Home Scandal and Gossip Female tenant murders Queens super trying to collect $24K back rent

Female tenant murders Queens super trying to collect $24K back rent

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Sandra Coto Navarro, Kew Gardens Hills tenant kills Queens building super, Jose Portillo after landlord sent him to collect $24K in back rent.
Sandra Coto Navarro, Kew Gardens Hills tenant kills Queens building super, Jose Portillo after landlord sent him to collect $24K in back rent.
Sandra Coto Navarro, Kew Gardens Hills tenant kills Queens building super, Jose Portillo after landlord sent him to collect $24K in back rent.
Sandra Coto Navarro, Kew Gardens Hills tenant kills Queens building super, Jose Portillo after landlord sent him to collect $24K in back rent.

Sandra Coto Navarro, Kew Gardens Hills tenant kills Queens building super, Jose Portillo after landlord sent him to collect $24K in back rent. 

A female tenant has been arrested in the murder of a Queens, NYC building superintendent who was stabbed to death after attempting to collect $24K in back rent on behalf of the building landlord. 

Sandra Coto Navarro, 48, was charged with second-degree murder, tampering with physical evidence and weapon possession in connection to the death of Jose Portillo, after his body was discovered Tuesday afternoon, circa 5pm, hidden under a bed with garbage bags covering his body inside the woman’s Kew Gardens Hills apartment, according to police. 

‘It’s crazy,’ the victim’s ex-wife told the nypost. ‘I want to see her. The one who hit him. The one who killed him. I want to see her.’

‘He tried to help everyone,’ the woman said. ‘He tried to help them and they killed him. It’s terrible.’

Portillo had gone inside the 70th Avenue unit where Coto-Navarro lived with a man – to talk about collecting back rent – when a fight ensued, police sources said. Of note, the suspect stood at 4ft’5 and weighed 100 pounds. 

The owner of the property told investigators he saw Portillo go into the couple’s apartment, but never saw him leave. 

Portillo’s brother requested a wellness check when he still hadn’t emerged. 

Portillo was declared dead at the scene by EMS workers following the welfare check. 

Cops said the victim suffered blunt force trauma to the head, a stab wound to the neck and cuts behind his knees. 

Coto Navarro and her husband had owed $24,000 in back rent and hadn’t made any rent payment in two years cops said.

She was home alone when Portillo was sent to collect the rent, according to authorities.

Sandra Coto Navarro, Kew Gardens Hills tenant kills Queens building super, Jose Portillo after landlord sent him to collect $24K in back rent.
Sandra Coto Navarro, Kew Gardens Hills tenant kills Queens building super, Jose Portillo after landlord sent him to collect 2 years back rent.

The woman’s husband — who was initially questioned by police — was released when investigators reviewed video and realized he wasn’t there at the time of the slaying, cops said.

A single rose was laid in front of Portillo’s apartment where he had lived at the building Thursday. 

‘[Portillo] has been the super for 20 to 30 years here,’ neighbor Jessica Cortes, 25, told the nypost. ‘He has children. He is divorced. He was always willing to help people in need with any problems. He was a good man.’

Portillo began working at the building as a gardener before becoming the super and was described as friendly according to ABC7

Cops confirmed a man was taken into custody as well, but it was unclear Thursday whether he would be charged.

Not immediately clear is whether the back rent case had been in housing court (the appropriate legal route addressing landlord-tenant disputes) and if so, why had the landlord been compelled to coerce the tenant by having the building super intervene?

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