Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Murdered Great-Grandmother was Strangled, Beaten and Suffocated

By DNAinfo Staff on October 26, 2011 7:48pm

By Jeff Mays and Tom Liddy

DNAinfo Staff

MANHATTAN — The Harlem great-grandmother who was brutally murdered in her apartment during a robbery was beaten, strangled and suffocated, officials said Wednesday.

The city Medical Examiner's office, which conducted the autopsy, said the cause of death for Julia Hernandez, 73, was: "compression of neck and chest, blunt impact injuries of head, neck and torso and covering of mouth and nose with plastic," according to a spokeswoman.

Hernandez, who loved to dance, was found with a bag over her head on Tuesday night at her home in the Wagner Houses at 445 E. 120th St.  Her feet were bound with a scarf and a flat screen TV was missing from the apartment, sources said.

Police are looking for Gregory Velez, 35, in connection with the murder of 73-year-old Julia Hernandez on Oct. 26.
Police are looking for Gregory Velez, 35, in connection with the murder of 73-year-old Julia Hernandez on Oct. 26.
View Full Caption
NYPD

The Daily News said that a man was spotted on surveillance footage carrying the TV away from the building, but cops could not immediately confirm that.

Police were on the hunt for Gregory Velez, 35, who is the father of Hernandez's great-granddaughter and is wanted for questioning in the killing.

Velez, who is described as 6-feet tall and 180 pounds with an earring in his left ear. He was recently released from jail, but it was not immediately clear what for.

Loved ones that that the victim, who danced three nights-a-week, often in stilettos, frequently helped out the suspect, who had a 10-year-old child with her granddaughter Jasminda Otero.

"I want to know why you did this," Hernandez's distraught daughter, Jeanette, said of the suspect Wednesday. "When you didn't have food she gave you a few dollars. Why did you do this to my mother?

Jeanette Hernandez made the horrifying discovery of her mother's body after not hearing from her all day long Tuesday.

The victim had been afraid that day of a suspicious man who was in the building and feared that it was Velez, who had visited her the day before.

"I told her not to open the door," she said.

Ismael Rodriguez, a friend, said that he has "been around this neighborhood for a long time and there's a lot of crazy stuff that happened."

"This is one of the craziest," he added.

Rodriguez said the victim kicked up her heels with all of the top Salsa dancers.

"I saw her in the clubs with the best," he said. "She was a very happy-go-lucky person and a good dancer."