The decomposing body of a 34-year-old woman was found with a bag wrapped over the head Saturday, and her mother is asking police to arrest the killer and bring her some closure.
Officers and firefighters forced entry to an apartment on Ogden Avenue in Highbridge after neighbors reported a foul odor emanating from the scene.
After opening the tightly locked door, they discovered Norayshma Fernandez’s body lying face down in a bedroom; it was determined that she had been dead for several days.
The medical examiner’s office ruled Fernandez’s death a homicide by asphyxiation; investigators later learned that the victim was living at a Stadium Hotel shelter, less than half a mile away from the apartment.
“She was a happy woman, a happy girl,” Fernandez’s grieving mom said. “I want justice because my daughter was not a bad person.”
A resident of the Bronx shelter told reporters that she wasn’t that surprised to learn about Fernandez’s murder.
“It’s crazy up here,” mentioning two recent stabbing incidents in the area and remembering girls “you just stop seeing” around the shelter.
“I have to when I walk on these streets at night. I think about it a lot.”
