Authorities confirmed the human remains found in suitcases in a Brooklyn apartment where officers had gone to conduct a welfare check on a 22-year-old woman earlier this month indeed belonged to her.
They identified her as D'Asia Johnson, of Linwood Street in East New York, and said her death had been ruled a homicide. No arrests have been made in the gruesome case and it's still not clear how Johnson died -- or if cops have any idea who may have killed her.
Building security went to check on Johnson in her sixth-floor apartment after not seeing her for about a month, law enforcement sources have said. It's not clear what prompted them to check that day, Wednesday, Sept. 21, but 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.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
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.
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. Autopsy results have yet to be released.
Police do not believe it was a random attack, and cops are now looking to speak with the man presumed to be the missing woman's boyfriend. The senior NYPD official says he has an active order of protection against him related to her.
News
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.
