Valerie Reyes was 24 years old and was living a basement apartment in New Rochelle, New York, but she was worried and even paranoid about being alone there.
"I'm afraid someone will kill me," Reyes told his mother before her disappearance.
On Tuesday, a group of road workers found Reyes' body in a red suitcase in the affluent city of Greenwich, Connecticut, about 14 km from his apartment.
At least three police departments joined the investigation, but no suspects were identified.
According to the police, Reyes has disappeared since the morning of January 29th. Neither her family nor the employees of the Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Eastchester, where she had been working for nearly three years, had seen her for a few days.
Several leaflets containing photos of Reyes and her description began appearing in New York, while relatives began to approach social media for information about her whereabouts.
"The last time we saw her, she was wearing a green coat, black jeans and black shoes, and she suffers from anxiety and depression," the police wrote.
"The victim was a girl, a sister and a cousin of a family that is suffering a huge loss right now," said Premier Peter J. Tesei in a statement.
The police, dressed in protective white suits, spent several hours inside Reyes's apartment on Friday, carrying paper bags when they left.
The authorities are inviting anyone with information to call an anonymous hotline at 203-622-3333.
