A 35-year-old single mother from East Harlem, whose murdered body was packed in a plastic container on the sidewalk in the Bronx, was killed by her cousin, police said.
Nisaa Walcott, a beautician and mother of a 15-year-old boy, was discovered on February 25, just blocks from Yankee Stadium, more than a week after she was reported missing.
Police on Saturday charged her 21-year-old cousin, Khalid Barrow, with murder and concealment of a human corpse. Walcott’s decaying body was dumped in a container near the Deegan Highway in Melrose, not far from a warehouse.
Cops detained the prime suspect after reviewing Walcott and Barrow’s surveillance footage, which they entered together at her apartment on February 16. Only he reappeared from the building, sources told the New York Post.
Barrow was also filmed removing a plastic container from the building, the Post reported.
A neighbor told the publication that the young cousin lived with Walcott and her son at the time of the murder.
– How do you do it to your cousin? said the unidentified neighbor. “She gave you shelter, gave you a place to live. In fact, she held out her hand and that’s how you repay her?
Nisa Walcott, 35, was found murdered and crammed into a plastic storage container last Friday
Her death shattered her close-knit family, with her brother Eugene Butler saying the murder victim “loves everyone unconditionally.”
He told the New York Daily News: “Nisaa loved family and friends and would do anything for them.”
The victim’s daughter-in-law, Angnette Butler, said Walcott’s killer was “cruel to put her in such a container.”
She told Daily news: “Nisaa was a very nice young lady and she helped everyone, she wouldn’t hurt a soul. We don’t know what would make someone do something so cruel. Nisaa had no enemies and was a good man with a good heart.
The man who found Walcott’s body often visited the site across 950 University Avenue on the Deegan Highway to find and resell items dumped there by people using the self-storage facility.
He noticed a chest of drawers that had been left there around 11 a.m. and returned in the afternoon to pick it up. An unpleasant odor caught his eye, and he saw a human foot sticking out of a plastic container he didn’t think had been there before. WABC TV reported.
Walcott’s friend described her as a “handsome man” and a “single mother and hard-working entrepreneur.”
New York City police officers take pictures of Walcott’s body in a body bag at the scene
The man who found Walcott’s body noticed a chest of drawers left there at about 11 a.m. Friday morning and returned in the afternoon to pick it up. An unpleasant odor drew his attention to a human foot sticking out of a plastic container he said he hadn’t been there before.
It is unclear how long her body remained undetected, but police sources said NBC New York that it has begun to decompose. The bin containing Walcott’s body does not appear to be connected to the warehouse.
It is common for furniture and rubbish to be lined up on this sidewalk, shop neighbors said – but after Friday they want the dumping to stop.
Stephanie Nunes, a neighbor of Melrose, said her father parked next to a dresser a few minutes earlier.
“He just got out of the car and didn’t notice anything,” Nunes said.
Another neighbor, who identified herself as DeeDee, told reporters that “this is crazy.”
“A woman was found decomposed.” I am a woman – a single, black woman and I have children, “she said.
Walcott’s aunt, Bernadette Butler Colon, begs anyone who knows her niece’s whereabouts to post on Facebook just hours before the body is found.
Norma Menedes, a 15-year-old friend of Walcott’s who hired her at the Live on Lexington barber shop, told the New York Daily News on Friday night that “she has no idea who would do such a cruel thing to her.”
Norma Menedes, a 15-year-old friend of Walcott’s who hired her at the Live on Lexington barber shop, told the New York Daily News on Friday night that “this is something you read about on a cardboard box of milk or watch at SVU.”
“It’s not a reality. She had a family that loved her, “she said at the exit.
“She was a beautiful person. She had a lot of life. She was an entrepreneur. She was a nice person. She was a great woman.
Walcott’s aunt, Bernadette Butler Colon, has begged anyone who knows where her niece is to post on Facebook just hours before the body is found.
“This is my niece Nisaa Walcott. She has been missing for a week, “Colon wrote.
“She has a wonderful son and many families and friends who are waiting for her safe return home. This is strange, because she would never abandon her beloved son.
Menedes told the Daily News that “everything [Walcott] do for her son “
Menedes told the Daily News that “everything he did was for his son.”
“She was a great mother. She was always there for him, “she said. “We have no idea who would do something so cruel to her. ‘
Another friend, Luz Droz, told NBC New York that Walcott “didn’t deserve it.”
“She was a beautiful person, hardworking, a single mother, an entrepreneur, she worked hard,” Droz said.