A Kew Gardens Hills woman is criminally charged with murder for allegedly killing her building superintendent, who was trying to collect tens of thousands of dollars in unpaid rent on behalf of the landlord, inside her apartment Tuesday. She is accused of beating the super to death with a metal pipe and hiding his body wrapped in garbage bags beneath a bed.
Sandra Coto-Navarro, 48, faces up to 25 years to life in prison after she was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court just before midnight on Thursday.
The victim, 55-year-old Jose Portillo, entered her apartment at 137-17 70th Ave. at around 8:40 a.m. Tuesday and his coworkers called the NYPD later that day after he failed to return repeated messages. Police from the 107th Precinct in Fresh Meadows went to the apartment and found Portillo’s body wrapped in garbage bags and clothing stuffed under a bed inside her home.
According to the charges, on the morning of Jan. 14, Portillo, who lived just a block away on Jewel Avenue, entered Coto-Navarro’s apartment as he attempted to collect rent, which was due for more than two years. His coworkers attempted to contact Portillo multiple times throughout the day, but the victim never answered his phone.
A call was placed to 911 at around 5 p.m. asking for police assistance in locating Portillo. Arriving officers reviewed video surveillance and spoke to Coto-Navarro, who said the victim stopped by her apartment earlier that day and that she paid him $23,000, and Portillo left. The officers then reviewed video surveillance, which did not show Portillo leaving her apartment. Cops went back to her apartment and spoke with Coto-Navarro and her boyfriend, who led them to a bedroom where they found the super’s lifeless body wrapped in clothing and black plastic trash bags under the bed.
Police also reported smelling a strong odor of bleach in the bedroom and saw a mop and what appeared to be blood near the bottom of the bed and by a nearby dresser. EMS responded to the location and pronounced Portillo dead at the crime scene. She was detained with her boyfriend, who was at work all day and has not been charged.
While detained, the boyfriend, who the NYPD has not identified, asked her in Spanish where the pipe was. Coto-Navarro told him in Spanish “not to worry because [my] fingerprints won’t be on it,” according to the criminal complaint.
On Thursday, the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined Portillo sustained multiple blunt force trauma injuries to the head and further determined he had been stabbed in his neck and left knee after he had died. His death was deemed a homicide and detectives placed Coto-Navarro under arrest Thursday morning.
“This was a gruesome murder,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said. “As alleged, the defendant not only murdered the superintendent trying to collect rent, but attempted to dismember the lifeless victim, wrapped his body in black garbage bags and tried bleaching the area.”
As she was escorted out of the 107th Precinct, Coto-Navarro was confronted by Portillo’s wife, who shouted in Spanish, “You killed my husband!” in a fit of rage. Coto-Navarro was arraigned before Queens Criminal Court Judge Vidya Pappachan on charges of murder in the second degree, two counts of tampering with physical evidence, and criminal possession of a weapon.
“Now, a life has been lost and a family is in upheaval because the defendant allegedly chose to resolve a rent dispute with violence,” Katz said. “This is not the way civilized society operates. The defendant will face justice for this heinous murder.”
Judge Pappachan remanded Coto-Navarro into custody without bail. If convicted on the top count, she faces up to 25 years to life in prison.
