New York police are investigating after a 38-year-old Queens mom was found dead with trauma to her face in a swanky lower Manhattan hotel room on Thursday.
The body of Denisse Oleas-Arancibia was found by hotel staff in an 11th floor room at the SoHo 54 Hotel. A bloody iron was found near her body, WABC reported.
Investigators are looking for the owner of a pair of bloody pants found in the room. The pants had a receipt in them.
Sources told the station Oleas-Arancibia had been staying in the room for several days and that she had a cut on her head that detectives believe was from blunt force trauma. An autopsy will determine if the iron caused the wound and her death, but detectives are investigating the case as a homicide.
No arrests have been made.
Oleas-Arancicbia’s son, 18-year-old Edwin Cevallos, told the New York Daily News that his mother seemed nervous and worried in the week before her death.
“My mom, she worked very hard,” said Cevallos, who said he didn’t know what his mother actually did for work.. “She was working all day. She was always working for us to give us the best life in this country.”
“All I knew is that everyday at 2 p.m. she went to Manhattan to work,” he said.
Cervallos said he called police on Thursday after Oleas-Arancibia didn’t come home from work.
Manhattan was crowded last week with an influx of people for the upcoming Fashion Week. Victoria Marinucci, in town from Los Angeles and staying in the room next door to Oleas-Arancibia, said she heard the hotel manager banging on her door Thursday morning.
“It was really scary,” she said. “We knew that the person didn’t make it.”
Cevallos said the day before his mom was found dead was “a normal day.” She woke up him for school, made breakfast, and paid for a taxi to take him to school. Later he texted, asking her for money for a haircut. She replied that she’d send money to the barber, which she did.
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