The devastated son of the New York mother stomped to demise by a ruthless squatter in her Manhattan residence repeatedly branded the cold-blooded killer an “animal” — stressing he “stole” her life simply as she was lastly planning a brand new chapter after years of caring for her ailing mother and father.
Halley Tejada, 21, was hit with the fiery tongue-lashing in Manhattan Supreme Courtroom Tuesday when he was slapped with a 20-year jail sentence for viciously killing Nadia Vitels earlier than stuffing her in a duffel bag and tossing it in a closet at her Kips Bay pad in March 2024.
“My mother and I had been a household of two; it was simply us towards the world,” her son, Michael Medvedev, stated in a heartbreaking assertion, describing his slain mother as an entrepreneur with “an infectious snort.”
“Regardless of how powerful issues acquired, she constructed her total life out of nothing. She sacrificed all the things so I can have stability, alternatives and a way of safety. She was imagined to be right here ceaselessly … however on March 12, 2024, this animal took her from me.”
Tejada and fellow squatter Kensley Alston had been holed up for days inside Vitels’ vacant Nineteenth-floor unit at 206 East thirty first Avenue when she confirmed up on March 12, 2024, to get the place prepared for a buddy’s go to.
The 52-year-old sufferer ordered the intruders out of the residence — as soon as owned by her mom — however Tejada snapped and threatened to kill her. He then chased her as she fled for a bed room window earlier than throwing her down and ferociously stomping her, prosecutors stated.
“What hurts much more is trying again and seeing all the things this animal stole from us,” Medvedev fumed, including that his mom spent the three years earlier than her demise caring for her sick mother and father.
“She was transferring into the town, excited to construct a life that was really her personal. Instantly, immediately, all of it was ripped away. This animal didn’t simply take her life — he stole the years she had left to dwell for herself. That sense of security she’s given me, my rock … is gone ceaselessly. That animal stole my mom.”
The heartbroken son stated he can’t cease replaying the fear his mom will need to have felt in her ultimate moments — and the moment he realized one thing was terribly incorrect.
Vitels was discovered two days later with a number of cranium fractures and two damaged ribs after Medvedev, unable to succeed in her, referred to as police for a wellness verify.
“She all the time responded, and I knew proper then that one thing was incorrect,” he famous.
Prosecutors stated the cranium fractures the sufferer suffered had been so extreme they’re sometimes seen when somebody is “struck by a prepare or falls from an incredible top.”
Tejada and Alston, his 20-year-old girlfriend, fled to Pennsylvania within the sufferer’s automotive after the killing, then went on a brazen nine-day spending spree – utilizing Vitels’ bank card to purchase a PS5, AirPods, garments, meals, and even a diamond ring they used to get engaged.
“They celebrated whereas Nadia Vitels’ lifeless, certain physique remained packed away the place the defendants callously hid her within the hopes that no one would discover her,” stated Manhattan Assistant District Legal professional Elizabeth Clerkin.
The twisted duo had been arrested a couple of week later after crashing the sufferer’s Lexus SUV in Pennsylvania, and ultimately extradited to New York and charged with homicide.
“Nadia Vitels was about to start out a brand new chapter of her life when Halley Tajada brutally murdered her within the very residence she was transferring into,” Manhattan District Legal professional Alvin Bragg stated in an announcement, calling the deadly incident “abhorrent.”
“My ideas are with Ms. Vitels’ family members who proceed to mourn her painful loss. I do know this sentence won’t deliver her again, however I hope it might function a measure of consolation.”
Alston’s case continues to be pending.
She is due again in courtroom on Might 1.
