By Madina Toure
Police have identified Queens Village resident Angie Escobar as the woman whose body was found last Thursday in a car being driven by Whitestone resident Luis Zambrano, her boyfriend.
At about 8:36 p.m., police responded to a 911 call of a suspicious 2004 Nissan Maxima in the area of 22nd Avenue and Murray Street in Whitestone.
Upon arrival, officers found a vehicle with a foul odor emanating from the trunk, police said.
The officers were able to get into the car’s trunk and discovered Escobar, 28, who was unconscious and unresponsive with stab wounds to the torso, officials said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police said they were searching for Zambrano. A police spokesman confirmed that Zambrano and Escobar were in a relationship and that the car belonged to her father.
Escobar was reported missing Sept. 8, according to police reports.
An ongoing investigation has determined that Zambrano, 30, was last seen driving the vehicle, which was discovered near his residence on 150th Street between 22nd and 23rd avenues, police added.
Officials said Zambrano is 5-foot-7-inches tall, weighs 200 pounds and has a bald head.
No arrests have been made and the investigation was ongoing, according to a police spokeswoman.
There was a police line tape between a pole with the street sign for 150th Street and Firefighter Thomas A. Casoria Way and a tree, along with a bouquet of flowers attached to the pole.
A resident who lives in Zambrano’s area said someone had allegedly seen Zambrano go back into his house and called the cops.
He said there were helicopters and police in the area Sunday night and that the whole block was blocked off, noting that the family living on the second floor of Zambrano’s home had to evacuate the building while the police searched.
“They went to the bottom floor to search for him, but when they came out, he wasn’t there,” the resident said.
He said he heard people say that cops have been called to the area before and that Zambrano and Escobar could be heard arguing.
“You hear arguments during the summertime,” he said. “You hear arguments, screaming.”
Another resident in the area also said she noticed cops in the area Sunday night.
“It’s not normal for this neighborhood,” she said. “It was unsettling.”
A resident who lives in the area of Escobar’s Queens Village home said she was a nice person who had two young sons, who sometimes played with her kids.
She said Escobar’s parents live in the basement and that Escobar always brought her kids over and they were a “very quiet family, very friendly.”
There is currently a GoFundMe page asking for donations for Escobar’s two children as well as her funeral arrangements. As of Wednesday morning, the campaign had raised $17,320 from 263 people in five days, well over the $15,000 goal.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
