A Queens woman accused of killing her building’s superintendent due to a rent dispute came face to face with the press — and the victim’s wife — following her arrest Thursday.
Sandra Cotto Navarro, 48, was charged with murder for allegedly pummeling 55-year-old Jose Portillo over the head before stabbing him in the neck and leg, killing him inside her apartment on 70th Avenue in Kew Gardens Hills on Jan. 14.
Law enforcement sources said Portillo had visited Navarro at the landlord’s behest to discuss a whopping $24,000 in back rent when he disappeared.
Navarro, who stands under 5 feet tall, was escorted out of the 107th Precinct‘s Fresh Meadows stationhouse on Jan. 16. While she did not answer for the alleged murder, Portillo’s wife showed up at the station house, yelling at Navarro in Spanish, “You killed my husband!” in a fit of rage.
Sources say that the landlord called 911 and asked police to perform a welfare check after he saw Portillo enter the home on surveillance video but never reemerge. Responding officers later found Portillo’s body in garbage bags stuffed under a bed.
Navarro’s husband was at work at the time of the murder and found the corpse when he arrived home, the sources said. After police arrived, he was allegedly hesitant, at first, to allow them inside — but ultimately informed them of the body’s location.
Law enforcement sources said he is not expected to be charged.
According to ABC7, Portillo began working at the building as a gardener before becoming the super and was described as friendly.
Navarro is charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence, and criminal possession of a weapon.
