The NYPD is looking to question six potential witnesses in the killing of a 22-year-old Brooklyn woman whose remains were found in suitcases in her apartment after a welfare check late last month, authorities say.
No arrests have been made in the homicide of D'Asia Johnson, of Linwood Street in East New York, though authorities have said they were looking to question her boyfriend.
They released photos over the weekend of five women and one man whom they said might be witnesses in the case.
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Body parts confirmed to be Johnson's were discovered Sept. 21 when building security went to check on her in her sixth-floor apartment after not seeing her for about a month, law enforcement sources have said. At the time, a senior NYPD official said security encountered someone believed to be her boyfriend.
That man wouldn't let them inside, the senior official said, and security said they'd call the cops to gain access. He and another man left the apartment once security officers walked away, building surveillance showed, and one of the men was carrying a black duffel bag, the senior NYPD official said. Security saw them leave and went back to the apartment.
That's when they encountered a horror scene -- blood in the bathtub, a meat cleaver and a horrible stench -- and called 911, according to the senior NYPD official.
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Investigators obtained a search warrant for the apartment. In it were found two suitcases with apparent human remains. It wasn't clear if there was a whole body. News 12 Bronx reported an autopsy showed she had been stabbed to death.
Police do not believe it was a random attack, and the search continues for Johnson's boyfriend. The senior NYPD official says she had an active order of protection against him.
A neighbor who lives on the sixth floor told NBC New York that he would regularly hear commotion from the apartment where the suitcases were found, and that police had visited several times.
"A lot of fighting. Arguing, like I said," said the neighbor who only gave his first name, Jeremy. "You hear arguing, banging, loud stuff, regular stuff. But you can't — like I said, if you try to interrupt and stuff, you’re putting yourself in a problem you can’t solve."
An investigation is ongoing.
