FILE – A medical examiner’s crew loads a body into a van.
File photo/Dean Moses
The woman found severely stabbed and beaten to death in a Bronx stairwell on Tuesday may have been imprisoned and tortured for weeks before her death, a high-ranking police official said Thursday.
According to Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, the victim — 21-year-old Princesa Incarnacion-Soto — was found with stab wounds and blunt force trauma to her head in the third-floor stairwell of 2295 Grand Concourse on July 22.
During the preliminary investigation, cops were led to the apartment in the same building belonging to 54-year-old Nadia Jorge, whom they believe is the mother of her boyfriend. In questioning Jorge, Kenny said, detectives uncovered evidence of a house of horrors.
“The detectives see blood on a mattress and sheets in a bedroom. At this point, she asks the detectives to leave, becomes combative,” Chief Kenny said. “We process a search warrant, we recover bloody clothing, bloody sheeting, bloody blankets, bloody rope and bloody bungee cords.”
Although hailing from Rhode Island, police say the victim had been staying with Jorge and her son, 27-year-old Robert Strother.
Investigators now believe that Incarnacion-Soto had been tied down to the bed and had been there for some time. Her body had wounds that were in the process of healing, indicating that she had been restrained and tortured, Kenny said.
“The wounds themselves were inflicted for pain, not to kill,” Chief Kenny said of the horrific crime. “The ones on her legs were fresh. The ones on her upper torso seemed like they were in the process of healing.”
Jorge remains in police custody and has yet to be charged. At the moment, she stands accused of cleaning up the crime scene after responding cops reported a distinct smell of bleach. She is also believed to have changed the victim’s clothing before the body was dumped in the stairwell.
Meanwhile, Strother — identified as the prime suspect in the killing — remains on the run as of Thursday.
Based on their investigation, police reported that Incarnacion-Soto had left her relationship with Strother but returned to the Bronx in July. The pattern of abuse may have been going on for some time.
Kenny further reported that Strother falsely claimed to police in May that Incarnacion-Soto had been raped; detectives now believe this may have been a tactic to allegedly cover up attacks he inflicted upon her.
“The boyfriend claimed she was raped by a group of males on the rooftop,” Kenny said. “The name he gave that person was in jail at the time, so it could be that he injured her to the point she needed medical care and fabricated this rape story.”
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