An investigation has been launched after a mother and her teenage son were found beaten to death at an apartment in New York, according to multiple reports.
The victims, identified as Marisol Ortiz, 51, and 14-year-old Alanche Delorbe, were found bludgeoned to death inside their Belmont apartment in the Bronx area of the city at around 3:40 p.m. on February 17, reported the New York Daily News.
The bodies were discovered by Ortiz's 22-year-old daughter, who rushed home after receiving a phone call from her mother's colleagues to say she hadn't shown up to work that day, according to the New York Post.
The mother and son were discovered in separate rooms of the apartment with major head trauma. Gym weights were also found close to the victim's bodies, although police have not been able to confirm whether these were used in the attack, reported CBS New York. The Medical Examiner is yet to determine a cause of death for the vicitms.
An upstairs neighbor, Iris Rosa, 58, told the New York Post she heard the 22-year-old daughter screaming when she is thought to have discovered the bodies. "I didn't hear no words. It was just 'Ahhhhh!' And then nothing," Rosa said.
Other local residents have described their shock at the killings. "It's sad, very, very sad," neighbor Steven Kennedy told CBS New York: "It's brutal, nonsensical, just godless to me."
Angel Cabrera said, "It's crazy because I've been living here for 10 years and never seen something like that happening here." Speaking to NBC News, Cabrera said that he heard screaming coming from the apartment at around 1 or 2 a.m., but thought the noise was just a party.
The attack occurred one day before Delorbe's 15th birthday on February 18, his cousin, Haydee Leonardo, told the New York Daily News.
"We feel very bad. I don't know what's going on. We're very scared of what's happening. We just want to know what happened to our family," Leonardo said. "I'm very scared. I'm trying to stay calm."
The NYPD are asking anyone with any possible information relating to investigation to submit tips to police by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477), visiting nypdcrimestoppers.com, or texting 274637 (CRIMES) then entering TIP577. Spanish speakers are being asked to call 1-888-57-PISTA (74782).
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Ewan Palmer is a Newsweek News Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on US politics, domestic policy ... Read more
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