a tenant in the Queens building where the superintendent who had gone to collect overdue rent was found dead stuffed in garbage bags under a bed.
Sandra Coto Navarro, 48, was charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon.
Police were awaiting search warrants that would give them access to a Queens apartment on 70th Ave. near 137th St. in Kew Gardens Hills where Jose Rene Portillo’s body was found by cops about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
According to the Medical Examiner, Portillo’s death was a homicide, the result of blunt trauma to the head. Cops hope a search of the apartment will turn up the weapon used in the murder.
“Right now… we’re all in shock,” the super’s daughter told the Daily News. “It’s a lot of information for us to take in. And our minds are in different areas right now.”
Police and building residents said Portillo went to the apartment earlier that morning to collect overdue rent from a problem tenant that morning.
After not hearing from Portillo for several hours, his brother went to the management company, police source said. He and a worker from the management company reviewed surveillance footage from outside the building which shows Portillo entering the building about 8:45 a.m. but never leaving.
When cops arrived, a woman answered the apartment door. A few moments later a man, believed to be the tenant of record, returned home and pointed them to the bedroom.
The building super wasn’t dismembered but found in two garbage bags, one covering his top half, the other covering his bottom half, cops said.
Attempts to reach the building management company were not immediately successful Thursday.
Neighbors in the complex said Portillo had worked there for almost a decade.
“If i had a problem he would come over,” said Rosemarie Sanks, 81, who has lived in the complex for 53 years. “He was a nice man. He wasn’t aggressive at all… It’s a horrible thing.”
Neighbors called the residents of the apartment where Portillo was found dead problem tenants who were known to drink excessively and act rowdy.
“The (tenant) was drinking a lot but she seemed nice,” one 30-year-old neighbor who wished not to be named told The News.
“They were always fighting. He was always drunk. You could smell the alcohol on him.” Portillo had helped the tenants get the apartment, the neighbor said.
“I’m in shock,” the tenant said. “I thought they were friends.” Overdue rent notices would pile up at the apartment door, a former upstairs neighbor, who identified himself as Elliot, said.
“He was a douchebag,” Elliot said about his downstairs neighbor. “I used to live in the second floor and I got babies. He used to bang my wall like crazy.”
No charges have been filed against the male tenant.
By Colin Mixson; Emma Seiwell; Kerry Burke; Thomas Tracy; Ellen Moynihan
UPDATED: January 16, 2025 at 3:31 PM ET
Cops on Thursday arrested a tenant in the Queens building where the superintendent who had gone to collect overdue rent was found dead stuffed in garbage bags under a bed.
Sandra Coto Navarro, 48, was charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of a weapon.
Police were awaiting search warrants that would give them access to a Queens apartment on 70th Ave. near 137th St. in Kew Gardens Hills where Jose Rene Portillo’s body was found by cops about 5 p.m. Tuesday.
According to the Medical Examiner, Portillo’s death was a homicide, the result of blunt trauma to the head. Cops hope a search of the apartment will turn up the weapon used in the murder.
“Right now… we’re all in shock,” the super’s daughter told the Daily News. “It’s a lot of information for us to take in. And our minds are in different areas right now.”
Police and building residents said Portillo went to the apartment earlier that morning to collect overdue rent from a problem tenant that morning.
After not hearing from Portillo for several hours, his brother went to the management company, police source said. He and a worker from the management company reviewed surveillance footage from outside the building which shows Portillo entering the building about 8:45 a.m. but never leaving.
When cops arrived, a woman answered the apartment door. A few moments later a man, believed to be the tenant of record, returned home and pointed them to the bedroom.
The building super wasn’t dismembered but found in two garbage bags, one covering his top half, the other covering his bottom half, cops said.
Attempts to reach the building management company were not immediately successful Thursday.
Neighbors in the complex said Portillo had worked there for almost a decade.
“If i had a problem he would come over,” said Rosemarie Sanks, 81, who has lived in the complex for 53 years. “He was a nice man. He wasn’t aggressive at all… It’s a horrible thing.”
Neighbors called the residents of the apartment where Portillo was found dead problem tenants who were known to drink excessively and act rowdy.
“The (tenant) was drinking a lot but she seemed nice,” one 30-year-old neighbor who wished not to be named told The News.
“They were always fighting. He was always drunk. You could smell the alcohol on him.” Portillo had helped the tenants get the apartment, the neighbor said.
“I’m in shock,” the tenant said. “I thought they were friends.” Overdue rent notices would pile up at the apartment door, a former upstairs neighbor, who identified himself as Elliot, said.
“He was a douchebag,” Elliot said about his downstairs neighbor. “I used to live in the second floor and I got babies. He used to bang my wall like crazy.”
No charges have been filed against the male tenant.
