A 26-year-old woman from New York City, Pamela Alcantara, was found dead inside a suitcase four days after being reported missing. Her body was discovered on Thursday, March 6, near the northbound side of the Saw Mill River Parkway, close to the Palmer Road exit at the border of Yonkers and the Bronx, according to ABC 7.
Alcantara was last seen around 2 a.m. on Sunday, March 2, at her home on Morris Avenue in the Bronx. Her family became concerned when she did not show up for church that morning and reported her missing. They distributed posters around the neighborhood in an effort to find her, according to reports from ABC 7 and NBC New York.
At the time Alcantara’s body was found, NYPD detectives had already been investigating the disappearance of a missing woman from 2200 Morris Avenue. She was pronounced dead at the scene, as confirmed by News 12 The Bronx.
Authorities are questioning Alcantara’s ex-boyfriend, who is in custody at the NYPD’s 46th precinct, though no charges have been filed yet, per ABC 7. Her family revealed that she had been planning to move out of the apartment she shared with her boyfriend of three years. They had even arranged a place for her to live and purchased a car for her.
Surveillance footage showed Alcantara entering her home on Sunday while talking on the phone with her mother, Sunilda Rubiera, but there was no video evidence of her leaving the building. Her cousin, Naysa Peguero, described her as someone who spent time with church friends, attended religious events, and went to work. Her mother last spoke to her when she was returning from a church gathering and preparing for another in Connecticut, which she never attended.
When Alcantara’s family visited her apartment on Monday, March 3, they noticed signs of a struggle near the bed she shared with her ex-boyfriend but found no other disturbances. The NYPD has since sealed off the apartment as part of the ongoing investigation.
