Investigators have identified the body found in a storage container left on a Bronx sidewalk as an East Harlem woman reported missing earlier this week, and the person of interest in the death investigation is a cousin of the victim, two senior NYPD officials said Saturday.
Charges against the cousin were pending Saturday as officials awaited autopsy results for Nisaa Walcott, the 35-year-old mother found Friday afternoon inside a plastic container. Police said the bin was left across the street from 950 University Avenue, in the Highbridge section of the Bronx.
Detectives believe the cousin used Walcott's cell phone to throw off family members concerned about her whereabouts after she hadn't been seen for days, the senior officials said. But text messages allegedly sent from the phone weren't consistent with previous conversations.
The officials also said video reviewed by detectives appear to show the cousin at Walcott's East Harlem building, removing a large, plastic container around 12 a.m. Friday. A second individual can be seen on the video helping transport the container and unload it at the Bronx address where Walcott was found, the senior officials said.
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The scene is where a storage facility offloads unwanted items, according to a police source.
Friends of the East Harlem woman were devastated to learn of what happened to Walcott, who leaves behind a teenaged son.
"She was a beautiful person, hard worker, she was a single mother, she was an entrepreneur she worked hard and she didn’t deserve this," Walcott's friend, Luz Droz, said.
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A man who frequents the location to find things he's able to resell was the person who made the gruesome discovery after spotting a leg. The bin with the body didn't appear to be connected to the storage facility, a source said.
The investigation is still active and no cause of death has been determined at this point.
