The New York Police Department is intensifying their search for 27-year-old Robert Strother, the boyfriend and main person of interest in the heinous torture and murder of 21-year-old Princesa Encarnacion-Soto, whose life came to a tragic end in a Bronx stairwell. Following the discovery of Encarnacion-Soto, Strother's mother, 54-year-old Naida Jorge, was charged with murder and manslaughter for her alleged involvement in attempting to conceal the crime, ABC7 New York reported.
According to NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny, the grave indications are that Encarnacion-Soto suffered prolonged abuse and was tied to a bed in the filth-ridden apartment before her body was shifted to a stairwell, a grim discovery made after police traced a blood trail back to the scene of torture, as detailed by the New York Post and her injuries were reportedly inflicted for pain, not instantaneous death, with wounds on her legs appearing fresher than those healing on her torso, the timeline of her agony emerges as detectives piece together the last chapters of her life yet the absence of prior domestic violence incidents between the victim and Strother contrasts sharply with his history of 22 domestic violence reports filed by others.
The attempt to sanitize the crime evidently was extensive, as Jorge is believed to have cleaned up the area, disposing Encarnacion-Soto in fresh clothes to muddle the investigation — efforts that failed to prevent the NYPD's grim assessment of the case, according to reports by ABC7 New York. The local police found no blood on the victim at the time she was discovered, and the telltale odor of fresh bleach clung to the air, hinting at a desperate attempt to wash away the evidence of a heinous act.
Moving to the Bronx from Rhode Island as recently as July 11 Encarnacion-Soto entered an apartment, the very conditions of which spoke volumes of the disregard she would face, with even the building superintendent confessing to the New York Post that the level of grime deterred him from entering the "dirty" premises — a stark backdrop to the cruel acts that transpired within. The investigation also revealed an insidious cover-up attempt involving a fabricated rape allegation made by Strother in May, which diverts attention away from the domestic abuse Encarnacion-Soto endured, a story rendered suspicious as the alleged assailant was incarcerated at the time of the so-called incident.
