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KEW GARDENS HILLS, Queens (WABC) — A woman has been charged in the death of a Queens superintendent reportedly killed while attempting to collect late rent.
Sandra Coto Navarro, 48, is charged with murder, tampering with physical evidence and criminal possession of weapon in connection to the death. She had handcuffs around her wrists and a smirk on her face after being charged.
Neighbors at Navarro’s Kew Gardens Hills apartment building were stunned by the allegations she is now facing.
“She was always sweet honestly. She was very, very sweet. I’m just a little surprised by this whole thing,” one neighbor said.
Authorities believe the superintendent, identified as 55-year-old Jose Portillo, was struck over the head and stabbed in the neck and leg.
Portillo’s body was discovered in garbage bags and stuffed under a bed Wednesday.
Officials say Navarro and her husband owed about $24,000 in back rent and they had not paid in years.
Surveillance video reviewed by police showed Navarro’s husband was at work all day. He got home 20 minutes before police arrived and told police the location of the victim’s body. He will not be charged.
The medical examiner said Portillo’s cause of death was homicidal violence.
People who live at the apartment building on 70th Avenue said he used to be the gardener and then became the super — he was a friendly man who would stop to talk to people.
Many in the neighborhood said they knew him and relied on him for years.
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Janice Yu reports on the community mourning the loss of the postal worker killed in a Harlem deli.
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